Embassy Theater
225 Commercial Avenue,
Aspinwall,
PA
225 Commercial Avenue,
Aspinwall,
PA
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the embassy theater in aspinwall on brillant ave in order to get to the camera room you had to climb a ladder attached to the wall. the embassy on commercial ave my sister sold tickets i also worked there as asst manger 1950s sue haten sold candy to the right of embassy was a chinese laundry in the 1930-1950 with a wooden sidewalk next to that two old maids had a store and inside there would be 2 or 3 cans on each shelve the shelves were 12 feet high and they had a ladder on wheels at the bottom and the top was on a track
A couple comments from a newbie, but an Aspinwall expatriate:
Ken’s photo is seen in the 1992 Aspinwall History book on page 89, with this comment: “In 1953, Scouts carried the colors past the Embassy Theater during the Memorial Day Parade” and the photo was “courtesy of Anne Meyer”.
On page 96 of same publication, is an Embassy doorknob-hanger, for a week in April of unknown year. However Mon/Tues 15-16 Apr headlined “She Wouldn’t Say Yes ” with Rosalind Russell (which came out in ‘45) and a news-short “Hitler Lives”. IMDb says this was made in Dec 45, so this hanger was likely for Apr 1946. According to the hanger, the Embassy was not open on Sunday; I didn’t remember that!
The caption for the Google search at top is incorrect. The Embassy began at the walkway between the Municipal Bldg and [later] Town and Country Portraits [which in the search occupies the front western end of the Embassy.] The front eastern end shows in the search as Lynnlot Miniatures. A pizza store occupied the 1st Street end of the once-Embassy for a while. Edblank is correct that Mulligan’s was once La Cresta; and back in 40s it was a long closed Chinese laundry, at least in 1930 run by the Yee family, according to the census.
The Embassy was a great movie house for the kids of Aspinwall. Saturday afternoon matinees were GRAND. They also included serials: every Saturday an new episode of Tarzan, the Lone Ranger, Buster Crabbe, and more!
Questions: 1. Who knows when the Embassy was built?
2. Who knows the name of the first theater built in Aspinwall, which, according to the 1967 “Diamond Jubilee Historical Book” of Aspinwall by Rachel Cook, opened in July 1910 in “the first commercial building in the Brilliant Avenue business district” which was located in “a three-story building on the western side of the street, halfway between Freeport and First Street”??? [Later Dr. Nauhaus had his dental office on the 2nd floor above what had been this first theater.]
My brothers and sisters and I frequently attended this theater’s Saturday morning cartoon shows in the 1950’s—17 cartoons for 25 or 35 cents. It was the type of place where mothers could drop off their kids for a few hours without worry.
The manager at the time was a Mr. Mervis, nicknamed nervous Mervis by the kids.
The theater had no lobby to speak of. The concession stand was in the back of the auditorium. At the time, movies often played for only one two or three days—featured movie changed two or three times a week.
Renewing link.
For a while in the early 1980s, La Cresta restaurant occupied the site.
The theater’s capacity turned up as 492 in one source. There’s perhaps a 50-50 chance the larger capacity is correct given the space’s uses since then.
Hi, Lost Memory. The International Movie DataBase corroborates the premiere dates you list.
Whether or not “Never Wave at a Wac” really premiered somewhere in January 1952, I can’t say. That might have been a failed test engagement. Remember, RKO Radio, which distributed it, routinely held movies back for years including “The Outlaw,” “Double Dynamite” and “Jet Pilot.”
In any event, “Wac” made its Pittsburgh debut at the Stanley in March 1953, three weeks before “Redhead From Woming” opened on the top half of a double bill at the Fulton.
Their pairing at the Embassy probably happened in April 1953.
Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2ojpxj