Flicker's East Cinema Pub

4501 Refugee Road,
Columbus, OH 43232

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Showing 14 comments

WilliamT
WilliamT on April 9, 2018 at 5:04 am

There was another Flickers Cinema at Worthington Square Mall. The cinema is now a little strip with a pizza place and a chinese restaurant in it.

johnmconti
johnmconti on August 11, 2016 at 1:40 pm

I managed The Forum from Feb 1980 until April 1982. I loved working that theater! It was also the first theater at least in Ohio to have Stadium style seating in all 3 auditoriums. If memory serves me Cinema 1 had 168 seats #2 had 210 seats and #3 had 184 seats. We used a platter system in #2 and reel to reel in the other 2 theaters.

buckohio1165
buckohio1165 on May 15, 2015 at 7:23 am

This was THE FORUM when my friends and I went. What I loved about this place was you could catch some classic films and animation. Saw Bakshi’s WIZARDS (1977), KING KONG (1933) and many WB cartoon movies there.

Mark_L
Mark_L on April 15, 2013 at 12:29 pm

In response to Ron Newman’s request, as of 4/15/13, the building is the same but they have changed the portico.

Mark_L
Mark_L on April 5, 2013 at 1:27 pm

The picture on the website of the sign is definitely the one from the old Forum theatres. County records show it is still owned by the City of Columbus, and notes owned by the library system. I’ll keep looking.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on April 5, 2013 at 7:47 am

In a Columbus Eastside-related Facebook group, someone told me that a Pakistani community center called ‘Masjid Namrah’ is now located here.

Mark_L (or anyone else local to Columbus), can you walk or drive by the location and verify this? These pages give the same address as the old Forum, but I don’t know if they moved into the cinema building or if they tore it down to build something new.

Masjid Namarah web page

Masjid Namarah Facebook page

Mark_L
Mark_L on May 3, 2010 at 7:12 pm

In early 1984, Royal Theatres, operator of the Forum at the time, announced that they were going to build a 6-screen theatre behind the Forum. It was to seat 2,500 with 2-500 seat rooms. Dolby and 70mm equipment was to be included. This project was never completed.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on February 4, 2009 at 8:35 am

So what is the city doing with it, and what did the Jewish Foundation use it for?

Mark_L
Mark_L on February 4, 2009 at 8:31 am

According to the County records, the theatre was originally owned by Leo Yassenoff, who owned a number of theatres. The original date was April, 1967. The title passed to his foundation in 1974 and moved to the Columbus Jewish Foundation in 1996. It passed through a number of owners until it was given to the city in 2008 by Syed and Tabinda Rehman.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on July 2, 2008 at 11:48 am

Interesting. Any idea why the city would buy it? Does it make sense for them to flip it to a cinema operator (chain or independent)?

Mark_L
Mark_L on July 2, 2008 at 11:44 am

I just checked the County Database of properties, and it looks like the City of Columbus now owns this structure. Transfer occurred on 6/10/08

RichM
RichM on June 6, 2008 at 9:32 am

Remember seeing An Officer and A Gentleman there with my BEST friends girlfriend, oops. And remember seeing Best Friends, with my girlfriend there. LOL

snydersp
snydersp on January 3, 2006 at 7:44 am

I drove by the old Forum Theater last weekend with my girlfriend. We were high school sweethearts in the mid 70’s and The Forum was a place we remember going together. It was a very small theater but has a lot of history for those of us growing up in the days when it was operating. (She recently found a ticket stub she had saved from when we went there to see “Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother” in 1975.) Anyway, The Forum building is still there, sitting vacant and looking very forlorn. There is a chain link fence blocking access to the upper parking lot. The old lower lot is still visible on Google Earth but can’t be seen from the road. The Franklin County assessor’s website shows that the property was sold in July 2005, but nothing has been done with the property yet. It would be wonderful if it was to open as a theater again but I suppose that’s unlikely.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on August 23, 2005 at 4:23 am

From the online Columbus Dispatch archives at Dispatch.com:

Wednesday, February 6, 2002: Developers asking East Side to welcome Rehab Center
“A closed East Side theater that once served beer to movie-goers might be razed for a new project that, in part, would help recovering alcoholics. Maryhaven, a nonprofit treatment facility for alcoholics and drug addicts, and National Church Residences, a nonprofit provider of housing for people with low to moderate incomes, are working together on the 84-unit project.”

but a month later, Tuesday, March 5, 2002: Nonprofits outbid on Far East Side tract
“Two nonprofit groups have lost a chance to turn a Far East Side property into an affordable-housing project aimed in part at recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. But what will become of the land and a vacant movie theater is a mystery.”

When I drove by the Forum a year ago, it was still standing vacant. I did not get a chance to check it out again on my visit this summer. Can someone local confirm that it is still there?