Flicker's East Cinema Pub
4501 Refugee Road,
Columbus,
OH
43232
4501 Refugee Road,
Columbus,
OH
43232
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 14 comments
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.
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.
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.
In response to Ron Newman’s request, as of 4/15/13, the building is the same but they have changed the portico.
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.
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
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.
So what is the city doing with it, and what did the Jewish Foundation use it for?
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.
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)?
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
Remember seeing An Officer and A Gentleman there with my BEST friends girlfriend, oops. And remember seeing Best Friends, with my girlfriend there. LOL
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.
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?