Garfield Theatre

4719 Turney Road,
Garfield Heights, OH 44125

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Additional Info

Functions: Retail

Styles: Neo-Classical

Nearby Theaters

This neighborhood theatre opened in late-1927. It was redecorated and reopened on August 28, 1938 with Joe Penner in “New Faces of 1938”. It was closed in the mid-1960’s. A carpeting business occupied the building for 15 years. It was demolished around 2009.

I remember as a child, seeing the marquee of the Garfield Theatre advertising ‘Polish Pictures’. I remember asking my mother, what are Polish Pictures, pronouncing ‘Polish’ like how it’s pronounced for shoe polish or furniture polish, instead of someone from Poland. My mother laughed.

Contributed by Toby Radloff

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

Voinov
Voinov on October 5, 2004 at 12:36 pm

Toby………what years did you see movies?
Regards,
Richard

jsomich
jsomich on January 4, 2005 at 3:35 pm

When I visited the Garfield Theatre booth in the 60s I found two Motiograph AA projectors and a Motiograph Sound System. I can’t remember the lamps.

The manager told me he had replaced his Super Simplex machines and was disappointed at no improvement in quality.

I remember that the first dozen or so rows had hard bottomed seats. Very uncomfortable.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on December 20, 2008 at 10:18 pm

This theater is being targeted for demolition by the City of Garfield Heights. Details here:
View link

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 5, 2012 at 7:10 am

The January 3, 1928, issue of The Film Daily said that the Garfield Theatre had been opened. It said that the house had 1,300 seats, and had been built by Frank Porsinski, who would operate with a policy of four changes of program a week.

The streamline modern tower over the entrance seen in the 1948 photo must have been the result of a 1930s or 1940s remodeling. Google Street View shows that the tower has been removed. Southeast Carpet Company is no longer located in the Garfield Theatre building, so it the space is probably vacant, if the building is even still standing.

BigPolishDog1951
BigPolishDog1951 on July 27, 2017 at 4:56 am

I believe this was one of the movie theaters my mother and her two brothers (Stralka)would have attended; when not ‘splurging on Downtown Cleveland)…..I just remember it being pretty much extinct in the late 50’s when my grandmother used to walk me from Broadway/132nd area below Dressler Rd. to Red Cross swimming lessons at the Garfield Pool…Garfield Heights used to be a marvelous place to grow up and raise a Middle Class family…Mom and uncles all graduated from the original high school on Turney Rd.(?)…My uncle Ken became the law director, lived on Grand Division, and later the regional Judge until his passing in the new Millenium.

rivest266
rivest266 on November 29, 2021 at 12:36 pm

The Garfield held a reopening on August 28th, 1938. Grand opeing ad posted.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on November 29, 2021 at 12:55 pm

Yep, it was remodeled at that time.

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