Liberty Theatre
3450 Guthrie Street,
East Chicago,
IN
46312
3450 Guthrie Street,
East Chicago,
IN
46312
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Previous Names: Central Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Five theatres once served patrons in “The Harbor” – the Indiana Harbor section of East Chicago, IN. Each was a stone’s throw from its neighbor – one on Guthrie Street, the other four nearby on Michigan Avenue. In the same vicinity, the Auditorium Theatre served as both a theatre and general-purpose venue. All six buildings are depicted in the 1915 Sanborn Maps. All are gone.
The 333-seat Liberty Theatre stood at 3450 Guthrie Street, a few doors southeast of Elm Street. It was opened in 1910 hosting movies and vaudeville.
William Goldsinger was operating the theatre in 1915. In November 1915 Julius Nassau, A. Engel and Nick Doicha acquired all five Harbor movie theatres – the Columbia, Family, Pictureland, Gem and Liberty – with plans to close the Pictureland, Gem and Liberty; drop vaudeville from the three theatres that offered it; focus on the Columbia Theatre and Family Theatre, and raise prices from five cents to the 10-to-15 cent range.
The space occupied by the Liberty Theatre was remodeled into a grocery store that William Mustokis opened in April 1917. On March 22, 1924 it reopened as the Central Theatre, but this was short lived as it closed on November 26, 1924. It was converted into a department store.
Contributed by
Denverpalace
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Alex Manta opened the Liberty Theatre in 1910. One of the first movie houses in East Chicago, it was located in a building owned by Lazar W. Saric, prominent East Chicago real estate developer. After the Liberty Theatre closed, the space was occupied by a grocery store, then by the Indiana Harbor post office. On March 22, 1924, the Central Theatre debuted in the same spot. It was short-lived - by November 26, 1924, “For Rent” signs were displayed in the windows. In January 1925 the building was being remodeled to accommodate a department store.
Manta went on to manage other theaters in East Chicago and Whiting, IN. He opened the Indiana Theatre in Indiana Harbor, was district manager for Warner Brothers theaters, then helped run Indiana-Illinois Theaters, Inc., and the Manta & Rose theater circuit.