Esquire Theatre
209 N. Superior Street,
Toledo,
OH
43604
209 N. Superior Street,
Toledo,
OH
43604
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Jack Armstrong Circuit
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Oct 18, 2011 — Happy 50th, "West Side Story"
The Esquire Theatre shows as open in 1945. It was located a couple blocks north of Adams Street. The theatre closed as a regular movie theatre sometime in 1964. It went over to presenting burlesque and adult movies which continued into the mid-to late-1970’s.
It was demolished in 2007.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine, May 1950:
To exploit “Mrs. Mike” at the Esquire Theater, Toledo, manager Frank Manente had a touring ballyhoo appear on buses, downtown stores and hotel lobbies. An oversize book, made up by the art department with lettering on the front and back covers, was carried by a theater employee.
The Esquire was demolished to make way for the new county arena.
There remains only one downtown theatre, open or closed, the Valentine, which has been redone as a performing arts center.
The Esquire and several storefronts were constructed in the shell of a six storey building which was demolished down to the second storey. The building had been built for Lasalles Department store and predates their newer building from 1917 which is now the Lasalle Apartments. After Lasalles moved, the building housed a number of smaller businesses before the partial demolition and reconstruction. A series of arched windows filled in with brick were visible on the South side exterior wall of the Esquire, these had been filled in for the theatre conversion. Most of the interior structural work for the theatre was executed in poured concrete with very little steelwork.
Thank you wcjfrisk for your insight into the Esquire Theater. I always wondered about those arches on the side. I was always under the assumption that the Esquire was a newly built theater from the ground up. Of all the downtown theaters I never saw a movie at the Esquire, Paramount, Loop or Royal. We always went to the Rivoli, Palace, Pantheon, Valentine or Princess…all on the same street.
Here is another view of the Esquire http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbernero/6913045218/in/pool-1609870@N23
Just added a picture I had. I also have some movie ads to upload next week.
The reason is that somebody has to write a good historical overview of the theaters so it can be put on CT. I have been working the Ohio/Toledo drive-in theaters myself. That is the great thing about CT, anybody can write, submit overviews and pictures of theaters.
I grew up outside Toledo. Just before the Esquire Theater was torn down I saved one of the two yellow neon “NOW PLAYING” signs from the top of the marquee and have saved it all these years. It now lives with me in Brooklyn, NY as a memory of a part of Toledo’s theater history.
January 30th, 1941 October 25th, 1961 grand opening ads uploaded in the photo section.
This theater became a Burlesque theater featuring both live striptease and adult motion pictures. I just added newspaper ads to the pictures section. Looks like it operated this way mid 60’s through mid 70’s. A newspaper article on the internet mentions it being a Burlesque house and this was in ‘77.