Grand Theatre
317 Allegheny Street,
Hollidaysburg,
PA
16648
317 Allegheny Street,
Hollidaysburg,
PA
16648
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The address is wrong. As you can see in the photo, the facade matches 317, which houses a photography studio.
Thanks, Joe. Another note: in September 1919, the Lyric Theatre installed a $10,000 Seeburg-Hope-Jones pipe organ. The Lyric hired Ellen Heartsick as the new organist.
When Manos bought the theatre, they indeed simply closed the Grand and demolished the building a block away for the Blair Theatre at 213-215 Allegheny. From 1937 to 1957, the building appears to have been leased for 20 years as a home furnishing and appliance store.
Chingos indeed returned to the location giving the Grand Theatre an encore after 20 years to reopen it with widescreen projection on October 2, 1957 with “Bail Out at 43,000 Feet” and “Kiss Before Dying.” The grand re-opening page is in photos.
The Blair must have been on the site a block away, as the Grand was still standing in 1957, when the October 26 issue of Boxoffice reported that Steve Chingos, owner of the house, which had been leased out for twenty years, had modernized and renovated the theater and reopened it under his own management. Chingos also operated a confectionery called the Sugar Bowl next door to the Grand.
The August 31 Boxoffice had revealed that the Grand had been called the Manos Theatre for some time, but had been dark for several years. It appears that Manos had pulled out of Hollidaysburg, as the item also noted that the Blair Theatre had recently been transferred to Altoona exhibitor Saul Perilman.