Shea's Theater
4632 Main Avenue,
Ashtabula,
OH
44004
4632 Main Avenue,
Ashtabula,
OH
44004
1 person
favorited this theater
The Shea’s Theater is attempting a comeback thanks to dedicated locals who, in 2001, are looking to restore and reopen the classic neighborhood movie house.
Originally opened in 1949, the theater will serve as Ashtabula’s civic center and could possibly seat over 1,500 people. Famed actor, Mickey Rooney, performed at the nearby Edgewood Auditorium in April 2001 in a benefit performance for the theater.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
The Senior Center is currently located in this former theater building. This article mentions that the Senior Center might move to another building and there is some interest in returning this building into a theater again. The address of 4632 Main Ave can be used for this former theater.
I truly hope that the Senior Center moves and the building returns to a theater again! That would be a great idea though costly, I’m sure since the theatre floor space would have been leveled.
Lost Memory: Thanks for posting the Star Beacon article which mentions the name of the City Manager, Anthony Cantagallo. I have written the journalist, Shelley Terry, who wrote the article to acquire Mr. Cantagallo’s email to show my support of returning the Senior Center into the Shea’s Theatre, again! When I get that email I will post it here for others to hopefully show their support, too! Through the CT membership we can and often times do make a difference!
This is a recent photo of the Ashtabula Senior Center.
1979 photo of the Shea’s Theatre.
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1984 photo of the Shea’s Theatre.
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Here is another 1979 photo.
An article featuring photos of Shea’s Theatre in Ashtabula was published in Boxoffice, April 1, 1950. Written by the theater’s architect, Michael DeAngelis, and Roy Anderson, the acoustic engineer on the project, the article delves into the methods of providing proper acoustics in movie theaters, with particular emphasis on how the problem was dealt with in the design of Shea’s.
I saw this earlier today (favorite Husker Du song, and maybe one of my favorite songs ever). I bring this up because at 1:50 you’ll see the Shea’s marquee up and running in all it’s retro neon-and-chasers glory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtD4DEoEiqY
Good luck Tamara A.
I remember going to the Shea back when I was a kid. My family vacationed every summer at nearby Geneva-on-the-Lake, and Ashtabula wasn’t too far away. The theater was impressively grand like so many old theaters of its era (including several in downtown Youngstown).
Among the many films I saw there were “The Lion in Winter” (in 1969), and a double-feature of “Willard” and “10 Rillington Place” (in 1971).