Palace Theatre
1125 W. 5th Street,
Dayton,
OH
45402
1125 W. 5th Street,
Dayton,
OH
45402
2 people
favorited this theater
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Opened on December 25, 1927 with Jean Hersholt in “Alias the Deacon”. Located on W. 5th Street close to S. Williams Street, the Palace Theatre became one of the most popular theatres in Dayton’s predominantly black West Side. For part of its history, the Palace Theatre was the equivalent of the Apollo Theatre in New York City’s Harlem, with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Billy Eckstine among the many stars that performed there.
Stage shows ended in the 1950’s, but movies continued at the Palace Theatre until it closed on December 19, 1957 with Carol Ohmart in “The Scarlet Hour” & Walter Brennan in “Goodbye my Lady”. It became a church name Ghetto Palace which was closed by a fire in August 1975. After standing vacant for decades, the Palace Theatre was demolished in 2002.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
The pictures reveal a once great theatre and Michael Branch has my sympathy.
My grandfather was a doctor in Dayton and was an investor in this theater when it was originally built.
Is this the same place where KISS performed? It was April 11,1975.
Same place where Queen performed 1975. Tickets cost $4.50. I still have a ticket stub. Fantastic concert.
The dirt lot shown in the street view is where the theatre sat…Warren, your links to photo bucket are no longer good. I would love to see them.
I think some people are confusing the original Palace Theatre (listed here) with the old Loew’s Theatre that used to be on N. Main in Downtown Dayton across from the Victoria (Victory) Theatre. It was renamed “The Palace” in 1972 and that’s where many rock concerts were held until it was demolished in 1975. The original Palace on Fifth Street (this one) is not the same Palace where Queen and Kiss played.
In the mid-1970s this building housed the Ghetto’s Palace Yoga Institute, led by Wally Ahmed Sababu. I lived there with about 35 other people in the lobby and offices, though the actual theater had been destroyed in a fire. We also had a factory across the street that manufactured and sold incense sticks. Looking for people who also lived there at that time.
The Palace opened Christmas Day with a live stage show plus a film, “Alias the Deacon,” on Christmas Day 1927. It converted to sound to stay relevant and added live events to become the leading entertainment venue for African American audiences ahead of the Classic Theatre. The Palace completed its film run at the end of its thirty-year lease on December 19, 1957 with “The Scarlet Hour” and “Goodbye, My Lady.” In the 1960s, it held sporadic screenings and speeches until being sold in 1965 to convert the upper floors to apartments and create a live music venue space that failed to open. It did relaunch as a live sports venue for boxing in 1967.
In 1973, William “Wally” Ahmed Sababu took on the venue for religious services under the moniker of the Ghetto Palace. The venue’s “Palace” moniker had been usurped by the former Loew’s Theatre turned concert hall called the Palace Theatre in downtown Dayton. (That is where Queen and Kiss played rock concerts… not here.) A fire in early August of 1975 ended the Ghetto Palace’s run there and it moved two times thereafter. Many efforts were made to save the legendary African American theater which was vacant from 1975 to 2002. Despite its historical designation, the Palace was razed in 2002 just as its contemporary, the Classic Theatre, had been in 1991 ending Dayton’s vibrant legacy of African American cinema and live entertainment venues.