Westown Theater
15225 Wyoming Street,
Detroit,
MI
48238
15225 Wyoming Street,
Detroit,
MI
48238
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Wisper-Wetsman Theaters
Architects: Charles N. Agree
Styles: Streamline Moderne
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The Westown Theater opened November 25, 1936, designed in a French-Moderne hybrid by Detroit-based architect Charles N. Agree, and featured an unusually extravagant marquee for a neighborhood house.
The theater could seat over 2,000, and was part of the Wisper-Wetsman Theaters chain, costing nearly $250,000 to construct.
On its opening night, guests were shown footage of themselves entering the theater before the main feature, a gimmick often used for downtown palaces' opening nights, but unusual for a neighborhood theater.
The Westown Theater was still open on January 22, 1968, but had closed by August 1968.
It has since been demolished and an Amoco gas station now stands on the site.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Here is a 1936 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/3b3h4d
On viewing an old 1939 industrial/sales film—made by the Jam Handy company in Detroit—on Archive.org, actor James Dunn walks past and stops in front of a gorgeous old deco theatre. After some detective work, I discovered the theatre is this one—the 2000 seat Westown. The giveaway was a sign above the entrance directing patrons to park in a lot on Fenkell Avenue—obviously around the corner—also the letter “W” above the poster frame.
https://archive.org/details/1981_Face_in_the_Mirror_I_Wonder_The_M00878_00_00_55_00
November 25th, 1936 grand opening ad in photo section.
The Westown was open until at least January 22, 1968. The Detroit Daily Press (a strike paper) lists it showing The Taming of the Shrew and How to Murder Your Wife. No other Detroit newspaper record is available on Newspapers.com until August 10, 1968, with no mention of the Westown.