Great photos. In a couple of the exterior shots you can see a staircase going down to below the lobby. There was a Chineese restaurant located in the basement.
The Liberty may have had only 252 seats when first opened, however the building was enlarged by adding to the back end. Not sure what year, but late 40s or early 50s. Seating after that was 507 in a long narrow auditorium. You can clerly see where the extension to the building started by looking at the outside walls.
The 104th had the largest screen in Portland when it was built. 125 feet wide. Unfortunately, the picture was alway a bit dim. In later years the theater was divided and a smaller screen added. After it closed, the small screen from the twin was moved to the 99w in Newberg to replace the screen that had been damaged during a wind storm.
This was a beautiful theatre when it first opened and very well run. Later they added a very large Cinemascope screen. A very comfortable theatre indeed. The marquee was a flashing neon wonder to behold. Too bad it when downhill in the end. Triplexing a building of this size must have be a disaster as the post above indicates.
I would take exception to the Granada being the only true movie palace on the west side. The Variety is also a full blown palace with seating only a few seat short of 2000. A treasure now being restored. Check out varietytheatrecleveland.com. But yes, the Granada was a fabulous place.
I’d like to make a minor clearificaton to the above statements about the poster collection in the Aztec basement. I worked at the Aztec from the fall of 1965 through the spring of 1968. The theater was run by Preferred Theaters, which also ran the Plaza, the Mission and the El Cajon. Jerry Sorenson was the manager. I stated as night manager and then became assistant day manager for the Aztec. There was indeed a vast collection of movie posters in the basement. There were 40x60s, 24x28s, 14x28s, 11x14 lobby cards as well as 8x10s and 1 sheets. Some films had a complete set of all sizes, some had only a few pieces. The Aztec front was covered with all sizes of posters for the tripple features that we would run. We would never have to buy a poster as we would archive everything that came from the other theaters.
When I took the Theater Historical Society tour a couple of years ago we visted the then closed Million Dollar. A young lady with the Conservancy told us that the original lobby decor was still there, cover over by the sheet rock. They were hoping it could be restored sometime in the future. I’m sure it won’t be cheap and the million spent so far is far short of what’s needed to do a complete restoration of this theater but at least there is forward movement.
The Telenews open February 1941 and was sucessfull with an all news format which was popular in the pre television days of world war II. In 1950 the name was changed to the Coronet and began running art films. Unsuccesfull, after a few months the house was taken over by the management of the Hippodrome, the name was change to the Tower and it became a second run double feature house. It closed in Feburary 1954 and was converted back to retail space. With a lifespan of only 13 years, it was the last theatre to open on Euclid Avenue and was also the first to close.
I tried to list the Belasco, however it did not list as Cinema Treasures lists only theaters that have shown movies and the Balasco was a legit house for live theater and never ran any movies. It was home of the Metropolitan Community Church at one time.
The photo above was taken after the marquee and veritcal had been removed. This neighorhood theatre served as a moveover house for the Aladdin theatre in the late sixties and early seventies, runing foreign and art films. It went the porn route about the same time as the other theaters in the Aladdin group.
I remember the Hanna in the 1950s when I lived in Cleveland. The theater presented Browdway tours during the fall – spring season and ran various film festivals in the summer. I remember one year they did foreign films and the next year they did silent films with live piano.
The mural you refered to was a poster case for 24 sheets which were billboard sized displays usually used outdoors. The Broadway used this for advertising upcoming attractions when it was still a first run house. The Broadway did run Tora Tora Tora in the 1970s so this may have been left there after the theatre was triplexed and reduced to running second and third run films.
Since I’m in California it’s hard to keep up on my Ohio childhood haunts. Does anyone have any updated info on how the restoration is progressing on the Liberty. Thanks
This 4 plex was demolished in about 2000, not sure of the exact year. A Barnes and Noble book store is on the site now. The second UA theater which was on Park Sierra has been remodled into Medical offices.
The Unicorn was a very unique art house. I went there during the mid 1960’s. At that time they ran independant and foreign films, and a midnight show on Saturdays.
The building contained a book store and the ticket office was inside the book store. From the ticket counter you entered the theater from the front of the auditorium by the screen and walked up the ramped floor to the seats. A small lobby and concession area was located behind the auditorium where one would expect it. They served many tropical fruit drinks and such, more like a non alcoholic bar than a typical snack stand. As I recall it was a small theater with maybe 400 seats give or take. A truely fun place to go.
Pres, I am interested in the photos you mentioned. If you can e-mail them to me I would be most greatful. I’m also looking for any photos of the theaters that used to be on Loraine Ave in the 1940’s and 50s.
Great photos. In a couple of the exterior shots you can see a staircase going down to below the lobby. There was a Chineese restaurant located in the basement.
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Just posting to re-link to the e-mail notifications.
The Liberty may have had only 252 seats when first opened, however the building was enlarged by adding to the back end. Not sure what year, but late 40s or early 50s. Seating after that was 507 in a long narrow auditorium. You can clerly see where the extension to the building started by looking at the outside walls.
The 104th had the largest screen in Portland when it was built. 125 feet wide. Unfortunately, the picture was alway a bit dim. In later years the theater was divided and a smaller screen added. After it closed, the small screen from the twin was moved to the 99w in Newberg to replace the screen that had been damaged during a wind storm.
This was a beautiful theatre when it first opened and very well run. Later they added a very large Cinemascope screen. A very comfortable theatre indeed. The marquee was a flashing neon wonder to behold. Too bad it when downhill in the end. Triplexing a building of this size must have be a disaster as the post above indicates.
I would take exception to the Granada being the only true movie palace on the west side. The Variety is also a full blown palace with seating only a few seat short of 2000. A treasure now being restored. Check out varietytheatrecleveland.com. But yes, the Granada was a fabulous place.
P.S. to my above comment. The company that ran the theater in the 60s also ran the Spreckles and the Broadway.
The Tower was across the street from the Armed Forces YMCA and served mostly military men on shore leave. In the 60s they ran mostly soft core.
I’d like to make a minor clearificaton to the above statements about the poster collection in the Aztec basement. I worked at the Aztec from the fall of 1965 through the spring of 1968. The theater was run by Preferred Theaters, which also ran the Plaza, the Mission and the El Cajon. Jerry Sorenson was the manager. I stated as night manager and then became assistant day manager for the Aztec. There was indeed a vast collection of movie posters in the basement. There were 40x60s, 24x28s, 14x28s, 11x14 lobby cards as well as 8x10s and 1 sheets. Some films had a complete set of all sizes, some had only a few pieces. The Aztec front was covered with all sizes of posters for the tripple features that we would run. We would never have to buy a poster as we would archive everything that came from the other theaters.
When I took the Theater Historical Society tour a couple of years ago we visted the then closed Million Dollar. A young lady with the Conservancy told us that the original lobby decor was still there, cover over by the sheet rock. They were hoping it could be restored sometime in the future. I’m sure it won’t be cheap and the million spent so far is far short of what’s needed to do a complete restoration of this theater but at least there is forward movement.
The Telenews open February 1941 and was sucessfull with an all news format which was popular in the pre television days of world war II. In 1950 the name was changed to the Coronet and began running art films. Unsuccesfull, after a few months the house was taken over by the management of the Hippodrome, the name was change to the Tower and it became a second run double feature house. It closed in Feburary 1954 and was converted back to retail space. With a lifespan of only 13 years, it was the last theatre to open on Euclid Avenue and was also the first to close.
I tried to list the Belasco, however it did not list as Cinema Treasures lists only theaters that have shown movies and the Balasco was a legit house for live theater and never ran any movies. It was home of the Metropolitan Community Church at one time.
The photo above was taken after the marquee and veritcal had been removed. This neighorhood theatre served as a moveover house for the Aladdin theatre in the late sixties and early seventies, runing foreign and art films. It went the porn route about the same time as the other theaters in the Aladdin group.
I believe the seating capacity of the Variety was much higher than stated above. More like 1550 on the ground level and 350 in the balcony.
I have just added the Belasco to Cinema Treaure. Strange that it had not been listed before. Some photos can be see at this web address: View link
I remember the Hanna in the 1950s when I lived in Cleveland. The theater presented Browdway tours during the fall – spring season and ran various film festivals in the summer. I remember one year they did foreign films and the next year they did silent films with live piano.
The mural you refered to was a poster case for 24 sheets which were billboard sized displays usually used outdoors. The Broadway used this for advertising upcoming attractions when it was still a first run house. The Broadway did run Tora Tora Tora in the 1970s so this may have been left there after the theatre was triplexed and reduced to running second and third run films.
Since I’m in California it’s hard to keep up on my Ohio childhood haunts. Does anyone have any updated info on how the restoration is progressing on the Liberty. Thanks
If anyone has any photos of the theaters that were on Lorain Ave, I’d love to see them.
If anyone has any photos of the theaters that were on Lorain Ave, I’d love to see them.
If anyone has photos of any of the theatres that were on Lorain Ave, I’d love to see them.
This 4 plex was demolished in about 2000, not sure of the exact year. A Barnes and Noble book store is on the site now. The second UA theater which was on Park Sierra has been remodled into Medical offices.
The Unicorn was a very unique art house. I went there during the mid 1960’s. At that time they ran independant and foreign films, and a midnight show on Saturdays.
The building contained a book store and the ticket office was inside the book store. From the ticket counter you entered the theater from the front of the auditorium by the screen and walked up the ramped floor to the seats. A small lobby and concession area was located behind the auditorium where one would expect it. They served many tropical fruit drinks and such, more like a non alcoholic bar than a typical snack stand. As I recall it was a small theater with maybe 400 seats give or take. A truely fun place to go.
Pres, I am interested in the photos you mentioned. If you can e-mail them to me I would be most greatful. I’m also looking for any photos of the theaters that used to be on Loraine Ave in the 1940’s and 50s.