Commodore Theatre
15208 Lakeshore Boulevard,
Cleveland,
OH
44110
15208 Lakeshore Boulevard,
Cleveland,
OH
44110
2 people
favorited this theater
A neighborhood theatre, at the corner of East 152nd Street and Lakeshore Boulevard, that opened August 28, 1927. It closed as a movie theatre in 1972. St. Jerome’s Church was using the theatre as a bingo hall for quite some time.
The Commodore Theatre was demolished in 2008.
Contributed by
Toby Radloff
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Recent comments (view all 25 comments)
The Commodore has been demolished and, as of today, is a pile of rubble on the site. I don’t know what the future plans for the land are.
I was sorry to read that the Commodore is no more, though its demise was probably inevitable, given the decayed state of the building and the general decline of the neighborhood over the years. I recall seeing many films there while growing up in Cleveland, among them an odd, Canadian-made, partial 3-D film called “The Mask” (not the one with Jim Carey) and “Mysterious Island”. I think the seat count of 650 may not be accurate; I remember it being larger than that, but the last time I was there was over 35 years ago. The ceiling was dominated by a huge light fixture, like a large, thick wheel divided into pie-like wedges of red glass.
Here is a 1971 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c53s3m
The food mart mentioned in an earlier post was a 7-11 that opened in the early 1970’s. The 7-11 was across the street from the Commodore Theater.
It’s last days as a theatre were sad, with few patrons. I recall seeing grade-Z horror films (from a different decade) not long before it became a roller rink and, yes, it was small for a roller rink.
Chuck, I noticed that too when I checked it out on google maps the other day lol.
When I was in High School this theater was only open on Friday Saturday & Sunday most of the time. It did open during the week if it was a film that was popular. My friend Bill and I would go here if we missed the film and the Lake of Shore. We knew we could see it here. Also I remember, when I was 7 or 8 my mother would take me here once in a while. But When I was a teenager I could see a double feature for 60 cents.
August 28th, 1927 opening ad uploaded in the photo section. Listings in the Plain Dealer stopped in 1972.
All of those itchy wool seats with smiling gargoyles at the ends of each row were piled into the lowered area below the screen, to use as fill for leveling the floor to make the skating rink. The gargoyle / Devils had a tiny 7 watt bulb in each of their mouths that shown down onto the isle carpet. Anybody remember the Hard Days Night packed house ? Anyway, your seat and some of your butt DNA is most likely still there in the landfill.. now just a leveled grass lot as I last saw it.
Closed on August 13, 1972 with “Duck You Sucker” and “Take The Money And Run”. This actually opened on September 3, 1927 with “The Rose Of Kildare” (unknown if extras added).