I think Ken McIntyre’s description of this theater is mistaken about the Turlock Theatre having been renamed the Fox Theatre. Evidence that this was an error comes from Ken McIntyre in his February 16, 2009, comment quoting the 1976 Modesto Bee article that begins with the line “The Turlock Theater at 128 N. Broadway was destroyed early this morning by fire…” In the 1950s and 1960s, ads for the theater in the Modesto Bee list it as the Fox Turlock Theatre, but the name Turlock apparently remained on the marquee, and by the 1970s the ads were back to listing it simply as the Turlock Theatre.
We also have an address discrepancy. The ads and the article in the Modesto Bee give the address of the Fox Turlock/Turlock as 128 N. Broadway, but we have both houses listed at 120 N. Broadway. Was the burned Turlock rebuilt on the same site in 1948, or was it moved a few doors up the street?
The photo Tinseltoes uploaded for the New Turlock Theatre page shows that the marquee and vertical signs on the house in 1959 were only slightly altered versions of the ones on the theater at the time of the 1946 fire. It looks like the front of the original building might have survived. If that’s the case, then the theater was always at 128 N. Broadway, at the corner of Olive Avenue. In the 1946 photo of the fire it certainly looks like the building was at the corner.
A photo from 1948 or later showing the entire facade of the rebuilt theater would be very helpful, as would a photo from any time from 1920 to 1976 showing the entire block.
I’m not sure that the Fox Theatre in the ACI photo lostmemory linked to was at Turlock. In 1942, the Fox was in the building in the postcard photo at the top of this page. In the 1950s it was converted into a bowling alley seen in this photo. In 1972 or 1973, the building was destroyed by a fire seen in this photo (the caption gives the date of the fire as July 1, 1973. I don’t know which year is right.)
The Fox name was supposed to have been moved to the Turlock Theatre in 1954, but there’s a photo of the Turlock with movies from 1958 and 1959 on its marquee. I’m beginning to question the claim that the Turlock was ever renamed the Fox. Maybe this house was the only Fox Theatre Turlock ever had.
Here is a photo of the 1946 fire that supposedly destroyed the Turlock Theatre. The job was not thorough. The marquee and vertical sign in the 1959 photo appear to be the same ones, only slightly modified from those in the 1946 photo.
I’m thinking that the theater’s walls might have survived the fire. Our listed seating capacity for the rebuilt house is larger, though. The footprint of the auditorium might have been expanded, or perhaps a balcony was added in the rebuilding.
I’ve just realized that the movies on the marquee in that photo also contradict the description on the Fox Theatre page, which says that the Fox name was moved to the Turlock Theatre when the first Fox was closed in 1954. The page for the first Fox implies the same thing. But here we have the Turlock name on the marquee with movies released in 1958 and 1959. The name switch had to have been later.
If the New Turlock was destroyed in 1945, the photo above can’t be it. The Warrior and the Slave Girl was released in 1958 and The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock in 1959.
Here is a fresh link to the photo RoadsideArchitecture linked to.
The July 4, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said “W. V. Schmidt will be manager of the new Grand moving picture theater which is nearing completion at Breese. The house will seat 450 persons.”
The July 4, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said that J. W. Jespersen and A. C. Dippo’s new, 400-seat theater on San Pablo Avenue at 27th Street was to be opened on July 27. As it is listed with 740 seats it was obviously expanded at some point. Possibly the 1915 opening gsmurph cites was a reopening after an expansion. It was not unknown for theaters to be expanded within a year or two of opening in those days.
There’s a photo of the 01 South block of El Dorado Street showing the Imperial Theatre on this web page. Scroll about 1/3 of the way down the page to the bold-type line that says “9 South El Dorado” and click the adjacent thumbnail photo. The Imperial’s marquee can be seen just left of center.
Building and Engineering News of June 27, 1919, reported that contracts had been let for a brick and steel theater to be built on N. Broadway in Turlock for A. H. and K. Arakelian. The architect for the project was A. W. Cornelius. This must have been the Turlock Theatre.
The Esquire that ran X-rated movies in the 1960s-1970s was a different theater, and this Esquire was long gone by then. The photo currently displayed above depicts the former State Theatre, which was renamed the Esquire after the original Esquire was closed in 1954, at which time it was either demolished and replaced by a department store or was converted into a department store.
Here is a 1936 photo of the State. It is a close shot, but the brickwork on the facade is recognizable as the same brick in the Esquire photo above. The photo should be moved to the State Theatre page. JasHarv’s and mjprigge’s comments, or course, also pertain to the former State.
A note that the name Esquire was moved to the former State Theatre in 1954 should probably be added to the introduction, to reduce confusion. And as the State operated as the Esquire from 1954 until at least the early 1970s, maybe that page should be renamed as well.
The front of the State Theatre had a remarkable resemblance to that of the LaSalle Theatre in Cleveland, which was also designed in 1927 by architect Nicola Petti. I think he might have used the same plans for both houses. If anyone from Toledo wants to know what the city lost with the demolition of the State, they can go to Cleveland where the LaSalle is still standing.
The front of the LaSalle Theatre bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the State Theatre in Toledo, which was also designed in 1927 by architect Nicola Petti. I think he might have used the same plans for both houses. Unfortunately, the State Theatre has been demolished.
A 1956 photo of the Sun Theatre, which was closed by that time, can be seen at this link.
A few doors down the street from the site of the Sun Theatre is the Blessed Hope Missionary Baptist Church, at 8804 Buckeye Road. Its building looks very much like a theater, complete with stage house. But if this church was ever a theater, I’ve been unable to discover what its name was. The sites of the Sun and its neighboring buildings is now a parking lot for the church. The rear portion of the church building can be seen in Street View.
The Cleveland Landmarks Commission’s list of buildings designed by Nicola Petti (click “Buildings” link on this page) gives the design date of the Sun Theatre as 1915, and it is the earliest theater on the list. The list might not be exhaustive, though.
The list also gives the Sun’s address as 8808 Buckeye rather than 8816, but the 1956 photo from Teaching & Learning Cleveland is from the city’s building inspection department, so the address given there, 8816, is probably the correct one. The stage tower-like part of the church is visible in that photo as well.
The Moreland Theatre was located at 11820 Buckeye Road, and as of 2009, when the Google camera car photographed it, the building was occupied by the Church of God in Christ. It was still easily recognizable as a former theater, despite the loss of its marquee. The building is still standing in the 2012 satellite view, though its roof looks to be in rough shape.
The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre says that the house closed in 1962, and later operated as a live dinner theater and then as a night club before finally becoming a church. It gives the interior style as “mostly Baroque” (Renaissance should be close enough.)
The form also lists four other theaters designed by Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet: the Hilliard Square (now the Lakewood) in Lakewood (already attributed at Cinema Treasures), the Pastime at Coshocton, the Falls at Cuyahoga Falls, and the Allen (later the Astor) at Akron.
The nomination form, which gives a detailed description and history of the house, plus three floor plans of the building, can be viewed at Google Documents, and can be downloaded as a PDF file from this link.
If the Allen was indeed the theater that was the subject of the 1920 Engineering News-Record item quoted in my previous comment, then it is likely that the Akron firm of Frank, Wagner & Mitchell acted only as supervising architects for the project. The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre in Cleveland lists the Allen/Astor Theatre in Akron as one of five theaters designed by the Moreland’s architects, Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet. The firm of Braverman & Havermaet had its offices in Cleveland.
Joe Vogel
commented about
Workzon
Oct 31, 2012 at 9:51 pm
The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre in Cleveland lists the Falls Theatre in Cuyahoga Falls as one of five theaters designed by the Moreland’s architects, Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet.
The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre in Cleveland lists the Pastime Theatre in Coshocton as one of five theaters designed by the Moreland’s architects, Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet.
The July 15, 1929, issue of The Film Daily said that the Strand Theatre in Caro had been sold to John E. Handy by E. J. Chapman.
There were a couple of other Chapmans associated with the theater business in Caro. The September 24, 1918, issue of Michigan Film Review mentioned a C. Chapman associated with the Temple Theatre at Caro, and another item in the same issue mentioned a Paul Chapman of Caro.
The Cleveland Landmarks Commission’s list of building designed by architect Nicola Petti includes an unnamed theater at Madison Avenue and W. 103rd Street, dated 1917. As that was only a few blocks west of this theater, perhaps it was the Madison Theatre that had the organ installed in 1921.
However, there was an earlier Madison Theatre, a 200 seat house opened in 1907 at Madison and W. 72nd Street. It seems unlikely that a 200-seat house would install a large organ, but the theater might have been expanded by 1921.
A chapter devoted to the Cameo Theatre in volume 2 of Jack Edward Shay’s Bygone Binghamton: Remembering People and Places of the Past (Google Books preview– chapter begins on page 35) says that the house opened in April, 1928. Its best-remembered proprietors, Ken and Frances Robinson, took over operation in 1954, and bought the house in 1957.
I think Ken McIntyre’s description of this theater is mistaken about the Turlock Theatre having been renamed the Fox Theatre. Evidence that this was an error comes from Ken McIntyre in his February 16, 2009, comment quoting the 1976 Modesto Bee article that begins with the line “The Turlock Theater at 128 N. Broadway was destroyed early this morning by fire…” In the 1950s and 1960s, ads for the theater in the Modesto Bee list it as the Fox Turlock Theatre, but the name Turlock apparently remained on the marquee, and by the 1970s the ads were back to listing it simply as the Turlock Theatre.
We also have an address discrepancy. The ads and the article in the Modesto Bee give the address of the Fox Turlock/Turlock as 128 N. Broadway, but we have both houses listed at 120 N. Broadway. Was the burned Turlock rebuilt on the same site in 1948, or was it moved a few doors up the street?
The photo Tinseltoes uploaded for the New Turlock Theatre page shows that the marquee and vertical signs on the house in 1959 were only slightly altered versions of the ones on the theater at the time of the 1946 fire. It looks like the front of the original building might have survived. If that’s the case, then the theater was always at 128 N. Broadway, at the corner of Olive Avenue. In the 1946 photo of the fire it certainly looks like the building was at the corner.
A photo from 1948 or later showing the entire facade of the rebuilt theater would be very helpful, as would a photo from any time from 1920 to 1976 showing the entire block.
I’m not sure that the Fox Theatre in the ACI photo lostmemory linked to was at Turlock. In 1942, the Fox was in the building in the postcard photo at the top of this page. In the 1950s it was converted into a bowling alley seen in this photo. In 1972 or 1973, the building was destroyed by a fire seen in this photo (the caption gives the date of the fire as July 1, 1973. I don’t know which year is right.)
The Fox name was supposed to have been moved to the Turlock Theatre in 1954, but there’s a photo of the Turlock with movies from 1958 and 1959 on its marquee. I’m beginning to question the claim that the Turlock was ever renamed the Fox. Maybe this house was the only Fox Theatre Turlock ever had.
Here is a photo of the 1946 fire that supposedly destroyed the Turlock Theatre. The job was not thorough. The marquee and vertical sign in the 1959 photo appear to be the same ones, only slightly modified from those in the 1946 photo.
I’m thinking that the theater’s walls might have survived the fire. Our listed seating capacity for the rebuilt house is larger, though. The footprint of the auditorium might have been expanded, or perhaps a balcony was added in the rebuilding.
I’ve just realized that the movies on the marquee in that photo also contradict the description on the Fox Theatre page, which says that the Fox name was moved to the Turlock Theatre when the first Fox was closed in 1954. The page for the first Fox implies the same thing. But here we have the Turlock name on the marquee with movies released in 1958 and 1959. The name switch had to have been later.
If the New Turlock was destroyed in 1945, the photo above can’t be it. The Warrior and the Slave Girl was released in 1958 and The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock in 1959.
Here is a fresh link to the photo RoadsideArchitecture linked to.
The July 4, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said “W. V. Schmidt will be manager of the new Grand moving picture theater which is nearing completion at Breese. The house will seat 450 persons.”
As the Cinema Annex was a separate theater it should have its own Cinema Treasures page.
The July 4, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World said that J. W. Jespersen and A. C. Dippo’s new, 400-seat theater on San Pablo Avenue at 27th Street was to be opened on July 27. As it is listed with 740 seats it was obviously expanded at some point. Possibly the 1915 opening gsmurph cites was a reopening after an expansion. It was not unknown for theaters to be expanded within a year or two of opening in those days.
kschneiderstl: Liberty was an early aka for the house listed at Cinema Treasures as the Sun Theatre.
There’s a photo of the 01 South block of El Dorado Street showing the Imperial Theatre on this web page. Scroll about 1/3 of the way down the page to the bold-type line that says “9 South El Dorado” and click the adjacent thumbnail photo. The Imperial’s marquee can be seen just left of center.
Building and Engineering News of June 27, 1919, reported that contracts had been let for a brick and steel theater to be built on N. Broadway in Turlock for A. H. and K. Arakelian. The architect for the project was A. W. Cornelius. This must have been the Turlock Theatre.
The Sierra Theatre was at 520 E. Main Street. The building is now occupied by a retail establishment, Solario’s Furniture and Jewelery.
The Esquire that ran X-rated movies in the 1960s-1970s was a different theater, and this Esquire was long gone by then. The photo currently displayed above depicts the former State Theatre, which was renamed the Esquire after the original Esquire was closed in 1954, at which time it was either demolished and replaced by a department store or was converted into a department store.
Here is a 1936 photo of the State. It is a close shot, but the brickwork on the facade is recognizable as the same brick in the Esquire photo above. The photo should be moved to the State Theatre page. JasHarv’s and mjprigge’s comments, or course, also pertain to the former State.
A note that the name Esquire was moved to the former State Theatre in 1954 should probably be added to the introduction, to reduce confusion. And as the State operated as the Esquire from 1954 until at least the early 1970s, maybe that page should be renamed as well.
The front of the State Theatre had a remarkable resemblance to that of the LaSalle Theatre in Cleveland, which was also designed in 1927 by architect Nicola Petti. I think he might have used the same plans for both houses. If anyone from Toledo wants to know what the city lost with the demolition of the State, they can go to Cleveland where the LaSalle is still standing.
The front of the LaSalle Theatre bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the State Theatre in Toledo, which was also designed in 1927 by architect Nicola Petti. I think he might have used the same plans for both houses. Unfortunately, the State Theatre has been demolished.
A 1956 photo of the Sun Theatre, which was closed by that time, can be seen at this link.
A few doors down the street from the site of the Sun Theatre is the Blessed Hope Missionary Baptist Church, at 8804 Buckeye Road. Its building looks very much like a theater, complete with stage house. But if this church was ever a theater, I’ve been unable to discover what its name was. The sites of the Sun and its neighboring buildings is now a parking lot for the church. The rear portion of the church building can be seen in Street View.
The Cleveland Landmarks Commission’s list of buildings designed by Nicola Petti (click “Buildings” link on this page) gives the design date of the Sun Theatre as 1915, and it is the earliest theater on the list. The list might not be exhaustive, though.
The list also gives the Sun’s address as 8808 Buckeye rather than 8816, but the 1956 photo from Teaching & Learning Cleveland is from the city’s building inspection department, so the address given there, 8816, is probably the correct one. The stage tower-like part of the church is visible in that photo as well.
My link to the PDF file got broken. Here is a corrected link.
The Moreland Theatre was located at 11820 Buckeye Road, and as of 2009, when the Google camera car photographed it, the building was occupied by the Church of God in Christ. It was still easily recognizable as a former theater, despite the loss of its marquee. The building is still standing in the 2012 satellite view, though its roof looks to be in rough shape.
The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre says that the house closed in 1962, and later operated as a live dinner theater and then as a night club before finally becoming a church. It gives the interior style as “mostly Baroque” (Renaissance should be close enough.)
The form also lists four other theaters designed by Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet: the Hilliard Square (now the Lakewood) in Lakewood (already attributed at Cinema Treasures), the Pastime at Coshocton, the Falls at Cuyahoga Falls, and the Allen (later the Astor) at Akron.
The nomination form, which gives a detailed description and history of the house, plus three floor plans of the building, can be viewed at Google Documents, and can be downloaded as a PDF file from this link.
If the Allen was indeed the theater that was the subject of the 1920 Engineering News-Record item quoted in my previous comment, then it is likely that the Akron firm of Frank, Wagner & Mitchell acted only as supervising architects for the project. The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre in Cleveland lists the Allen/Astor Theatre in Akron as one of five theaters designed by the Moreland’s architects, Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet. The firm of Braverman & Havermaet had its offices in Cleveland.
The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre in Cleveland lists the Falls Theatre in Cuyahoga Falls as one of five theaters designed by the Moreland’s architects, Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet.
The NRHP nomination form for the Moreland Theatre in Cleveland lists the Pastime Theatre in Coshocton as one of five theaters designed by the Moreland’s architects, Sigmund Braverman and Kurt Havermaet.
The Cleveland Landmarks Commission’s list of buildings designed by Nicola Petti also includes the Uptown Theatre.
The July 15, 1929, issue of The Film Daily said that the Strand Theatre in Caro had been sold to John E. Handy by E. J. Chapman.
There were a couple of other Chapmans associated with the theater business in Caro. The September 24, 1918, issue of Michigan Film Review mentioned a C. Chapman associated with the Temple Theatre at Caro, and another item in the same issue mentioned a Paul Chapman of Caro.
The Cleveland Landmarks Commission’s list of building designed by architect Nicola Petti includes an unnamed theater at Madison Avenue and W. 103rd Street, dated 1917. As that was only a few blocks west of this theater, perhaps it was the Madison Theatre that had the organ installed in 1921.
However, there was an earlier Madison Theatre, a 200 seat house opened in 1907 at Madison and W. 72nd Street. It seems unlikely that a 200-seat house would install a large organ, but the theater might have been expanded by 1921.
A chapter devoted to the Cameo Theatre in volume 2 of Jack Edward Shay’s Bygone Binghamton: Remembering People and Places of the Past (Google Books preview– chapter begins on page 35) says that the house opened in April, 1928. Its best-remembered proprietors, Ken and Frances Robinson, took over operation in 1954, and bought the house in 1957.