Wayzata Theater

619 Lake Street E.,
Wayzata, MN 55391

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Additional Info

Architects: Jack J. Liebenberg

Firms: Liebenberg and Kaplan

Functions: Retail

Styles: Art Deco

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News About This Theater

WAYZATA Theatre, Wayzata, Minnesota, 1940s.

The Wayzata Theater was opened in 1932, located on Lake Street E. and designed by the firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan in an Art Deco style. A highlight of the theater was its large, stylized sunburst style marquee. The Wayzata Theater orignally seated 500, but was reduced to 250 by the mid-1940s.

The theater was remodeled in the mid-1970’s, including new rocker-style seating. The Wayzata Theater closed in the 1980’s, and was converted over to retail use, but its great old marquee was retained and restored.

Contributed by Bryan

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on March 1, 2011 at 8:49 pm

great picture of the theatre and the color picture is very nice for CT.thanks Bryan and northstar16.

GaryParks
GaryParks on March 1, 2011 at 9:03 pm

My cousin lived in Wayzata for a couple of years in the early 1980s and went to this theatre somewhat regularly. He said that at the time the Wayzata name on the marquee lit up as did the bulbs on the soffit, but none of the decorative bulbs on the face of the marquee lit up. He also said there wasn’t much to see on the inside—I think it was all draped or painted over. I seem to recall him mentioning some ventilation grilles featuring some kind of Deco pattern, but that was all. It would be interesting if anyone else has memories of any kind of decorative scheme on the interior. I didn’t see the theatre myself until after its virtual demolition and the restoration of the original marquee on the new construction. I saw it in 2000.

GFoote
GFoote on January 8, 2015 at 4:58 pm

Hi, my brother and I were always going to the wayzata movie theatre because we loved the employees and the movies, it was always a clean theatre, and we would go down the street to eat afterwords, we miss it terribly and wish it was still there, I will never forget the wayzata movie theatre,

northstar16
northstar16 on December 14, 2017 at 4:53 pm

A nice close-up of the Wayzata’s restored marquee: Wayzata Theater marquee

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