St. Louis Park Theatre
4835 Minnetonka Boulevard,
St. Louis Park,
MN
55416
4835 Minnetonka Boulevard,
St. Louis Park,
MN
55416
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This opened on May 10th, 1939 and the Cinerama reopening on December 21st, 1965. Both grand opening ads in the photo section.
Chris; it was $.75 per hour in 1952. I also was an Usher at the Westgate Theater in Morninside/Edina in 1951. It paid $.50 per hour if I recall correctly. CB
CharlesB, my best friends father worked at Loew’s State in St. Louis while in high school and his hourly wage was 72 and a half cents per hour. Do you recall what your were paid by the hour?
I grew up in St.Louis Park from 1950-1955. The theater had a sunken lounge and was well maintained. I was an Usher there in 1952 with my friend Bruce Patterson and his brother Bud, who was Assistant Manager. We wore uniforms of Maroon with gold trim. Polished shoes were a must to keep your job! Saw some of the greatest films there on that large screen. Fond memories of a time when life was much simpler and graceful. Young folks today do not know what they missed.
I was there opening night for Star Wars on May 25, 1977. We came for the 7:00 show and they had already sold out that one and the 9:00 showing as well. We had to go back the next day — much earlier, needless to say. When we got there the line had filled the lobby and had just come out the front door. We jumped in and in less than five minutes the line behind us had looped the entire building.
I miss movies truly being “events” like that!
The description says that the auditorium of this theater has been demolished. If that’s so, the status field should be changed to match.
The St Louis Park Theatre was featured in an article in Boxoffice of May 5, 1958. There are several photos of the house on this page and the two subsequent pages.
The theater had reopened on November 8, 1957, after a remodeling and redecoration, which had included some structural changes. The architect for the project was John Field, of the San Francisco firm Knorr, Elliot & Associates. Field was the son of the theater’s owner, Harold D. Field. The caption of one photo gives the seating capacity of the remodeled house as 960.
Nice looking.
Believe it or not ran “Gone With The Wind” here in 70mm during the 1960’s
That photo dates from 1943. The feature playing was “The Constant Nymph” with Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine.
Here is a photo being advertised on eBay:
http://tinyurl.com/2tp7ju
Nice current pictures of the theatre site:
http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/19918.html
Incorrect theatre address noted.
The St. Louis Park was among the theatres included in the original limited-market launch of “Star Wars.” The St. Louis Park’s 5/25/77 opening-day gross, according to Daily Variety, was a house record $6,149.
When the theater was around, the address was 4835 West Lake Street. Of course, much has changed since it closed almost 30 years ago, so it’s possible that’s how things got mixed up.
Thanks lostmemory, looks like another typo in F.D.Y. Grrrrr!
I think Bryan got the W. Lake St address from the book ‘Show Houses’ Twin cities Style by Kirk J. Besse.
The Film Daily Yearbook, 1941 gives a seating capacity of 1,000. In the F.D.Y.B. 1950 edition it gives 1,200 seats.
Just a query? The address at 4835 W. Lake St given in the header maps out to Minnetonka Blvd close to Ottawa Ave which is the same address given in the link posted above by TC. My F.D.Y. for 1950 gives the St. Louis Park Theatre a street address as 3825 Minnetonka Blvd. Where does W. Lake street come from?
Great old photo at this link:
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