Avalon Theatre
4134 E. 131st Street,
Cleveland,
OH
44105
4134 E. 131st Street,
Cleveland,
OH
44105
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: Paul Matzinger
Firms: F & Y Building Service
Functions: Church
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Nearby Theaters
The Avalon Theatre was opened May 28, 1938 with Clark Gable in “Call of the Wild” & Phil Regan in “Outside of Paradise”. It cost $27,000 to build. I saw my first movie in this theatre. I was 9 years old at the time and my dad took my older brother and me to to see Charlton Heston in “The Ten Commandments”. The Avalon Theatre was closed in 1970 and like many other neighborhood theatres in the inner city, it was turned into a church. The building is still standing. The Avalon Theatre was located about two blocks north of Miles Avenue on E. 131st Street.
Contributed by
T. Hudak
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
There are a lot of churches on E. 131st north of Miles. I tried to figure out which one could have been the Avalon, but no luck. The church may have done some remodeling.
The Avalon is located on the west side of E. 131 st. Just south of Marston Avenue. It is only about four or five storefronts from Marston. The parking lot in the rear of the theater was entered from a driveway on Marston.
Boxoffice of June 4, 1938, announced that the Avalon Theatre had opened the previous Friday. The new house had been designed by architect Paul Matzinger.
The Avalon showed double features with show dates being Sun,Mon. Tues and a single date of Wed, only and then Thurs, Fri, Sat, The Wed, show usually included Bank Night where a cash prize was awarded to atendees between the two features. The manager mounted the stage and picked the winning ticket. Needless to say I never won a prize.
I went there as a child with my mother, then with my girlfriends and boyfriends, just about every Sunday in the late 50’s and early sixties. Saw a live event on stage with Connie Stevens, and various other singers and performers..In late 50’s ?
My Mother worked the Ticcket booth at the Avalon for several years. The Manager at the tme was Nick Arnstein. General Theater bosses where Leonard mishkind and mr. Helrigel…I don’t remember his first name but I know it was always “treacherous” during their visits or “check-ups” Arnstein used to get nervous as a cat when they showed up. They also had some “Variety” acts between “Double Features” on the weekends such as a “magician” and a few other acts. I also remmember the “Bank Night” that were mentioned by another blogger here. It brings back a lot of fond memories I lived in that neighborhood my entire childhood and I drive by there once in awhile, my Mother is now deceased but I can still see her selling tickets in the “Ticket Booth” that was in front of the theater.
Grand opening ad in photo section
Great neighborhood. Grew up on East 131st next to Horak Funeral home. Saw great King Kong, Godzilla movies there in the last years. Would love any kind of memorabilia from there. Remember Sparks Hobby Shop just down the street ?
Basically, this started as my father’s ‘movie house’ during his youth…….I had paternal family on Harvard above 131st, and maternal family down 131st and on Dressler Rd. which is technically Garfield Heights. A few doors down from the theater was the Avalon lounge, and next door to the theater toward Harvard was a laundrymat, parking lot drive, then a bakery (my spelling is bad, but I attended with their daughter, Susie Aukewchevski/phonetically). My parents took me there when it was remodeled and reopened early 60’s roadshow performance of “From Here To Eternity” (by that time it was already about 11 or 12 yrs. old)…during my elementary school years I experienced the Saturday afternoon all-day marathons of mixed cartoons, films et.al…….for my pre-teen years I had the pleasure of the “Beach” movie franchise, I saw the Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night” presentation where the large/wide b&w tickets had the Beatles group photo, in those cardigan, collarless suits…..My Catholic grade school on Harvard (Our Lady of Czestochowa) ‘promoted the shit’ out of “Lillies of the Field” …..well, it did have nuns !………..Of course, when I reached the upper teens, a driver’s license led to an exodus downtown, the suburbs, etc. However, the Avalon left many great memories. As a cinephile you’d be surprised at the number of ‘hits’, ‘B-movies’ and oddities that I have tracked down and archived because they reminded me of my ‘days at the Avalon’………..btw, as an older teen, I wound up as a movie usher at another great location, the Mapletown Theater on Broadway and Libby Rd. in Maple Heights (this one was my immediate family theater from my toddler era until I was almost 8 and my parents divorced, the first time). We lived on Morgan Street up Broadway just before Lee Rd., and it was ‘walking distance’….Saw Elvis in “Jailhouse Rock”, James Dean in “Rebel….”, and my all-time favorite, John Wayne whistling his way through “The High and The Mighty”………..cheers y'all
btw….if any of you have a pic of the Avalon marquee etc, I would appreciate your sharing……thanks