Frederick E. Querner opened an airdome known as Querner’s Dome Theater on April 12, 1913. Querner’s musical skills were useful in the presentation of live music with the films played. By 1916 (and perhaps as early as 1914), it was called the Dome Theater still operated by Querner and enclosed operating year-round with a 220-seat auditorium. In 1925, Querner received permission for an addition to the theater. In 1929, it assumed that a refresh brought sound to the Dome to remain viable.
Querner was still going after converting to sound into the 1940s as the Dome Theater. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1942. The theater stayed in the family with his wife, Agnes, running it with her son and Dick Jochim into the 1950s. Its 40 year journey may have ended. The building has since been demolished and replaced by a parking lot.
(This has no connection to the Frederick Theater on Linden Avenue and, thus, is unrelated to the Harry S. Bair designs. Those designs date to January of 1917 for the Linden Ave. Frederick Theater.
This venue was simply called Querner’s Dome Theater, the Dome Motion Picture and, finally, the Dome Theater. And there are two listings for this theater on Cinema Treasures - one as the Dome and one as the Querner. Because this one has the correct neighborhood, I would think this entry should remain as the Dome Theater; aka Querner’s Dome Theater and aka Dome Motion Picture Theatre.)
This venue replaced the Victoria Theatre - second of three using that name in Pittsburgh - that had opened on November 29, 1917 at 1862-1864 Center Avenue. The venue also had a bowling alley associated with it. The Victoria was closed on February 23, 1928 by Pittsburgh Public Safety Director James Clark for multiple safety reason as it had been “operated in a careless manor.” The theater was one of many closed in 1928 over safety concerns. It is assumed that the foundation of the theatre was retained and Louis Hendel had a new $130,000 building with a theater, offices, and a rear retail store built in the same footprint. The Italian Renaissance-styled Roosevelt Theatre (as shown above) launched here February 17, 1929 or just about one year from the date of the Victoria’s closure.
The Roosevelt was known for motion pictures but also live music with performances by Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Mervis Bros. Circuit closed the Roosevelt at the end of a 30-year lease on January 29, 1959 with a double-feature of “Johnny Rocco” and “Revolt in the Big House.” It was then sold to the non-denominational Church of Our Lady as a house of worship. The Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority purchased the facility in 1973 for potential re-use. Unfortunately, the venue was gutted by fire on January 13, 1974 and razed shortly thereafter.
This was a venue designed by architect Harry S. Bair in 1912. It was a building whose origin was in city improvement - the Wylie trolley car street line which led to a razing of selected buildings in a block of properties between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. This 7-story venue housed offices and businesses serving as a replacement for the demolished structures. The Verdi Theatre was the first name of the movie house appealing to Italian immigrants. A neighboring confectionery served as the de facto concession stand. In March of 1919, the Verdi improved presentations with two new Simplex projectors.
Joseph Goldhammer took on the venue in the 1920s renaming it as the Capitol Theater which appears to have faded prior to equipping for sound. The Capitol marketed toward its present audience base now a solidly African American neighborhood though not turning away anyone who frequented the Verdi. The building is an amazing source of vice which includes multiple busts for numbers rackets / illegal lotteries, illegal poker games, stabbings and at least one murder. The theater appears to have gone into receivership in 1926. The entire building was razed after a salvage sale in 1938.
The Weiland family operated this venue as one of several theaters in their portfolio. This was a converted garage / retail building that was re-imagined by architects Joseph B. Smithyman and Charles R. Geisler. It appears to have opened as the Weiland Theatre on January 3, 1934 with “Big Brain” and “Samarang.” In April of 1941, the Weiland family sold their theater to the Warner Circuit. Warner immediately changed its name to the Centre. After a brief refresh, the venue relaunched with “High Sierra” and “Keeping Company” on May 9, 1941.
Warner closed here on December 2, 1951 with “The Prowler” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” It was offered for sale with a dozen other Warner theaters as it was likely divesting due to the Paramount decree. The Giant Eagle chain of grocery stores purchased the building and had it demolished for its new store that opened here on May 1, 1952. It would close early in 2006 and replaced by a new CVS drug store.
The Cameraphone Company was the first U.S. circuit to attempt to market itself as a sound movie exhibitor. A franchisee launched on November 1, 1909 with a short-lived Cameraphone Theater playing the talking “Brady’s Thanksgiving” supported by a President Taft at Baseball Games short, and Pathe’s “Doomed.”
The Cameraphone was a dud in Shreveport and just months later, the venue became the Dixie Theatre. It was all over by early 1911 - just about a year after it had launched.
Thomas Burke Jr. and Martin Burke built a two-story, multipurpose entertainment and retail complex at 53-55 Fullerton for just $7,000. The building contained a dance hall, a nickelodeon, a pool hall and a retail shop when it opened in 1914. The theater primarily served African American audiences but all were welcomed. The dance hall / cabaret went by names including the Ritz, the Royal Garden Cabaret, and Javo’s Jungle. The theater was known in its silent era as Burke’s Theatre. Edward Burke served as a projectionist during the venue’s run. It appears that the Burkes sold out in 1930 without converting to sound.
The area in which Burke’s Theater was situated was a vibrant African American community with great night life. Music and meetings were held just doors away at the nearby - and famed - Loendi Social and Literary Club that had opened for elite local African American doctors, business leaders, professors and others back in 1897. But the nightclub held within the walls of the theater complex was anything but exclusive drawing folks of all social classes.
The adjoining nightclub had a tumultuous run and lost its operational license in 1927. Following Prohibition, as Javo’s Jungle, the operation was challenged again in 1936 over its liquor license and was stripped of that license in February of 1937. Renamed the Ritz, it was closed for allegedly running a numbers game that led to a major bust in 1938 halting the business for a period. Another bust came in 1953 where 148 persons were arrested for drinking tax-free in the nightclub that had no valid liquor license.
Meanwhile, the Burkes left their namesake theater apparently at the expiry of a 15-year leasing cycle apparently without converting to sound. The next operator did convert to talkies later that same year under its new name of the Hill Theatre. The Hill changed owners soon thereafter briefly becoming the Fullerton Theatre in 1932. In March of 1932, new operator E.J. Golden took on the venue changing names to the Golden Theater.
Unfortunate events that were suffered by the nightclub / cabaret were also occurring at the theater. Jacob and Sidney Soltz had taken on the venue renaming it as the Rhumba Theater. In 1937, the theatre suffered a minor fire that almost caused a panic; that was followed by a lye incident where a patron through skin-burning lye at fellow patrons. A gas explosion in 1952 caused minor damage and no injuries. And there were minor projection room fires, as well.
On the entertainment side, the Rhumba Theatre played African American led films from Sack Amusement. The Rhumba also hosted live music shows including a regular gig for Dakota Staton who went on to have a hit single in the 1950s. The theatre soldiered on despite a 1953 announcement of the Lower Hill Development / Redevelopment project that included the Civic Arena that would open on September 17, 1961. The Leondi club moved to new digs in 1958. The owners of the Rhumba were forced out in 1958 and the property razed. The Soltzes and the building’s owner successfully sued the City for shorting them the money they felt they were promised after the building had already been razed. The building - a vital everyperson’s part of the Jazz Age in Pittsburgh was finally silenced.
Closed at the end of its 50-year lease on September 6, 1965 with a triple feature of “Son of Katie Elder,” “Crack in the Mirror” and “Psycho.” The vacant venue was demolished beginning in November of 1968.
Built on the Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In Theatre’s former spot on Route 30 was the David Rockwell-architected Loews North Versailles. The 20-screen, $20 million megaplex had 4,200 seats with its largest auditorium seating 635 and sporting a 60 foot screen. But with competition from the Destinta Theatre nearby at Pittsburgh Plaza in Versailles and Loew’s own Waterfront 22 within ten miles opening in 2000, this was going to be a financial challenge.
In 2001, Loews Cineplex Circuit filed for bankruptcy protection likely able to duck creditors in some of its failed new locations in overbuilt situations. The Loews 20 North Versailles fit the bill perfectly and was quickly shuttered on June 28, 2001.
The Eastland Shopping Theatre was announced in the Fall of 1960 to be anchored by a Gimbel’s Department Store and a Sears store followed soon after its opening with a J.C. Penney’s. The two anchors launched before the mall’s other stores in August of 1963. Associated Theaters announced that it would add a single-screen cinema to the complex. The $400,000 elliptical structure with its vaulted roof was a daring design by architects Bernard J. Liff and Just of Liff-Just-Chetlin of Pittsburgh. Ground was broken in July of 1964 but soon Associated reconsidered the theatre’s design likely to better fit its spot in the shopping center and, likely, to save money on construction. The 1,000-seat road-show ready Eastland Theatre launched on Christmas Day of 1964 with Peter Ustinov in “Tokapi.”
The theatre was taken over by Cinemette Circuit. The shopping plaza got major competition in 1969 from the Monroeville Mall just six miles a way. In response, the complex housing the theatre became known as the Eastland Mall officially on November 14, 1973 as an enclosed shopping complex. But the closing of the Gimbel’s anchor led the Eastland Mall down a path toward greyfield status - a term synonymous with a “dead” or dying mall. Cinemette - seeing the mall in a downward spiral - downgraded its Eastland cinema to a sub-run dollar discount house on February 27, 1987. Cinemette would soon morph into Cinema World.
Cinema World appears to have dropped the location and it was run as an independent with the Manor Theatre to closure. The Eastland Theatre closed on July 30, 1992 at the end of a leasing cycle remaining as a sub-run discount venue. Its final films were “Lethal Weapon III” and “Beethoven” splitting with “Alien 3.” The Mall scraped by year after year with fewer and fewer stores and services until mercifully being shuttered in 2004 due to complaints including but not limited to falling ceilings, constant roof leakage, lack of heat, and buckling floors. The entire Mall including the former cinema was razed in 2007 with the exception of the Eastland Mall roadside attractor which curiously stayed as a “ghost sign” in the 2010s.
Associated Theaters launched the 1,100-seat Quad Cinema with four identical 275-seats as an automated theater in the basement of the Executive Building in downtown McKeesport. Cinemette took on the Associated properties and ran the Quad until 1978. Mike Cordone acquired the venue next for his Mini-Cinemas Circuit. But, as noted above, the venue flooded a final time and Cordone removed the projection and other useful equipment ending the theater’s run.
Al Weiss dropped the lease of the Capitol which closed permanently on September 30, 1956. After nearly two years of vacancy, it became the Bingo parlor that was protested by a number of local churches worried that it was cutting into their Bingo profits. Though not for changing in the theater’s name, it was officially renamed as the Capitol Auditorium for its post-theatrical Bingo and meeting usage in 1958 to 1964. It seems to have been repurposed for a retail store in 1964.
This venue opened as J.P. Harris Memorial Theatre on April 26, 1929. It wasn’t changed until Associated Theaters dropped the J.P Harris to simply the Memorial Theatre in the 1960s. It was then converted to a twin-screen venue called the McKees Cinemas 1 & 2. It is assumed that it went out of business on May 21, 1976 when it was damaged by a fire that destroyed two blocks of Tube City’s downtown.
This project’s roots dated back to 1905 when Dr. A. James P. White of White’s Opera House decided to build a mammoth new stock theater on five lots in downtown McKeesport. White’s New Theater opened at 629-635 Walnut in downtown McKeesport on March 19, 1908 with Julia Marlowe starring in a live performance of “As You Like It.” The Henry J. Lohman architecture wowed with what was called a Corinthian architectural style in a venue that seated 2,118 with 22 dressing rooms at launch. The $200,000 theater was underway; but stock theater proved to be a challenging environment entering the 1910s, especially for the Tube City which had fewer than 45,000 residents at that time. So the venue followed the trend of Hippodromes all over the country that eschewed live stage plays in favor of heavy doses of vaudeville and short novelty films changing to White’s Hippodrome late in 1909.
In 1913, Rowland & Clark Circuit took on the venue which mostly went by Hippodrome Theater. In 1917, John P. Harris of Harris Amusement Circuit took over the venue giving it a major refresh. The house was reduced to 1,984 seats with a more modern outlay. It relaunched for Harris on January 29, 1917 as Harris' Hippodrome / Hippodrome Theatre retaining that name into 1926. The venue became known as the Harris Theater. The building of the new Harris Theatre in 1928 and opening in 1929 appears to be the impetus for this venue’s long period of vacancy in the 1930s and into the 1940s.
Warner Bros. inherited the property in June of 1930 when it purchased the Harris Amusement locations. It announced later in the 1930s that the former Hippodrome would be razed. That demolition finally was taking place but in a manner that proved fatal to a young boy. In partially razing the building in 1943, a boy fell into a pool of rain water drowning. An unfortunate ending for the entertainment showplace from decade’s past.
The Hotel Newell opened on this spot on December 1, 1892 in a building that had previously held the offices of the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper and a famous tavern that predated the hotel and survived until the hotel’s closure in April of 1919. The hotel was well known, according to reports, throughout the country due to its open door policy for high profile athletes who frequented the hotel and its tavern. But the beginning of Prohibition and the death of owner John Newell took away the venue’s mystique. The entire contents of the building were sold at auction on April 29, 1919. Isaac Guckenheimer had the building overhauled to create a movie theater on the ground floor with offices above.
He launched the Blackstone Theater on August 7, 1919 with Tom Moore in “Heartsease” supported by a Universal short subject and E.G. Klaphake at the venue’s pipe organ. The theater was bathed in colors of old rose, ivory and gold in Adam architectural style but also featuring an atmospheric ceiling with night sky lighting effects. Rowland and Clark took on the venue’s operation. When the Circuit began wiring houses for Vitaphone sound in 1927, it - under the Stanley-Clark-Davis operation just prior to Warners taking over the operation - decided that the 400-seat Blackstone wasn’t worth converting.
The circuit dropped the venue closing the Blackstone permanently on October 5, 1927 with the film, “Metropolis.” The theater’s space was converted to a long-running men’s fashion store. Until Stanley sold the building in 1933 for a million dollars, the structure remained named the Blackstone Building. The building has since been razed.
The Greater Pittsburg (sic) Cameraphone Company was the first U.S. circuit to attempt to market itself as a sound movie exhibitor. It launched its second Pittsburgh-area theater here on October 16, 1908 with “Krausmeyer’s Birthday,” “Foolishness” and “Roller Skaters.” The five-story building housed many other tenants.
Billed as the “marvelous Cameraphone,” the venue was a quick success. The Company then added the East End Cameraphone that opened within two months. This venue became marketed as the Downtown Cameraphone Theater when the fledgling circuit was growing. It would have a half dozen local locations.
The theater would drop the sound films’ concept and find new operators. The Downtown Cameraphone closed along with the other Pittsburgh theaters for the Spanish Flu pandemic on November 6, 1918. Rowland & Clark acquired the venue and reopened it as the Savoy Theatre in 1919. Rowland & Clark dropped the venue at the end of a leasing period on June 29, 1922.
Universal Film Co. exhibition took on the venue giving it a shocking transformation making it a movie palace. The three month, high-profile project was carried out to the plans of architect W.E. Snaman. It cost north of $150,000 including a Wurlitzer Hope Jones pipe organ upon completion.
It relaunched as the Cameo Theater for the Universal subsidiary Cameo Theatre Co. on September 18, 1922 with the Universal Jewel feature “Human Hearts” supported by a newsreel and comedy short. Lowry Curran and A.H. Ritter shared opening day organ playing.
In 1925, the Cameo subsidiary was folded into Universal’s portfolio. The Cameo was destroyed by fire on July 4, 1928 that shot straight up and out collapsing the building’s roof and out across the street to the Grand Theater. Although blamed on the beauty shop in the third floor, the projection booth appears to be a significant player in the theater’s spectacular finale.
The Uptown Cameraphone Theatre launched August 9, 1913 with Clara Kimball Young in “A Faithful Servant.” The buff brick and stone new-build venue was a Mission Revival-styled theater bathed in green. It should be aka Uptown Cameraphone as it was marketed briefly as the Uptown Cameraphone Theatre.
Victor Rigaumont designed the Grecian style Capitol Theatre for Rowland & Clark Theatres in 1922. It launched June 18, 1923 with a Peloubet Reed pipe organ and the film, “Wandering Daughters.”
Announced in 1911 with plans by architect Albert Storch was the Crystal Theater, a nickelodeon by the Union Amusement Company which opened in 1912 but was a quick casualty closing in 1913. The Crystal was reopened January 1, 1915 with Evelyn Nesbit and Russell Thaw in “The Threads of Destiny” under new management and with an improved auditorium.
Under final owner A.G. Thomas, the theater was accused of using non-union personnel and was spattered with a malodorous chemical on May 22, 1922. Thomas got the message and closed the theater by year’s end. He offered the theater’s 200 seats, organ, piano, Powers 6-A projectors, and everything else for sale on December 31, 1922 ending the venue’s run. It was converted into a retail spot for a wallpaper merchant.
Guessing by ads that this launched on March 7, 1913 as the Cameraphone Theatre’s, the Cameraphone - East Liberty. Its proximity - within two blocks - of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s bustling East Liberty station. The venue was the longest-lasting Cameraphone operation closing just two months shy of its 54th anniversary for the small chain. The Cameraphone - East Liberty location was equipped for sound in 1929 to remain viable. With daily ridership of over 10,000 passengers a day, it was safe to assume a lot of foot traffic reached the Cameraphone.
The Cameraphone - East Liberty was modernized in 1941. The programming was a grind policy and the management was open to exploitation titles and independent films in addition to double and triple feature third-run Hollywood fare. The clientele and neighborhood were changing dramatically. The combination and television and the use of automobiles made for a challenging environment to operate a parking-starved aging movie theater. Passenger traffic at the East Liberty had gone from about 11,000 passengers a day in 1930 to just 500 daily passengers in 1960 - a 95% decrease. The venue turned to risqué, soft core adult fare in the early 1960s before going all-in with adult films and live burley shows trying to hang on. The East Liberty Station closed in 1961 and was bulldozed in 1962 - a portent of things to come in East Liberty’s business district.
The Cameraphone Theatre - East Liberty closed January 7, 1967 at the end of its lease and under litigation from ASCAP for copyright royalties owed; and under pressure from the local law enforcement for showing obscene content; and, ultimately, under eviction notices by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) which targeted the East Liberty area for a 254-acre renewal zone which was part of Penn Circle.
A classified ad in January of 1967 offered all of the movie equipment and fixtures at the Camerphone for sale. The neighboring Rio Bar and Restaurant offered all of its fixtures for sale which included the “longest bar” in Pittsburgh. The corner hotel housing the Rio and offered everything in and attached to its 63 rooms and lobby for sale. And even the other long-time Cameraphone neighbor, the shoe shine parlor, offered all of its equipment and fixtures as the East Liberty businesses in the URA zone scrambled to get anything of value out ahead of the bulldozers. They came a month later.
For at least two decades, the spot was just a grassy patch with some benches looking forlorn. However, in the 2020s, a large apartment / condo building sits on the spot of the former Cameraphone Theatre - East End while a large Target department store took up the opposite side of the street which once housed late 19th Century and early 20th Century retail structures. The few period buildings that survive can be found a block away.
Opened by Harris Amusement Company with live vaudeville on October 20, 1913 the Italian Renaissance Sheridan Square Theatre was an East Liberty destination theater rivaling the downtown houses. The Harris circuit selected the name of Sheridan to honor Civil War figure, Union Cavalry General Philip Sheridan. The Sheridan Square Theatre’s best days were when Gene Kelly ushered there and during the Golden Age of Hollywood when RKO Theatres assumed control of the venue on November 4, 1929 under the moniker of the RKO Sheridan Square. Warner Bros. Circuit took on the venue in 1933. Cinemette Corp. took over 17 venues from Warner in 1973 including the Sheridan Square which was likely at the end of a leasing point at its 60th anniversary. Its oddest moment was when an abandoned baby was left in the theatre and, when the parent(s) could not be located, the baby was adopted under then name of Catherine Variety Sheridan.
Sadly, the theatre’s predictable last act was rather sketchy by all counts. Cinemette Circuit subleased the venue to two different operators in 1976-1978. Theatre manager Martel Unman was charged with drug trafficking when several ounces of heroin were found in the Sheridan Square Theatre’s managerial office in December of 1976. Then an adult policy was instituted by Gilbert “Gibby” Katz in June of 1977 dropping first-run. Katz also programmed the Palace and Ritz-Mini adult theaters. Katz claimed that teenagers had come to the Sheridan’s first-run fare but had caused $15,000 of damage to the theater seats and were scaring off adult patrons. A neighboring church protested the adult films with 1,500 signatures. The adult films were finally stopped in early August of 1977. The second-run discount policy was discontinued after Katz died late in 1977 with Cinemette taking back over the lease in 1978 but not reopening the venue.
Two investors bought the facility planning to restore it. But the roof damage alone would have cost some $200,000 to repair making the project financially impossible. Reports about the theater’s demolition beginning in September of 1987 suggest a 1979 closing date but there is no evidence of the screenings. Part of the terra cotta front was salvaged during the demolition but little else was kept.
Likely closed after a minor projection booth fire on August 22 1921 as the building is used for other retail purposes not long after.
Frederick E. Querner opened an airdome known as Querner’s Dome Theater on April 12, 1913. Querner’s musical skills were useful in the presentation of live music with the films played. By 1916 (and perhaps as early as 1914), it was called the Dome Theater still operated by Querner and enclosed operating year-round with a 220-seat auditorium. In 1925, Querner received permission for an addition to the theater. In 1929, it assumed that a refresh brought sound to the Dome to remain viable.
Querner was still going after converting to sound into the 1940s as the Dome Theater. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1942. The theater stayed in the family with his wife, Agnes, running it with her son and Dick Jochim into the 1950s. Its 40 year journey may have ended. The building has since been demolished and replaced by a parking lot.
(This has no connection to the Frederick Theater on Linden Avenue and, thus, is unrelated to the Harry S. Bair designs. Those designs date to January of 1917 for the Linden Ave. Frederick Theater.
This venue was simply called Querner’s Dome Theater, the Dome Motion Picture and, finally, the Dome Theater. And there are two listings for this theater on Cinema Treasures - one as the Dome and one as the Querner. Because this one has the correct neighborhood, I would think this entry should remain as the Dome Theater; aka Querner’s Dome Theater and aka Dome Motion Picture Theatre.)
This venue replaced the Victoria Theatre - second of three using that name in Pittsburgh - that had opened on November 29, 1917 at 1862-1864 Center Avenue. The venue also had a bowling alley associated with it. The Victoria was closed on February 23, 1928 by Pittsburgh Public Safety Director James Clark for multiple safety reason as it had been “operated in a careless manor.” The theater was one of many closed in 1928 over safety concerns. It is assumed that the foundation of the theatre was retained and Louis Hendel had a new $130,000 building with a theater, offices, and a rear retail store built in the same footprint. The Italian Renaissance-styled Roosevelt Theatre (as shown above) launched here February 17, 1929 or just about one year from the date of the Victoria’s closure.
The Roosevelt was known for motion pictures but also live music with performances by Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Mervis Bros. Circuit closed the Roosevelt at the end of a 30-year lease on January 29, 1959 with a double-feature of “Johnny Rocco” and “Revolt in the Big House.” It was then sold to the non-denominational Church of Our Lady as a house of worship. The Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority purchased the facility in 1973 for potential re-use. Unfortunately, the venue was gutted by fire on January 13, 1974 and razed shortly thereafter.
This was a venue designed by architect Harry S. Bair in 1912. It was a building whose origin was in city improvement - the Wylie trolley car street line which led to a razing of selected buildings in a block of properties between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. This 7-story venue housed offices and businesses serving as a replacement for the demolished structures. The Verdi Theatre was the first name of the movie house appealing to Italian immigrants. A neighboring confectionery served as the de facto concession stand. In March of 1919, the Verdi improved presentations with two new Simplex projectors.
Joseph Goldhammer took on the venue in the 1920s renaming it as the Capitol Theater which appears to have faded prior to equipping for sound. The Capitol marketed toward its present audience base now a solidly African American neighborhood though not turning away anyone who frequented the Verdi. The building is an amazing source of vice which includes multiple busts for numbers rackets / illegal lotteries, illegal poker games, stabbings and at least one murder. The theater appears to have gone into receivership in 1926. The entire building was razed after a salvage sale in 1938.
The Weiland family operated this venue as one of several theaters in their portfolio. This was a converted garage / retail building that was re-imagined by architects Joseph B. Smithyman and Charles R. Geisler. It appears to have opened as the Weiland Theatre on January 3, 1934 with “Big Brain” and “Samarang.” In April of 1941, the Weiland family sold their theater to the Warner Circuit. Warner immediately changed its name to the Centre. After a brief refresh, the venue relaunched with “High Sierra” and “Keeping Company” on May 9, 1941.
Warner closed here on December 2, 1951 with “The Prowler” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” It was offered for sale with a dozen other Warner theaters as it was likely divesting due to the Paramount decree. The Giant Eagle chain of grocery stores purchased the building and had it demolished for its new store that opened here on May 1, 1952. It would close early in 2006 and replaced by a new CVS drug store.
The Cameraphone Company was the first U.S. circuit to attempt to market itself as a sound movie exhibitor. A franchisee launched on November 1, 1909 with a short-lived Cameraphone Theater playing the talking “Brady’s Thanksgiving” supported by a President Taft at Baseball Games short, and Pathe’s “Doomed.”
The Cameraphone was a dud in Shreveport and just months later, the venue became the Dixie Theatre. It was all over by early 1911 - just about a year after it had launched.
Thomas Burke Jr. and Martin Burke built a two-story, multipurpose entertainment and retail complex at 53-55 Fullerton for just $7,000. The building contained a dance hall, a nickelodeon, a pool hall and a retail shop when it opened in 1914. The theater primarily served African American audiences but all were welcomed. The dance hall / cabaret went by names including the Ritz, the Royal Garden Cabaret, and Javo’s Jungle. The theater was known in its silent era as Burke’s Theatre. Edward Burke served as a projectionist during the venue’s run. It appears that the Burkes sold out in 1930 without converting to sound.
The area in which Burke’s Theater was situated was a vibrant African American community with great night life. Music and meetings were held just doors away at the nearby - and famed - Loendi Social and Literary Club that had opened for elite local African American doctors, business leaders, professors and others back in 1897. But the nightclub held within the walls of the theater complex was anything but exclusive drawing folks of all social classes.
The adjoining nightclub had a tumultuous run and lost its operational license in 1927. Following Prohibition, as Javo’s Jungle, the operation was challenged again in 1936 over its liquor license and was stripped of that license in February of 1937. Renamed the Ritz, it was closed for allegedly running a numbers game that led to a major bust in 1938 halting the business for a period. Another bust came in 1953 where 148 persons were arrested for drinking tax-free in the nightclub that had no valid liquor license.
Meanwhile, the Burkes left their namesake theater apparently at the expiry of a 15-year leasing cycle apparently without converting to sound. The next operator did convert to talkies later that same year under its new name of the Hill Theatre. The Hill changed owners soon thereafter briefly becoming the Fullerton Theatre in 1932. In March of 1932, new operator E.J. Golden took on the venue changing names to the Golden Theater.
Unfortunate events that were suffered by the nightclub / cabaret were also occurring at the theater. Jacob and Sidney Soltz had taken on the venue renaming it as the Rhumba Theater. In 1937, the theatre suffered a minor fire that almost caused a panic; that was followed by a lye incident where a patron through skin-burning lye at fellow patrons. A gas explosion in 1952 caused minor damage and no injuries. And there were minor projection room fires, as well.
On the entertainment side, the Rhumba Theatre played African American led films from Sack Amusement. The Rhumba also hosted live music shows including a regular gig for Dakota Staton who went on to have a hit single in the 1950s. The theatre soldiered on despite a 1953 announcement of the Lower Hill Development / Redevelopment project that included the Civic Arena that would open on September 17, 1961. The Leondi club moved to new digs in 1958. The owners of the Rhumba were forced out in 1958 and the property razed. The Soltzes and the building’s owner successfully sued the City for shorting them the money they felt they were promised after the building had already been razed. The building - a vital everyperson’s part of the Jazz Age in Pittsburgh was finally silenced.
Closed at the end of its 50-year lease on September 6, 1965 with a triple feature of “Son of Katie Elder,” “Crack in the Mirror” and “Psycho.” The vacant venue was demolished beginning in November of 1968.
The $500,000 1976 renovation of the Stanley Theater by Cinemette Circuit was credited to architect Bernard J. Liff
Built on the Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In Theatre’s former spot on Route 30 was the David Rockwell-architected Loews North Versailles. The 20-screen, $20 million megaplex had 4,200 seats with its largest auditorium seating 635 and sporting a 60 foot screen. But with competition from the Destinta Theatre nearby at Pittsburgh Plaza in Versailles and Loew’s own Waterfront 22 within ten miles opening in 2000, this was going to be a financial challenge.
In 2001, Loews Cineplex Circuit filed for bankruptcy protection likely able to duck creditors in some of its failed new locations in overbuilt situations. The Loews 20 North Versailles fit the bill perfectly and was quickly shuttered on June 28, 2001.
The Eastland Shopping Theatre was announced in the Fall of 1960 to be anchored by a Gimbel’s Department Store and a Sears store followed soon after its opening with a J.C. Penney’s. The two anchors launched before the mall’s other stores in August of 1963. Associated Theaters announced that it would add a single-screen cinema to the complex. The $400,000 elliptical structure with its vaulted roof was a daring design by architects Bernard J. Liff and Just of Liff-Just-Chetlin of Pittsburgh. Ground was broken in July of 1964 but soon Associated reconsidered the theatre’s design likely to better fit its spot in the shopping center and, likely, to save money on construction. The 1,000-seat road-show ready Eastland Theatre launched on Christmas Day of 1964 with Peter Ustinov in “Tokapi.”
The theatre was taken over by Cinemette Circuit. The shopping plaza got major competition in 1969 from the Monroeville Mall just six miles a way. In response, the complex housing the theatre became known as the Eastland Mall officially on November 14, 1973 as an enclosed shopping complex. But the closing of the Gimbel’s anchor led the Eastland Mall down a path toward greyfield status - a term synonymous with a “dead” or dying mall. Cinemette - seeing the mall in a downward spiral - downgraded its Eastland cinema to a sub-run dollar discount house on February 27, 1987. Cinemette would soon morph into Cinema World.
Cinema World appears to have dropped the location and it was run as an independent with the Manor Theatre to closure. The Eastland Theatre closed on July 30, 1992 at the end of a leasing cycle remaining as a sub-run discount venue. Its final films were “Lethal Weapon III” and “Beethoven” splitting with “Alien 3.” The Mall scraped by year after year with fewer and fewer stores and services until mercifully being shuttered in 2004 due to complaints including but not limited to falling ceilings, constant roof leakage, lack of heat, and buckling floors. The entire Mall including the former cinema was razed in 2007 with the exception of the Eastland Mall roadside attractor which curiously stayed as a “ghost sign” in the 2010s.
Associated Theaters launched the 1,100-seat Quad Cinema with four identical 275-seats as an automated theater in the basement of the Executive Building in downtown McKeesport. Cinemette took on the Associated properties and ran the Quad until 1978. Mike Cordone acquired the venue next for his Mini-Cinemas Circuit. But, as noted above, the venue flooded a final time and Cordone removed the projection and other useful equipment ending the theater’s run.
Al Weiss dropped the lease of the Capitol which closed permanently on September 30, 1956. After nearly two years of vacancy, it became the Bingo parlor that was protested by a number of local churches worried that it was cutting into their Bingo profits. Though not for changing in the theater’s name, it was officially renamed as the Capitol Auditorium for its post-theatrical Bingo and meeting usage in 1958 to 1964. It seems to have been repurposed for a retail store in 1964.
This venue opened as J.P. Harris Memorial Theatre on April 26, 1929. It wasn’t changed until Associated Theaters dropped the J.P Harris to simply the Memorial Theatre in the 1960s. It was then converted to a twin-screen venue called the McKees Cinemas 1 & 2. It is assumed that it went out of business on May 21, 1976 when it was damaged by a fire that destroyed two blocks of Tube City’s downtown.
This project’s roots dated back to 1905 when Dr. A. James P. White of White’s Opera House decided to build a mammoth new stock theater on five lots in downtown McKeesport. White’s New Theater opened at 629-635 Walnut in downtown McKeesport on March 19, 1908 with Julia Marlowe starring in a live performance of “As You Like It.” The Henry J. Lohman architecture wowed with what was called a Corinthian architectural style in a venue that seated 2,118 with 22 dressing rooms at launch. The $200,000 theater was underway; but stock theater proved to be a challenging environment entering the 1910s, especially for the Tube City which had fewer than 45,000 residents at that time. So the venue followed the trend of Hippodromes all over the country that eschewed live stage plays in favor of heavy doses of vaudeville and short novelty films changing to White’s Hippodrome late in 1909.
In 1913, Rowland & Clark Circuit took on the venue which mostly went by Hippodrome Theater. In 1917, John P. Harris of Harris Amusement Circuit took over the venue giving it a major refresh. The house was reduced to 1,984 seats with a more modern outlay. It relaunched for Harris on January 29, 1917 as Harris' Hippodrome / Hippodrome Theatre retaining that name into 1926. The venue became known as the Harris Theater. The building of the new Harris Theatre in 1928 and opening in 1929 appears to be the impetus for this venue’s long period of vacancy in the 1930s and into the 1940s.
Warner Bros. inherited the property in June of 1930 when it purchased the Harris Amusement locations. It announced later in the 1930s that the former Hippodrome would be razed. That demolition finally was taking place but in a manner that proved fatal to a young boy. In partially razing the building in 1943, a boy fell into a pool of rain water drowning. An unfortunate ending for the entertainment showplace from decade’s past.
The Hotel Newell opened on this spot on December 1, 1892 in a building that had previously held the offices of the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper and a famous tavern that predated the hotel and survived until the hotel’s closure in April of 1919. The hotel was well known, according to reports, throughout the country due to its open door policy for high profile athletes who frequented the hotel and its tavern. But the beginning of Prohibition and the death of owner John Newell took away the venue’s mystique. The entire contents of the building were sold at auction on April 29, 1919. Isaac Guckenheimer had the building overhauled to create a movie theater on the ground floor with offices above.
He launched the Blackstone Theater on August 7, 1919 with Tom Moore in “Heartsease” supported by a Universal short subject and E.G. Klaphake at the venue’s pipe organ. The theater was bathed in colors of old rose, ivory and gold in Adam architectural style but also featuring an atmospheric ceiling with night sky lighting effects. Rowland and Clark took on the venue’s operation. When the Circuit began wiring houses for Vitaphone sound in 1927, it - under the Stanley-Clark-Davis operation just prior to Warners taking over the operation - decided that the 400-seat Blackstone wasn’t worth converting.
The circuit dropped the venue closing the Blackstone permanently on October 5, 1927 with the film, “Metropolis.” The theater’s space was converted to a long-running men’s fashion store. Until Stanley sold the building in 1933 for a million dollars, the structure remained named the Blackstone Building. The building has since been razed.
The Greater Pittsburg (sic) Cameraphone Company was the first U.S. circuit to attempt to market itself as a sound movie exhibitor. It launched its second Pittsburgh-area theater here on October 16, 1908 with “Krausmeyer’s Birthday,” “Foolishness” and “Roller Skaters.” The five-story building housed many other tenants.
Billed as the “marvelous Cameraphone,” the venue was a quick success. The Company then added the East End Cameraphone that opened within two months. This venue became marketed as the Downtown Cameraphone Theater when the fledgling circuit was growing. It would have a half dozen local locations.
The theater would drop the sound films’ concept and find new operators. The Downtown Cameraphone closed along with the other Pittsburgh theaters for the Spanish Flu pandemic on November 6, 1918. Rowland & Clark acquired the venue and reopened it as the Savoy Theatre in 1919. Rowland & Clark dropped the venue at the end of a leasing period on June 29, 1922.
Universal Film Co. exhibition took on the venue giving it a shocking transformation making it a movie palace. The three month, high-profile project was carried out to the plans of architect W.E. Snaman. It cost north of $150,000 including a Wurlitzer Hope Jones pipe organ upon completion.
It relaunched as the Cameo Theater for the Universal subsidiary Cameo Theatre Co. on September 18, 1922 with the Universal Jewel feature “Human Hearts” supported by a newsreel and comedy short. Lowry Curran and A.H. Ritter shared opening day organ playing.
In 1925, the Cameo subsidiary was folded into Universal’s portfolio. The Cameo was destroyed by fire on July 4, 1928 that shot straight up and out collapsing the building’s roof and out across the street to the Grand Theater. Although blamed on the beauty shop in the third floor, the projection booth appears to be a significant player in the theater’s spectacular finale.
The Uptown Cameraphone Theatre launched August 9, 1913 with Clara Kimball Young in “A Faithful Servant.” The buff brick and stone new-build venue was a Mission Revival-styled theater bathed in green. It should be aka Uptown Cameraphone as it was marketed briefly as the Uptown Cameraphone Theatre.
aka Downtown Cameraphone Theater
Closed September 5, 2015 permanently unable to covert to digital projection.
1897
Victor Rigaumont designed the Grecian style Capitol Theatre for Rowland & Clark Theatres in 1922. It launched June 18, 1923 with a Peloubet Reed pipe organ and the film, “Wandering Daughters.”
Announced in 1911 with plans by architect Albert Storch was the Crystal Theater, a nickelodeon by the Union Amusement Company which opened in 1912 but was a quick casualty closing in 1913. The Crystal was reopened January 1, 1915 with Evelyn Nesbit and Russell Thaw in “The Threads of Destiny” under new management and with an improved auditorium.
Under final owner A.G. Thomas, the theater was accused of using non-union personnel and was spattered with a malodorous chemical on May 22, 1922. Thomas got the message and closed the theater by year’s end. He offered the theater’s 200 seats, organ, piano, Powers 6-A projectors, and everything else for sale on December 31, 1922 ending the venue’s run. It was converted into a retail spot for a wallpaper merchant.
Guessing by ads that this launched on March 7, 1913 as the Cameraphone Theatre’s, the Cameraphone - East Liberty. Its proximity - within two blocks - of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s bustling East Liberty station. The venue was the longest-lasting Cameraphone operation closing just two months shy of its 54th anniversary for the small chain. The Cameraphone - East Liberty location was equipped for sound in 1929 to remain viable. With daily ridership of over 10,000 passengers a day, it was safe to assume a lot of foot traffic reached the Cameraphone.
The Cameraphone - East Liberty was modernized in 1941. The programming was a grind policy and the management was open to exploitation titles and independent films in addition to double and triple feature third-run Hollywood fare. The clientele and neighborhood were changing dramatically. The combination and television and the use of automobiles made for a challenging environment to operate a parking-starved aging movie theater. Passenger traffic at the East Liberty had gone from about 11,000 passengers a day in 1930 to just 500 daily passengers in 1960 - a 95% decrease. The venue turned to risqué, soft core adult fare in the early 1960s before going all-in with adult films and live burley shows trying to hang on. The East Liberty Station closed in 1961 and was bulldozed in 1962 - a portent of things to come in East Liberty’s business district.
The Cameraphone Theatre - East Liberty closed January 7, 1967 at the end of its lease and under litigation from ASCAP for copyright royalties owed; and under pressure from the local law enforcement for showing obscene content; and, ultimately, under eviction notices by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) which targeted the East Liberty area for a 254-acre renewal zone which was part of Penn Circle.
A classified ad in January of 1967 offered all of the movie equipment and fixtures at the Camerphone for sale. The neighboring Rio Bar and Restaurant offered all of its fixtures for sale which included the “longest bar” in Pittsburgh. The corner hotel housing the Rio and offered everything in and attached to its 63 rooms and lobby for sale. And even the other long-time Cameraphone neighbor, the shoe shine parlor, offered all of its equipment and fixtures as the East Liberty businesses in the URA zone scrambled to get anything of value out ahead of the bulldozers. They came a month later.
For at least two decades, the spot was just a grassy patch with some benches looking forlorn. However, in the 2020s, a large apartment / condo building sits on the spot of the former Cameraphone Theatre - East End while a large Target department store took up the opposite side of the street which once housed late 19th Century and early 20th Century retail structures. The few period buildings that survive can be found a block away.
Opened by Harris Amusement Company with live vaudeville on October 20, 1913 the Italian Renaissance Sheridan Square Theatre was an East Liberty destination theater rivaling the downtown houses. The Harris circuit selected the name of Sheridan to honor Civil War figure, Union Cavalry General Philip Sheridan. The Sheridan Square Theatre’s best days were when Gene Kelly ushered there and during the Golden Age of Hollywood when RKO Theatres assumed control of the venue on November 4, 1929 under the moniker of the RKO Sheridan Square. Warner Bros. Circuit took on the venue in 1933. Cinemette Corp. took over 17 venues from Warner in 1973 including the Sheridan Square which was likely at the end of a leasing point at its 60th anniversary. Its oddest moment was when an abandoned baby was left in the theatre and, when the parent(s) could not be located, the baby was adopted under then name of Catherine Variety Sheridan.
Sadly, the theatre’s predictable last act was rather sketchy by all counts. Cinemette Circuit subleased the venue to two different operators in 1976-1978. Theatre manager Martel Unman was charged with drug trafficking when several ounces of heroin were found in the Sheridan Square Theatre’s managerial office in December of 1976. Then an adult policy was instituted by Gilbert “Gibby” Katz in June of 1977 dropping first-run. Katz also programmed the Palace and Ritz-Mini adult theaters. Katz claimed that teenagers had come to the Sheridan’s first-run fare but had caused $15,000 of damage to the theater seats and were scaring off adult patrons. A neighboring church protested the adult films with 1,500 signatures. The adult films were finally stopped in early August of 1977. The second-run discount policy was discontinued after Katz died late in 1977 with Cinemette taking back over the lease in 1978 but not reopening the venue.
Two investors bought the facility planning to restore it. But the roof damage alone would have cost some $200,000 to repair making the project financially impossible. Reports about the theater’s demolition beginning in September of 1987 suggest a 1979 closing date but there is no evidence of the screenings. Part of the terra cotta front was salvaged during the demolition but little else was kept.