Irving Theatre
23 South Main Street,
Carbondale,
PA
18407
23 South Main Street,
Carbondale,
PA
18407
3 people
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It’s not an empty lot anymore. In 2013 they opened up a 60 room Best Western, parking garage and restaurant. I’d much rather a classic cinema house.
I went to college with a family member who owned the Irving circa 1960. He spoked of operating the Irving and a drive-in theatre during the summer. LaSalle 1964
When you look on a Google map, you’ll see a huge, vacant lot where the Theater and the Acme Market once stood. To the left of the lot is a advertisement showing a building that looks somewhat like the Movie Theater that once stood there? It appears to be an artists rendering.
We had an Aunt and Uncle who lived in Carbondale.
My brother and I went to see a Steve Reeves film one afternoon with my 3 cousins. It was about Persians in ancient times. I don’t remember the films name?
I do remember that it was really a huge movie theater.
The screen seemed much bigger than any I’d ever seen before. I was 9 or so.
Like so many big, older movie Palaces, the owners, the caretakers of such opulence, let down future generations of potential movie fans.
Lost forever, like so many other great Movie Houses
SHAME!
FYI, as of May 2013, a Best Western hotel occupies the site, with an exterior that echoes the appearance of the theater.
O.K.
A few photos of this theater can be seen at this link.
http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/26897.html
Hey Bluecat158- I have a negative of the outside of the Irving with the large marquee still there. Contact me at:
.com
I may be able to send you a copy of the picture
Anyone have any photos of the Irving? I’m a Forest City native and drove through C-dale at least twice a week… but I’ve since moved and can’t remember what she looked like before being torn down.
The Irving’s architect was Leon H. Lempert of Rochester, NY. He also designed the American Theatre in Pittston, PA which was an almost carbon copy of the Irving. I was lucky enough to tour the building in the late 80’s and it was evident what a nice theatre it had once been.
The Irving Theater in Carbondale PA was named by Mrs. Maude Johnson after writer Washington Irving, who — it was claimed — renamed the former “Ragged Island,” Carbondale. It was built by Breig Brothers Construction Company of Scranton PA. I knew the theater in the fifties and sixties; I would go to “the show” as often as I was allowed. I have a distinct memory of seeing “Singin' in the Rain” there, and of twirling my umbrella all the way home. The Irving was the “A” movie theater in town. Further south on Main Street was the “B” theater, the Majestic.