Robinhood Theatre

215 Washington Avenue,
Grand Haven, MI 49417

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Predator
Predator on April 12, 2017 at 2:03 pm

The Robinhood Theatre was designed by W. H. Clark of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 12, 2014 at 9:24 am

The July 29, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World noted the opening of the Robinhood Theatre:

“The Robin Hood, Grand Haven’s newest motion picture theater, opened for business July 1. It is equipped with a $4,000 Barcola [sic] orchestra and the theater is one of the prettiest in Western Michigan. The lighting system is indirect, and there is good ventilation. The building is fireproof.”
The Bartola orchestra was one of several instruments of its kind that appeared around 1913-1914, designed specifically for use in movie theaters to provide both music and sound effects to accompany silent films.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 11, 2014 at 6:29 pm

An inventory of buildings in Grand Haven says that the Robinhood Theatre was opened by Nathaniel Robbins in July, 1916, and closed in 1957. When the building was demolished in 1970 its site became a pedestrian passage to the parking area behind the block.

Google Maps has chosen to trap out street view inside a store and will not move farther than the sidewalk in front of its building. Instead of fruitlessly clicking on our Street View link for this page, see this bird’s eye view of the theater’s site from Bing Maps.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on January 5, 2010 at 12:57 pm

Postcard here:
http://tinyurl.com/y8o7aog

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on January 5, 2010 at 3:28 am

The May 25, 1970, issue of Boxoffice reported that the former Robinhood Theatre was being razed to make way for a small, decorative mall, part of a beautification project in downtown Grand Haven.

A death notice in Boxoffice of November 11, 1950, datelined Grand Haven, says this: “Charles L. Davis, 62, owner and operator of the Airdome and Vaudette, first motion picture houses here, died here recently. After selling his theatres, he managed the Grand and Robin Hood theatres for Mrs. Margaret Vandenberg.”

Mrs. Vanden Berg (as her name was given in most Boxoffice items about her) also had a theater called the Crescent at Grand Haven, opened in 1925 and closed in 1939. A Mrs. Cora Vanden Berg, former owner of the Crescent Theatre, died at Grand Haven in 1944. I don’t know if Cora and Margaret were the same person or were perhaps sisters-in-law.