Grand Theatre
2 N. Portage Street,
Westfield,
NY
14787
2 N. Portage Street,
Westfield,
NY
14787
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 170 comments
And this theatre has most definitely been demolished and not closed.
Joe: THANKS AGAIN! I do recall this now.
The only other mention of the Grand I can recall in Boxoffice was the drawing in the “Just Off the Boards” feature of the April 26, 1941, issue, but it’s the same drawing that appears in the 1942 article.
P.S. Did you ever find any other articles about the Grand in another Boxoffice magazine other than in the January 3, 1942 issue?
Joe: Thanks so very much! Since posting on CT last night I did finally find the Boxoffice link called The Vault. I then passed it along to my historian friend for future reference regarding the hometown Grand Theatre. Thanks again!!!!
Patsy: Boxoffice has removed its archive from issuu.com and posted most of it on a section of its own web site called The Vault. I’m gradually updating my old links as I run across them.
The 1942 article about the Grand Theatre by Michael DeAngelis begins on this page and continues on the two subsequent pages.
Joe: If you find the Boxoffice Grand drawings and photos of Michael DeAngelis, etc. please send to
Joe Vogel: Could you help me find the Boxoffice magazine article about the Grand Theatre again? I went to the link and wasn’t able to find it. Help!
Very Grand at one time.
eileenp: Blatt Bros was associated with the Corry Drive-In in Corry PA as the name is still on the back of the tall screen.
eileenp: I’m not aware of the Blatt Bros being associated with the May Theatre that was in Mayville, but will try to locate that information.
Does anyone know if the theater in Mayville was a Blatt Bros theater too?
dstier: I’m not sure if the decision to raze the Grand was put to some kind of popular vote. My hunch is that it was not. I have spoken to a view people who were around then so I will try to get an answer though I get the sense that many/most don’t want to talk about it. They realize that perhaps the wrong decision was made, but then again hindsight is always 20/20. I believe the Mayor of Westfield at the time was Joseph Pagano. He is deceased so I can’t go to him! I will tell you that I have spoken to Mayor Carr and mentioned the theatre to him. I was able to get him to agree with me that it was a loss for the community. Do you know a Willy Locke? He used to work at the theatre along with Bill Gollintz and Rick Clausen when Bob Mascaro was the manager and later Tom Tetreault. Willy has told me that IF he were to win the lottery he’d rebuild the theatre. And through my volunteer work for the Fenton History Center in Jamestown I have located the blueprints!
I guess I really don’t have anything against the statues per se, on thinking about them again one realizes that the work put into them must have been appreciable. It’s just the fact that they had to put them there on that site. I think the site where they met would be the better spot. I would like to know, somehow, if tearing down the Grand Theater was put to some kind of popular vote.
I don’t know how much the statues cost, but will email Mr. Sottile.
To call the statues, ridiculous may not be the proper word as the statues, themselves, were very well done. The statues at the current location does allow tourists and locals to see them as they pass through town. Yet the bottom line is..that site would not have been chosen had the theatre remained on the corner of N. Portage and Main Street. Had the theatre remained I’m sure the statues would probably have been placed in Moore Park, if not the train depot on English Street.
dstier: Well, your comments do spark interest and concern with me. As you know I have posted many a post on CT about the Grand which is the closest theatre to my heart in all of my theatre interest. I have never met the sculptor artist, Don Sottile, but I have spoken to him over the phone. He is a Westfield native and lives in Penn Yan NY now. I agree with you that it’s a shame that the Grand was razed and that the statues were not put in Moore Park or at the train station where Lincoln actually met Grace. I would like to see the theatre returned to that corner, but suppose it is not a reality in the near future or sadly, ever. I wish I had been living in the county when plans to demolish the theatre were being formed as I would have launched a campaign to Save the Grand. Through my library research I have come to learn many of the names and faces of those involved with the demolition. Part of me would like to hold them accountable, but it wouldn’t bring the theatre back to us. It was a major error and a decision that we all have to live with now. Every small town who still has a theatre in operation are very lucky.
Does anyone else in Westfield think that the ridiculous statues of Lincoln and Grace Bedell don’t belong on that site? I really hope old blueprints and plans for the Grand Theater can be found and that some eccentric billionaire decides to remove those statues to some attic or a remote area in some park in Westfield and then rebuilds the Grand Theater. How much did it cost to make and put those stupid statues there when that money could have been used to fix up the theater and at least use it for some alternative purpose? A community recreation center maybe? Who allowed something this stupid?! It’s just more evidence of the cloying, maudlin sentimentality so pervasive in society today. If those statues have to be anywhere why not put them at the site where Lincoln met Grace Bedell instead of adding insult to injury by putting them on the site of a razed theater?!
Plus I recently read this theatre originally had 850 seats!
And perhaps it should just read “demolished” rather than “closed/demolished”?
Don’t believe the Grand was demolished in 1994, but rather in the Spring of 1992. But one thing for sure is that it was “sadly demolished”. Still hoping to hear from David Stear who originally added this theatre to Cinema Treasures.
Joe: Thanks for the information. Do I actually type in “issuu.com”. I would think it would be “issue.com” though will try it.
Patsy: Use Google Advanced Search, put issuu.com in the “site or domain” box, and the date January 03 1942 in the “exact wording or phrase” box. The article about the Grand starts on page 58.
My outgoing email isn’t working, so I’ll be unable to contact you until I get a different client set up. In any case, everthing I know about the Grand came from the online issues of Boxoffice.
There have been a lot of theaters called the Grand in California. but I’ve never been to any of them. Did you have a particular one in mind?
And I’ve read differing seat numbers so need to know the official number if not 748 as listed above when the theatre opened on July 17, 1941. I was told the number changed through the years as seat cushions wore out in the back of the auditorium and were replaced with seats from the front row ends.
Joe: Are you personally familiar with the Grand that stood in CA as I see on your profile page that you are in CA? Please email me at as you might be of great help to me in regards to my Grand research project. Thanks.