1891 Fredonia Opera House
9 Church Street,
Fredonia,
NY
14063
9 Church Street,
Fredonia,
NY
14063
6 people
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Showing 26 - 35 of 35 comments
Actually the entrance shown in the photo is the Temple St entrance, next to the entrance of the Fredonia Police Station. I am familiar with the photo and web site referenced, although for some reason I can’t link to it today, it just displays a placard saying remote linking forbidden or some such thing. It may be that the host has gotten too many hits from the link here and thats why it has been blocked. Anyway, as Patsy says, the current front entrance is facing Barker Common on Church St. The Temple St entrance had the art deco “Wintergarden” Marquee.
lostmemory: I found the Western NYS website where you acquired the 1953 Fredonia Opera House photo and see where they hope to find someone who has an interior photo of the Capitol Theatre. Great site. The photo on your 8/21 post I think shows the entrance facing Central Avenue which is not the front entrance today.
lostmemory: I found the Western NYS website where you acquired the 1953 Fredonia Opera House photo and see where they hope to find someone who has an interior photo of the Capitol Theatre. Great site. The photo on your 8/21 post I think shows the entrance facing Central Avenue which is not the front entrance today.
lostmemory: I found the Western NYS website where you acquired the 1953 Fredonia Opera House photo and see where they hope to find someone who has an interior photo of the Capitol Theatre. Great site.
lostmemory: THANK YOU for the Wintergarden Theatre photo. It’s a bit blurry, but great to see. The exterior front facade of the Fredonia Opera House looks quite different today. I wondered about that year being 1963, myself.
That last address in the above post should read: Church Street & Temple Street, Fredonia, NY
Listed in the Film Daily Yearbook;1941 edition Wintergarden Theatre, 640 seats. In the 1950 edition of F.D.Y.; Winter Garden Theatre, Curch Street & Temple Street, Freedonia, NY. seating capacity 672.
When I was growing up in Fredonia, in the 1950s and 60s, The Theater was called The Wintergarden. The building also housed the Village hall and the Police Station. The Wintergarden was operated by the same chain (Burgess? Burgett?) that operated The Regent and The Capitol theaters, in Dunkirk NY. All three were managed by Mr. Talman. The only time I ever saw any sort of live show on the stage of the theater was once during the 60s, when the theater booked a “ghost show”, with magic and skit comedy, as a promotion for the original “The House on Haunted Hill” with Vincent Price.
A great overnight stay in Fredonia would be the White Inn located on Main Street and is within walking distance to the Fredonia Opera House. And less than 20 miles to the west on Route 20 is my former hometown art deco theatre, the Grand which “was” located on the corner of Main and N. Portage. There is a small park there now with a statue of Abe Lincoln and Grace Bedell who wrote Lincoln a letter asking him to grow a beard! Nearby is the train station where Lincoln stopped enroute to Washington as he wanted to meet Ms. Grace Bedell, in person! He did!
During the early 1980’s the Fredonia showed only or at least mostly movies. The small marquee and ticket window were along the side of the building at street level. You then went upstairs to enter the theatre. I tried many times to see the inside of the theatre before finally succeeding. Finally, during the time frame between its movie era and its restoration I got inside. It looked exactly what it was —sort of a makeshift movie theatre. Several years later and after the renovation I returned. You wouldn’t believe it was the same facility. It’s gorgeous inside and definitely worth a long drive to see. There are several excellent, but pricey, restaurants and many fine places to stay overnight in Fredonia