Avalon Theatre
4134 E. 131st Street,
Cleveland,
OH
44105
4134 E. 131st Street,
Cleveland,
OH
44105
2 people
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btw….if any of you have a pic of the Avalon marquee etc, I would appreciate your sharing……thanks
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
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 ?
Grand opening ad in photo section
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.
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 ?
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.
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 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.
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.
In 1963, General Theaters was the operator of the Avalon. General president was Leonard Mishkind. Other Cleveland theaters in this chain at the time were the Detroit, LaSalle, Lyceum, Regent, Olympia and Southern.
TO: Jim Basnik and Chuck1231
The Avalon was located exactly where T. Hudak described — on E. 131st Street, north of Miles. (I also have that list of Cleveland theatres you refer to, and I can tell you that there are many, many errors contained in it — especially in the opening and closing dates shown.) Anyway, I worked briefly at the Avalon in about 1956. It was a fairly nice neighborhood theatre, all on one floor, and I’d estimate the seating capacity at 1200-1500.
I have a list of theatres showing the Avalon’s address as 4134 East 105th Street. Which address is correct?