Dreamland Theater
1930 Broadway,
Lorain,
OH
44052
1930 Broadway,
Lorain,
OH
44052
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An ad for Zegiob Theatres Inc., operators of the Dreamland and Pearl Theatres in Lorain and the Liberty Theatre in Vermilion, appeared in the June 21, 1955, issue of The Lorain Journal. It said that the Dreamland Theatre had been in operation since 1917 and had recently installed a wide screen, new projection equipment, and air conditioning.
A timeline of Lorain history said that the Dreamland suffered a major fire on August 18, 1947, and was reopened on April 7, 1948.
The Dreamland was my neighborhood theater; I lived a block and a half from it. In 1965, it was purchased by Vic-Lin Enterprises, refurbished, and re-opened as the V-L Cinema. For about a year, it showed English-language films from Monday to Saturday, and Spanish-language films, like the masked wrestler movies, on Sunday. In ‘67, it changed formats, showing porno movies from Monday to Saturday, and Spanish films on Sunday. In '84 or'85, the theater was closed, re-opening as a Hispanic Pentacostal church, which, as far as I know, it still is. FTR, the Dreamland did show first-run films at times.
I was in the Dreamland a few times as a kid. It was a subrun house not in a good area. It was later called the V-L (dont know what the initials ever meant) Cinema in the 60’s and played foreign/independent films for awhile then went the porn route. Not sure when it closed, probably in the 70’s.
The seating capacity for the old pre-fire Dreamland Theatre was 350 as stated in Film Daily Yearbook, 1941.
Thanks for clearing that up lostmemory;
I will tell the webmaster’s to change the name on this posting and add the other theatres
Details in the Film Daily Yearbook, 1950;
Ohio Theater, 547 Broadway. 712 seats.
Dreamland Theatre, 1930 Broadway. 800 seats
Lorain Theatre, 3020 Pearl Street. 725 seats
G H Jackson;
Can you check out the street number on the address of the current church use of the building and let us know please.