Loehmann’s Plaza is on the other side of I-85 on N. Druid Hills Road where it meets Briarcliff. Northeast Plaza was an old strip center rehabbed around 1998 and the theatre was part of the effort, along with the Publix market. The center opened with mainstream stores and gradually became a mix of ethnic/Latino and low end stores like thrift shops and pay day loan places.
Has it been demolished? I would have thought that the bad economy would have save d the structure, if not the theatre. For years I attended Peachtree Film Society screenings here. They were well attended but the Film Society dissolved anyway. Atlanta is a place where indie films do well, but the infrastructure doesn’t seem to last. LeFont once had multiple theatres, and did so as recently as 10 years ago. There have been multiple efforts to have a big national film festival, but they’ve all failed to make money—Peachtree overreached in ‘98 and took years to recover with a somewhat smaller group running it. the desire to build a festival as other cities have and to have a niche or regional focus seemed to be beyond what promoters wanted, so no there’s less than before. Landmark did a nice job of rehabbing a badly degraded venue, but there’s nothing like seeing a film in a real theatre, as opposed to multiplex.
The Shore had been closed for several years by 1977. At that point, it had a leaking roof and there was standing water in the auditorium, according to people involved in early efforts to redevelop the area. These problems made it difficult to do anything with the theatre, which was surrounded by more or less functional, if aging businesses. Parking was in the rear near the bowling alley. For many years, the theatre’s neighbor, Northeast Appliance would have a row of televisions playing in their display window, even if the store was closed—it was good advertising for the movies' major competitor. Northeast outlasted the theatre by quite a few years. The theatre’s demise had nothing to do with the Lake theatre. Instead, it was torn down as part of the construction of a new Finast (later Tops) super market, which replaced a long running Pick-n-Pay store that was across the street (Finast and Pick-n-Pay had the same ownership by that point).
they must have played off the Carter (aka Pick-Carter) Hotel that looks like it was caddy corner to the theatre. Did this site wind up being part of the Cleveland Trust tower?
The riots were in ‘68, not '68. The former lobby area is now for lease. The CVS drug store that occupies part of the structure will soon move across the street next to Safeway.
The riots were miles from the Alabama-Naylor neighborhood. Barry was years away from being mayor in 1970 and the Hillcrest area has continued to be middle class and a sought after place to live. It’s the one area of E of the river that has retained some white population.
It was a small theatre, but I think 425 was too small. We occasionally came west as a novelty to see first run shows here in the 60s. I remember seeing “Thunderball” there.
During the Scrumpy Dump era the theatre was owned by an African-American enterpreneur who owned a lot of property in the area and traded on paranois regarding the likelihood that Cleveland Clinic wanted the locals out. By that time, the area had declined, esp. after the 1966 Hough riots. The W.O. Walker Center, which stood vacant for years, is shared by Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, an odd arrnagement between two long-time rivals. I forget which one owns the building.
This opened with the mall in 1966 as Loew’s East. It was attached to a mall entrance shared with a Kroger super market. I believe it either had one or three screens when it opened.
@Archie: The department stores did not close “year by year”. Taylor’s closed in ‘61. Bailey relocated to the old Bing Furniture store and lasted until '66. Sterling’s lasted until '68. Halle’s 'til the end of '81, and so forth.
I last visited the Hipp as a teenager in ‘70 or '71. Rumors of its closing circulated for years, so it was almost a surprise when it finally happened. The place was a dump in its closing days, but the huge screen and the size of the (closed) balconies were evident. the seats functional but very old and the clientele had become fairly marginal. In its last years, it played mostly drive-in type fare and blaxploitation films.
As for the location, the Euclid/Prospect split was the most profound. The Playhouse Square theatres were surrounded by upscale retail like Halle’s, Bonwit-Teller, Sterling Linder, Peck & Peck, Milgrim, etc. there were a few theatres on E 9th, which was a marginal area until the Erieview urban renewal program of the 1960s. There was at least one near Public Square, which i believe became retail. I think it was an S&H Green Stamp redemption center for most of the 60s. Near the Hipp were the upscale Taylor department store (converted to offices in 1962) and a lot of midrange retail like Bond’s, Richman Bros, Burrows (blooks & stationary), along with the Euclid, Colonial, & Taylor arcades which had service oriented businesses. prospect was always low end retail including pawn shops, credit jewelers, furniture stores (Bing’s, later used as the downscale Bailey’s department store), Kay’s huge used book store (the stock was sold to Powell’s in Portland), army-navy stores, the famous Record Rendevous, etc. The Hipp marquee on Prospect was gone by the late 60s, although I believe there was an entrance to the office building.
The Carter was probably adjacent to the Carter Hotel (later Pick-Carter) which was converted to senior housing in the 1970s, and I think is still known as Carter Manor. The Carter was a respectable hotel but not in the same class as the Sheraton-Cleveland on Public Square or the Statler Hilton, further down Euclid near halle’s.
It’s last days as a theatre were sad, with few patrons. I recall seeing grade-Z horror films (from a different decade) not long before it became a roller rink and, yes, it was small for a roller rink.
The Shoregate Cinema has plenty of competition, but all of it consisted of older theatres: the first run Lake, and second run Shore in Euclid and the Vine in Willoughby, initially. Still, people would occasionally go to the Richmond, Mayland, Richmond Mall, Center-Mayfield, and LaSalle, among others to see films. The coming of bigger cineplexes like the one at Great Lakes Mall, the second generation Lake, the expanded Loew’s Richmond mall, etc. created new competition, along with the dollar houses like the LaSalle.
The shopping center was already there when the theatre was built. The theatre was part of an expansion that included Uncle Bill’s (later Cook’s/Hill’s), Kurtz Furniture, and a strip of small stores constructed in front of an existing bowling alley. I’ve never gotten confirmation of the “never had potential” story. The theatre did well in its early years—-I grew-up within walking distance. Shoregate and Parmatown were both owned by Forest City. General Cinema opened its first Cleveland area theatre at Southgate around 1964—it was the first twin theatre (other than a drive-in).
This originally was the Heights theatre and ran as the “Heights Art Theatre” showing foreign films and independent films during the 50s-70s. They co-booked with the Westwood Arts Theatre in Lakewood and, for awhile with the Continental theatre in East Cleveland. They also did midnight movies and showed porn during the day and at midnight. I recall seeing films as diverse as “King of Hearts” and “Behind the Green Door” there. Mitchell’s Candies, which was next door, still operated a a couple blocks down from the Cedar-Lee.
The Vine occupied an odd niche. It did not routinely get first run films, but it often got blockbusters after they had run in downtown Cleveland such as Dr Zhivago, The Great Escape, etc. They did not get films before the Lake, etc., nor did they routinely do double features. The Shore was the one theatre in this general area that did double bills and except for cheap horror films, they abandoned that by the late 60s.
It was a very plain theatre. It closed and was converted to a Kingdom Hall in the late 70s.
The Center Mayfield was a first run theatre for most of its life and started showing lower priced second run films during the mid 1970s. It was unrelated to the Cedar-Lee, which was an art house by the early 70s.
This was originally “the Lake”. It was part of the late 40s/early 50s development of retail along Lake Shore Blvd and probably dates from 1949-1951. It was part of the Associated Theatres chain. They sold it in the early 70s as they switched to multiplexes like the one at Great Lake Mall that they owned. It was always a first run theatre during its Associated ownership and was the nicer of the two theatres in the area. It briefly functioned as a $2 second-run theatre before closing and its later renovation.
Loehmann’s Plaza is on the other side of I-85 on N. Druid Hills Road where it meets Briarcliff. Northeast Plaza was an old strip center rehabbed around 1998 and the theatre was part of the effort, along with the Publix market. The center opened with mainstream stores and gradually became a mix of ethnic/Latino and low end stores like thrift shops and pay day loan places.
Has it been demolished? I would have thought that the bad economy would have save d the structure, if not the theatre. For years I attended Peachtree Film Society screenings here. They were well attended but the Film Society dissolved anyway. Atlanta is a place where indie films do well, but the infrastructure doesn’t seem to last. LeFont once had multiple theatres, and did so as recently as 10 years ago. There have been multiple efforts to have a big national film festival, but they’ve all failed to make money—Peachtree overreached in ‘98 and took years to recover with a somewhat smaller group running it. the desire to build a festival as other cities have and to have a niche or regional focus seemed to be beyond what promoters wanted, so no there’s less than before. Landmark did a nice job of rehabbing a badly degraded venue, but there’s nothing like seeing a film in a real theatre, as opposed to multiplex.
An ugly and unmemorable place to see movies with fairly indifferent staff.
The Shore had been closed for several years by 1977. At that point, it had a leaking roof and there was standing water in the auditorium, according to people involved in early efforts to redevelop the area. These problems made it difficult to do anything with the theatre, which was surrounded by more or less functional, if aging businesses. Parking was in the rear near the bowling alley. For many years, the theatre’s neighbor, Northeast Appliance would have a row of televisions playing in their display window, even if the store was closed—it was good advertising for the movies' major competitor. Northeast outlasted the theatre by quite a few years. The theatre’s demise had nothing to do with the Lake theatre. Instead, it was torn down as part of the construction of a new Finast (later Tops) super market, which replaced a long running Pick-n-Pay store that was across the street (Finast and Pick-n-Pay had the same ownership by that point).
they must have played off the Carter (aka Pick-Carter) Hotel that looks like it was caddy corner to the theatre. Did this site wind up being part of the Cleveland Trust tower?
The riots were in ‘68, not '68. The former lobby area is now for lease. The CVS drug store that occupies part of the structure will soon move across the street next to Safeway.
The riots were miles from the Alabama-Naylor neighborhood. Barry was years away from being mayor in 1970 and the Hillcrest area has continued to be middle class and a sought after place to live. It’s the one area of E of the river that has retained some white population.
It was a small theatre, but I think 425 was too small. We occasionally came west as a novelty to see first run shows here in the 60s. I remember seeing “Thunderball” there.
Associated didn’t operate the Shore.
During the Scrumpy Dump era the theatre was owned by an African-American enterpreneur who owned a lot of property in the area and traded on paranois regarding the likelihood that Cleveland Clinic wanted the locals out. By that time, the area had declined, esp. after the 1966 Hough riots. The W.O. Walker Center, which stood vacant for years, is shared by Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, an odd arrnagement between two long-time rivals. I forget which one owns the building.
This opened with the mall in 1966 as Loew’s East. It was attached to a mall entrance shared with a Kroger super market. I believe it either had one or three screens when it opened.
@Archie: The department stores did not close “year by year”. Taylor’s closed in ‘61. Bailey relocated to the old Bing Furniture store and lasted until '66. Sterling’s lasted until '68. Halle’s 'til the end of '81, and so forth.
I last visited the Hipp as a teenager in ‘70 or '71. Rumors of its closing circulated for years, so it was almost a surprise when it finally happened. The place was a dump in its closing days, but the huge screen and the size of the (closed) balconies were evident. the seats functional but very old and the clientele had become fairly marginal. In its last years, it played mostly drive-in type fare and blaxploitation films.
As for the location, the Euclid/Prospect split was the most profound. The Playhouse Square theatres were surrounded by upscale retail like Halle’s, Bonwit-Teller, Sterling Linder, Peck & Peck, Milgrim, etc. there were a few theatres on E 9th, which was a marginal area until the Erieview urban renewal program of the 1960s. There was at least one near Public Square, which i believe became retail. I think it was an S&H Green Stamp redemption center for most of the 60s. Near the Hipp were the upscale Taylor department store (converted to offices in 1962) and a lot of midrange retail like Bond’s, Richman Bros, Burrows (blooks & stationary), along with the Euclid, Colonial, & Taylor arcades which had service oriented businesses. prospect was always low end retail including pawn shops, credit jewelers, furniture stores (Bing’s, later used as the downscale Bailey’s department store), Kay’s huge used book store (the stock was sold to Powell’s in Portland), army-navy stores, the famous Record Rendevous, etc. The Hipp marquee on Prospect was gone by the late 60s, although I believe there was an entrance to the office building.
The Carter was probably adjacent to the Carter Hotel (later Pick-Carter) which was converted to senior housing in the 1970s, and I think is still known as Carter Manor. The Carter was a respectable hotel but not in the same class as the Sheraton-Cleveland on Public Square or the Statler Hilton, further down Euclid near halle’s.
The theatre was second run house for many years and had a fairly long run as a $1 third run house in the 1970s.
It’s last days as a theatre were sad, with few patrons. I recall seeing grade-Z horror films (from a different decade) not long before it became a roller rink and, yes, it was small for a roller rink.
The Shoregate Cinema has plenty of competition, but all of it consisted of older theatres: the first run Lake, and second run Shore in Euclid and the Vine in Willoughby, initially. Still, people would occasionally go to the Richmond, Mayland, Richmond Mall, Center-Mayfield, and LaSalle, among others to see films. The coming of bigger cineplexes like the one at Great Lakes Mall, the second generation Lake, the expanded Loew’s Richmond mall, etc. created new competition, along with the dollar houses like the LaSalle.
The shopping center was already there when the theatre was built. The theatre was part of an expansion that included Uncle Bill’s (later Cook’s/Hill’s), Kurtz Furniture, and a strip of small stores constructed in front of an existing bowling alley. I’ve never gotten confirmation of the “never had potential” story. The theatre did well in its early years—-I grew-up within walking distance. Shoregate and Parmatown were both owned by Forest City. General Cinema opened its first Cleveland area theatre at Southgate around 1964—it was the first twin theatre (other than a drive-in).
This originally was the Heights theatre and ran as the “Heights Art Theatre” showing foreign films and independent films during the 50s-70s. They co-booked with the Westwood Arts Theatre in Lakewood and, for awhile with the Continental theatre in East Cleveland. They also did midnight movies and showed porn during the day and at midnight. I recall seeing films as diverse as “King of Hearts” and “Behind the Green Door” there. Mitchell’s Candies, which was next door, still operated a a couple blocks down from the Cedar-Lee.
The Vine occupied an odd niche. It did not routinely get first run films, but it often got blockbusters after they had run in downtown Cleveland such as Dr Zhivago, The Great Escape, etc. They did not get films before the Lake, etc., nor did they routinely do double features. The Shore was the one theatre in this general area that did double bills and except for cheap horror films, they abandoned that by the late 60s.
It was a very plain theatre. It closed and was converted to a Kingdom Hall in the late 70s.
The Center Mayfield was a first run theatre for most of its life and started showing lower priced second run films during the mid 1970s. It was unrelated to the Cedar-Lee, which was an art house by the early 70s.
This was originally “the Lake”. It was part of the late 40s/early 50s development of retail along Lake Shore Blvd and probably dates from 1949-1951. It was part of the Associated Theatres chain. They sold it in the early 70s as they switched to multiplexes like the one at Great Lake Mall that they owned. It was always a first run theatre during its Associated ownership and was the nicer of the two theatres in the area. It briefly functioned as a $2 second-run theatre before closing and its later renovation.