Park Theatre
23 S. Champion Street,
Youngstown,
OH
44502
23 S. Champion Street,
Youngstown,
OH
44502
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For a time, George M. Cohan had an interest in the Park Theatre, and would come here each year with a show.
There was a theater that was opened in the 1970’s at the corner of West Federal Street and Belmont Avenue that had the name “New Park Theater” that was a burlesque and XXX rated movie theater, but it had absolutely no relation to the old Park Theater. This theater was mob owned. At one point, one of the dancers set fire to the theater. It eventually went out of business and the building was demolished.Today a large plasma bank stands in its place.
While the Vindicator did publish a large story about the opening of the Park, there were very few pictures of it ever published. Even the postcards that do show it’s East Federal Street sign do not have any exterior photos of it’s main enterance. If anyone should come across such a photo please share it with us.
That was the main entrance to the Park Theater. It also could be accessed from East Federal Street (See photos) This entrance was later closed but I don’t have the date. (There are also photos here of the Park showing the inside of the lobby when it had an entrance on East Federal Street.).
Oh, and Joe, thanks for the two links. They were very helpful.
I tried to list all of the early theaters that I was able to find out about, and did have a scrap book that I had created,but as I said,in the process of moving I had to leave it along with all my other local history notes behind. If this is any help, most of the early theaters were short lived so that by 1920 were just memories.
I dorecall the Luxor and did run across a small ad for it in one of the ancient Vindicators, but in the process of moving, I lost most of the material I had gathered on Youngstown’s history, so I can’t give you a date. I do though know that in the early 1900’s there were at least 6 theaters east of Central Square.
wolfgirl500: Have you ever heard of an early theater in Youngstown called the Luxor? A brief article about it appeared in the July 2, 1910, issue of a trade journal called The Film Index. It’s in the middle column on this page. Unfortunately there’s no photo of it.
Richard Abel’s Americanizing the Movies and “Movie-Mad” Audiences, 1910-1914 mentions the Luxor twice (Google Books preview) saying that it was one the theaters in Youngstown that catered to Italian audiences, but I’ve been unable to find anything else about it on the Internet.
Abel says that th Luxor was one of the theaters that didn’t advertise in the papers, so information might be difficult to find in the Vindicator, but it might have been mentioned in an article at one time or another, especially around the time it opened. Cinema Treasures has no theaters listed for Federal Plaza east of the Park Theatre, so I’m sure it’s not already here under another name.
According to Jack Hynes who was the manager of the Paramount theater and also worked at the Park, in January, 1948 during the run of the stage productions of Oklahoma, the main grid of the stage developed a serious crack that threatened to bring the whole grid crashing down onto the stage. It was temporarily repaired so that Oklahoma could it’s complete it’s run, and because of the cost of constructing a new grid, no more live stage shows were booked, and the theater was put up for sale.
The last movies that were shown at the Park were “Time Out Of Mind” starring Phyllis Calvert; Robert Hutton and Ella Raines twin billed with “Black Narcissus” starring Deborah Kerr. The theater was then closed while the owners negotiated with the people who wanted to buy the theater and reopen it as a burlesque house.
The Grand Theatre which was across the street from the Park was the local burlesque house and it was the owners of this theater that bought the Park and moved burlesque over there because of the larger seating capacity of the Park, and on November 16, 1948 the following ad appeared in the Youngstown Vindicator: Special announcement! We are happy to announce the opening of the Park Theatre as our new home for burlesque. Due to the large seating capacity, we will be able to give our patrons of Youngstown and neighboring cities throughout the district … Bigger and better shows with no advance in prices! You will be assured of comfortable desirable seats at all performances.”
I remember seeing a few great movies (musicals generally) with an older sister, probably back in the early/middle 1940’s. Later the Park starting showing live burlesque. And as fate would have it, as a very young teenager, helped my older brother who had a contract to repair the metal doors in the back, access in through the alleyway. I never remember the Park having any frontage to East Federal street. In those days, say 1940, 1950 & 1960’s. the three top movie theatres in Youngstown were the Palace, the Warner, and the Paramount. Second line were the State Theatre and the Park. Then there was the Strand, next to the Isaly’s on the Public Square, which was on it’s way out. The Strand showed second rate cowboy movies in those days, and apparently was more in vogue years earlier.
Park Theater remodeled in 1937 when the main entrance on South Champion was modernized. While the makeover was being completed, the East Federal entrance was used. The contractors for the job was Heller-Murray Company. Once the work was completed, the East Federal entrance was closed and no longer used.
As far as I know, the folks that performed at both the Park and Palace Theaters stayed at the Tod Hotel.
Can anyone tell me about a lady who housed the girls between the late 1940’s to the 1950’s? And where the house was located. I live in Beaver township, and I was told that it was mine. My house is over 100 years old, and I’m trying to find more history. I have history back to 1965. I am a Youngstown native, and I love the history. Hope someone can help. Thanks
In a search of The Vindicator, the last stage production at the Park was the road company production of “Oklamoma” before it dropped movies and plays and became a burlesque house in 1948.
Here is a rather description of the Park Theater at its opening.
2/3/1901
Park Theater Opening
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2/5/1901
Description and data.
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October 22, 1948
Park Is Leased For Burlesque
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Two local articles on the Park Theatre:
George M Cohan on Youngstown
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Park Theater Opening
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Joe, the Park Theater was indeed located on South Champion Street and was for a time owned by George M Cohan.
It had a versital schedule of shows ranging from plays to vaudeville, ballet, grand opera, burlisque and films.
My webshots site has an album devoted to the theater with not only pictires of the theater but a group of ads.
The Park did have an East Federal Street entrance early on with the box office located inside the building until the East Federal entrance was closed.
This Park Theater is not to be confused with the “New Park Theater” that was located on West Federal and Belmont Avenue. The “New Park Theater” was built and run by a group of local mobsters, and had a sorted history until it was burned down by a disgruntled performer.
The original Park Theater was nationally known in theater circles and many major performers appeared there.
In the early 1950’s its location proved to be a disadvantage and when attenance started to decline its new owners turned it into a burlisque house under the management of Al Baker.
The Palace Theater replaced it as Youngstown’s major house. Its story is plsted elsewhere here at Cinema Treasures. It was both a live and movie theater.
When it finally closed its doors an auction was held that drew theater buffs from all over the country to buy literally tons of theater materials including posters, contracts from its early years, photographs and other theater materials
The address currently given for the Park Theatre can’t be correct. 446 W. Federal is on the edge of an industrial district just outside downtown, and is across the street from a pair of railroad tracks that run along the river. This would have been an odd location for a major theater.
I also found a 1904 reference to a proposed project on Champion Street which was on a lot said to be adjacent to the Park Theatre. Champion Street crosses East Federal Plaza, though not at the 400 block. I think the theater building was at the southeast corner of Federal and Champion. A 1948 Youngstown Vindicator item about the sale of the Park Theatre by Shea Theatre Corp. said that it had begun operating under lease as a burlesque house earlier that year, and that it was located on Champion Street. It might have had an entrance on Federal Plaza earlier in its history.
Early 20th century editions of The New International Encyclopaedea say that the Park Theatre was one of Youngstown’s prominent buildings. A 1910 book called History of the Western Reserve says that it was built in 1901. The Park Theatre was designed by Cleveland architect William S. Lougee, according to a 1918 book called A History of Cleveland and its Environs.
The Park ran movies as early as 1903, but offered primarily live theater during its early years, and continued to present plays at least as late as 1946. During its later years it had both a movie season and a theater season. It also presented vaudeville, concerts, and other live events at various times in its history.
Chuck 1231,I noticed a lot of Drive-ins in Youngstown.When I went to search them hardly any came on the SEARCH.I was afraid to submit them because i figured like so many locations the names were changed.And I did not want to add screens that were already on CT.