The Corral Drive-In opened its gates on May 17, 1950 with Jane High in “Blue Grass Of Kentucky” with no extra short subjects, featuring an original capacity of 450 cars (which eventually downgraded to 375 over time) with installations of Century projection equipments and in-car speakers. It was first operated by Bill Hill and Don Smith, both from Storm Lake.
The Auditorium Theatre, which opened on September 17, 1909 with the play “Human Hearts”, did receive too much trouble from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s due to its multiple ups-and-downs, which results many closures and reopenings.
From 1956 until 1967, the theater received multiple closures. Some of those closures include a short July 9, 1956 closure and a one-month closure in August 1959. The Auditorium was once closed in 1964 which reopened on July 10 that same year, and was closed again on January 1, 1966 for a full year.
After closing for the final time as a movie house in April 1968, the Auditorium went vacant for the fifth straight time in the previous 12 years. This lasted until the YMCA group took over the theater and reopening it in November 1969 as a primary performing arts house but sometimes bring movies as well.
The YMCA operated the Auditorium Theatre until it suffered partial fire damage from a fire that first started at the city hall on January 28, 1983.
The Genoa Theatre actually closed in the middle of 1996.
The “No Tilt Zone” entertainment center didn’t last pretty long, as it was operated from March 2003 until closure in December 2004. The Steadman Brothers felt very sorry for its closure as they pursued a small business improvement grant. At the time, Gary went to meet a local banker to discuss potential for additional funds. Gary replied that it was still unfolding but he wanted to open a budget twin-screen theater that plays both first-run films and live entertainment with 110 seats in each auditorium. However, a very shocking surprise is that the theater’s auditorium was left untouched even before it became the arcade. There are holes on the walls, shattered glass below, and even the ceiling received damaged. There are also either rat bites or water damage on the 480 total seats. Steadman replied that a swamp roof was built over the screening room which was a typical 1940s design idea. Unfortunately, the idea of relaunching as a twin-screen budget theater was revoked for unknown reasons, marking it the second time the theater tried to reopen.
In July 2007, it was announced that the former building would reopen again as a cafe/parlor under the name Spotlight Coffee, Tea, and Ice Cream Company. That closed in either 2014 or 2015, and as of 2023, the building was still on sale.
The Lonergan Theatre opened its doors on May 24, 1915. It was renamed Star Theatre in late August/early September 1930 after it was taken over by new management led by Frank Lupin followed by extensive remodeling.
The Star Theatre name didn’t last long. After a short closure and being taken over by Harold Smith, the theater was renamed Dreamland Theatre and reopened on March 16, 1934.
After more than four years with the usage of the Dreamland name, the Dreamland closed in December 1938 following both extensive reconstruction of the building and remodeling.
The theater was renamed Croft Theatre and reopened its doors on February 1, 1939 with Claude Rains in “They Made Me A Criminal” along with a Hearst Metrotone “News Of The Day” newsreel and a couple of short subjects.
During the late-1950s and early-1960s, the Croft Theatre received a couple of ups-and-downs which received a couple of short closures and reopenings, followed by another short closure in 1962.
Now this is where the information gets very unusual. On August 29, 1963, the Croft Theatre changed its name to the Y.C.S. Theatre and reopened its doors with John Wayne’s “Hatari” plus a couple of short subjects. Despite its unusual name, Y.C.S. stands for Young Catholic Students, as it WAS operated by them of St. John’s High School. The Y.C.S. Theatre plays mostly first-run films but it was sometimes mixed with matinees and special events as well as a couple classic films. This lasted until the mid-1970s.
After a very unexpected operation by a school, the theater went back to normal independent operations in 1975 or 1976. At that same time, the theater was renamed Bancroft Theatre. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long.
Closed on May 25, 1999 with a double feature in all three screens. The Vermont closed with “The Matrix” and “Life” at Screen 1, “Trippin'” and “Senseless” at Screen 2, and “The Mummy” and “Bride Of Chucky” at Screen 3.
There was a video from 1984 by KXAS-TV that shows its chopper flying through downtown McKinney. At the time, its marquee (that was erected a few days before Thanksgiving 1946) was removed.
The Lakeland Drive-In actually held its informal opening on August 26, 1948, before officially opening it on September 2, 1948. Although I cannot find its closing date, it was still open into as late as 1987, but was gone by 1994.
The Spirit Drive-In opened its gates on June 14, 1949 featuring installations of Super-Century Double Shutter projection and Soundmaster In-Car speakers.
According to then-owner George March of the March Brothers who also operated the Royal and Strand Theatres there, he was expecting 400 cars which was the theater’s total then-capacity number to participate the opening, but with a shocking surprise, a total of 550 cars loaded up on grand opening (with 150 cars on grass outside the drive-in property). Whenever the capacity goes over the 400 limit, March got a major idea on adding double exit ramps instead of a single one.
The Spirit Drive-In closed for the final time on September 16, 1984 with “Dreamscape” and “Space Hunter”.
Actually, its part of National Screen Service’s “On The Spot” intermission film from 1964. The announcer was heard saying “How about a pizza? None better anywhere!” while the camera shows all the slices being taken off-camera.
Actually SethG, you are 100% correct on the building.
This triplex opened its doors on July 19, 1985 as the replacement of the Grand Twin Theatre (formerly Grand Theatre) located on Sixth Street downtown. The theater has an original name of “Grand Theatres III” but was officially named simply “Grand Theatres” right after opening. It was actually the fourth Grand Theatre to open in Estherville.
The triplex Grand Theatres was located on the site of the former Red Owl Store building which began remodeling into a theater in December 1984. It featured three screens with a total capacity of 600 seats (with 200 seats in each auditorium) and a video store next door. The theater was renamed “Grand 3 Theatres” in 1997.
NOTE: Although the page said that the Grand 3 Theatres closed for a time in 2002, it was confirmed that the theater did not close at all in 2002. I recently looked up showtime archives from the Grand 3 Theatres and the theater was still strongly running as normal throughout all of 2002.
I’m pretty sure that there are four Grand Theatres in total actually.
The 1st Grand: The first Grand Theatre opened its doors by F.H. Graaf with a capacity of 450 seats, a 12ft lobby, and a 22x125ft auditorium on July 25, 1912 with a presentation of “The Delmar Poster Girls”. That one was destroyed by a fire in 1914.
The 2nd Grand: The second Grand Theatre was relocated to its then-current site and opened its doors on September 20, 1916 with a presentation of “Martha”, also owned by Graaf, with a capacity of 1,000 seats. That one was destroyed by an electrical-related fire on January 8, 1917.
The 3rd Grand: Nearly eight months after the second Grand Theatre was destroyed, the theater was rebuilt on the same site, as it was third time’s the charm when the third Grand Theatre opened on September 19, 1917 featuring fireproof installations (as it was announced by Graaf himself), and had a same amount of seats as the second theater. Talkies were installed in February 1929, followed by remodeling in 1936, and by CinemaScope installations in July 1954. The Grand closed for a short time in February 1970 due to low attendance, but was reopened the following month by new management.
On June 6, 1973, an announcement came that a new theater was built nearby at a location that used to be “Doug’s Stereo Store” according to then-owner Bob Fridley of Fridley Theatres, although the downtown Grand Theatre was still running at the time operated by Al Miller (who also operated the Chief Drive-In at the time). Unfortunately the construction of the mini theater itself nearby did not happen at all.
In April 1977, the Grand Theatre downtown was twinned and was renamed “Grand Twin Theatre”. At the time, the theater was owned by the Community Service Corporation, a subsidiary of First Federal Savings and Loan Association. But on December 18, 1984, then-manager and owner Laddie Kozak announced that construction of a new Fridley triplex theater will be constructed on Central Avenue. This time, the construction did happen.
On July 16, 1985, the downtown Grand Twin Theatre (formerly the Grand Theatre from 1917 until 1977) ran its final showings, and closed its doors for the final time that same evening. This was due to the theater’s relocation from Sixth Street to the new building on Central Avenue. The Grand Theatres III (later the Grand 3 Theatres) would then open its doors three days later on July 19, 1985.
You are right actually. The North Shore Theatre was twinned in late-1969 and was renamed “North Shore 1 & 2” (and later “North Shore Twin” in 1976). In December 1981, it was briefly renamed Cape Ann Cinemas but went back to its normal North Shore Theatre name a few months later.
The North Shore Theatre closed in late-1986, leaving Gloucester without a movie theater until the launch of the 3-screen Gloucester Cinema in early 1991.
So this is the Lyric I see. The Lyric operated from 1911 until 1917.
It was once closed for a short time during 1914 due to the opening of the New Opera House, which both the Lyric and the New Opera House were operated by P.E. Wilcox, but reopened right when 1915 kicked in. On the same day the New Opera House opened in September 1914, the building itself was not even finished yet at the time of its first attraction.
I’m pretty sure that this could be the Gem Theatre (formerly Scenic Theatre).
The Scenic Theatre opened its doors during the week of December 10, 1908 and was renamed Gem Theatre in September 1909. The theater closed in early-1913 and was razed during the first week of May of that same year to make way for the Thompson & Clauson company.
There is also an older opera house simply called “Opera House” that closed down before the opening of the New Opera House (later Forest Theatre) in September 1914, although I cannot find any info rather than its plans dating back to November 1905.
The actual opening date is September 5, 1914 with Dustin Farnum in “The Virginian”. It was first known as “New Opera House” as a replacement of an older opera house.
The closure of the Illinois Valley Cinemas in 1996 left one movie house still operating in LaSalle, and it was the Showplace Cinemas (former Kerasotes/GKC house; also a twin-screener) nearby (until closure sometime in the mid-2000s).
The Illinois Valley Cinemas was once operated by Network Cinema Corporation and lastly by GKC Theatres.
The Corral Drive-In opened its gates on May 17, 1950 with Jane High in “Blue Grass Of Kentucky” with no extra short subjects, featuring an original capacity of 450 cars (which eventually downgraded to 375 over time) with installations of Century projection equipments and in-car speakers. It was first operated by Bill Hill and Don Smith, both from Storm Lake.
The Corral Drive-In closed after the 1985 season.
The Auditorium Theatre, which opened on September 17, 1909 with the play “Human Hearts”, did receive too much trouble from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s due to its multiple ups-and-downs, which results many closures and reopenings.
From 1956 until 1967, the theater received multiple closures. Some of those closures include a short July 9, 1956 closure and a one-month closure in August 1959. The Auditorium was once closed in 1964 which reopened on July 10 that same year, and was closed again on January 1, 1966 for a full year.
After closing for the final time as a movie house in April 1968, the Auditorium went vacant for the fifth straight time in the previous 12 years. This lasted until the YMCA group took over the theater and reopening it in November 1969 as a primary performing arts house but sometimes bring movies as well.
The YMCA operated the Auditorium Theatre until it suffered partial fire damage from a fire that first started at the city hall on January 28, 1983.
The Genoa Theatre actually closed in the middle of 1996.
The “No Tilt Zone” entertainment center didn’t last pretty long, as it was operated from March 2003 until closure in December 2004. The Steadman Brothers felt very sorry for its closure as they pursued a small business improvement grant. At the time, Gary went to meet a local banker to discuss potential for additional funds. Gary replied that it was still unfolding but he wanted to open a budget twin-screen theater that plays both first-run films and live entertainment with 110 seats in each auditorium. However, a very shocking surprise is that the theater’s auditorium was left untouched even before it became the arcade. There are holes on the walls, shattered glass below, and even the ceiling received damaged. There are also either rat bites or water damage on the 480 total seats. Steadman replied that a swamp roof was built over the screening room which was a typical 1940s design idea. Unfortunately, the idea of relaunching as a twin-screen budget theater was revoked for unknown reasons, marking it the second time the theater tried to reopen.
In July 2007, it was announced that the former building would reopen again as a cafe/parlor under the name Spotlight Coffee, Tea, and Ice Cream Company. That closed in either 2014 or 2015, and as of 2023, the building was still on sale.
Once operated by Carmike.
It appears that the Newark Drive-In closed for the final time on January 26, 1985. Redstone was the last operator.
This started life as the Fair Mall Cinema Theatre and opened sometime in the early-1970s as a single-screener.
It appears that it was twinned in the 1980s. At the time, it was operated by Carisch Theatres.
The Fair Mall Cinema closed for the final time on January 12, 1995 when the Fair Lakes Cinema 5 opened nearby a day later.
The Fair Lakes 5 Cinemas opened on January 13, 1995. Grand opening ad posted.
The Lonergan Theatre opened its doors on May 24, 1915. It was renamed Star Theatre in late August/early September 1930 after it was taken over by new management led by Frank Lupin followed by extensive remodeling.
The Star Theatre name didn’t last long. After a short closure and being taken over by Harold Smith, the theater was renamed Dreamland Theatre and reopened on March 16, 1934.
After more than four years with the usage of the Dreamland name, the Dreamland closed in December 1938 following both extensive reconstruction of the building and remodeling.
The theater was renamed Croft Theatre and reopened its doors on February 1, 1939 with Claude Rains in “They Made Me A Criminal” along with a Hearst Metrotone “News Of The Day” newsreel and a couple of short subjects.
During the late-1950s and early-1960s, the Croft Theatre received a couple of ups-and-downs which received a couple of short closures and reopenings, followed by another short closure in 1962.
Now this is where the information gets very unusual. On August 29, 1963, the Croft Theatre changed its name to the Y.C.S. Theatre and reopened its doors with John Wayne’s “Hatari” plus a couple of short subjects. Despite its unusual name, Y.C.S. stands for Young Catholic Students, as it WAS operated by them of St. John’s High School. The Y.C.S. Theatre plays mostly first-run films but it was sometimes mixed with matinees and special events as well as a couple classic films. This lasted until the mid-1970s.
After a very unexpected operation by a school, the theater went back to normal independent operations in 1975 or 1976. At that same time, the theater was renamed Bancroft Theatre. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long.
Closed on May 25, 1999 with a double feature in all three screens. The Vermont closed with “The Matrix” and “Life” at Screen 1, “Trippin'” and “Senseless” at Screen 2, and “The Mummy” and “Bride Of Chucky” at Screen 3.
This is taken either in 1982 or 1983.
There was a video from 1984 by KXAS-TV that shows its chopper flying through downtown McKinney. At the time, its marquee (that was erected a few days before Thanksgiving 1946) was removed.
Actually, the fourth screen was added on April 13, 1990.
It appears that it closed in the 1970s. It was gone by 1983.
The Lakeland Drive-In actually held its informal opening on August 26, 1948, before officially opening it on September 2, 1948. Although I cannot find its closing date, it was still open into as late as 1987, but was gone by 1994.
The Spirit Drive-In opened its gates on June 14, 1949 featuring installations of Super-Century Double Shutter projection and Soundmaster In-Car speakers.
According to then-owner George March of the March Brothers who also operated the Royal and Strand Theatres there, he was expecting 400 cars which was the theater’s total then-capacity number to participate the opening, but with a shocking surprise, a total of 550 cars loaded up on grand opening (with 150 cars on grass outside the drive-in property). Whenever the capacity goes over the 400 limit, March got a major idea on adding double exit ramps instead of a single one.
The Spirit Drive-In closed for the final time on September 16, 1984 with “Dreamscape” and “Space Hunter”.
Actually, its part of National Screen Service’s “On The Spot” intermission film from 1964. The announcer was heard saying “How about a pizza? None better anywhere!” while the camera shows all the slices being taken off-camera.
Actually SethG, you are 100% correct on the building.
This triplex opened its doors on July 19, 1985 as the replacement of the Grand Twin Theatre (formerly Grand Theatre) located on Sixth Street downtown. The theater has an original name of “Grand Theatres III” but was officially named simply “Grand Theatres” right after opening. It was actually the fourth Grand Theatre to open in Estherville.
The triplex Grand Theatres was located on the site of the former Red Owl Store building which began remodeling into a theater in December 1984. It featured three screens with a total capacity of 600 seats (with 200 seats in each auditorium) and a video store next door. The theater was renamed “Grand 3 Theatres” in 1997.
I’m pretty sure that there are four Grand Theatres in total actually.
The 1st Grand: The first Grand Theatre opened its doors by F.H. Graaf with a capacity of 450 seats, a 12ft lobby, and a 22x125ft auditorium on July 25, 1912 with a presentation of “The Delmar Poster Girls”. That one was destroyed by a fire in 1914.
The 2nd Grand: The second Grand Theatre was relocated to its then-current site and opened its doors on September 20, 1916 with a presentation of “Martha”, also owned by Graaf, with a capacity of 1,000 seats. That one was destroyed by an electrical-related fire on January 8, 1917.
The 3rd Grand: Nearly eight months after the second Grand Theatre was destroyed, the theater was rebuilt on the same site, as it was third time’s the charm when the third Grand Theatre opened on September 19, 1917 featuring fireproof installations (as it was announced by Graaf himself), and had a same amount of seats as the second theater. Talkies were installed in February 1929, followed by remodeling in 1936, and by CinemaScope installations in July 1954. The Grand closed for a short time in February 1970 due to low attendance, but was reopened the following month by new management.
On June 6, 1973, an announcement came that a new theater was built nearby at a location that used to be “Doug’s Stereo Store” according to then-owner Bob Fridley of Fridley Theatres, although the downtown Grand Theatre was still running at the time operated by Al Miller (who also operated the Chief Drive-In at the time). Unfortunately the construction of the mini theater itself nearby did not happen at all.
In April 1977, the Grand Theatre downtown was twinned and was renamed “Grand Twin Theatre”. At the time, the theater was owned by the Community Service Corporation, a subsidiary of First Federal Savings and Loan Association. But on December 18, 1984, then-manager and owner Laddie Kozak announced that construction of a new Fridley triplex theater will be constructed on Central Avenue. This time, the construction did happen.
On July 16, 1985, the downtown Grand Twin Theatre (formerly the Grand Theatre from 1917 until 1977) ran its final showings, and closed its doors for the final time that same evening. This was due to the theater’s relocation from Sixth Street to the new building on Central Avenue. The Grand Theatres III (later the Grand 3 Theatres) would then open its doors three days later on July 19, 1985.
The Gloucester Cinema was located at the site of a former dealership, and opened in early 1991 with a total capacity of 361 seats.
You are right actually. The North Shore Theatre was twinned in late-1969 and was renamed “North Shore 1 & 2” (and later “North Shore Twin” in 1976). In December 1981, it was briefly renamed Cape Ann Cinemas but went back to its normal North Shore Theatre name a few months later.
The North Shore Theatre closed in late-1986, leaving Gloucester without a movie theater until the launch of the 3-screen Gloucester Cinema in early 1991.
So this is the Lyric I see. The Lyric operated from 1911 until 1917.
It was once closed for a short time during 1914 due to the opening of the New Opera House, which both the Lyric and the New Opera House were operated by P.E. Wilcox, but reopened right when 1915 kicked in. On the same day the New Opera House opened in September 1914, the building itself was not even finished yet at the time of its first attraction.
I’m pretty sure that this could be the Gem Theatre (formerly Scenic Theatre).
The Scenic Theatre opened its doors during the week of December 10, 1908 and was renamed Gem Theatre in September 1909. The theater closed in early-1913 and was razed during the first week of May of that same year to make way for the Thompson & Clauson company.
There is also an older opera house simply called “Opera House” that closed down before the opening of the New Opera House (later Forest Theatre) in September 1914, although I cannot find any info rather than its plans dating back to November 1905.
The actual opening date is September 5, 1914 with Dustin Farnum in “The Virginian”. It was first known as “New Opera House” as a replacement of an older opera house.
Correction: The correct address is 1874 105th Street, Oelwein, IA 50641. Google Maps tricked me saying that it was located in Hazleton.
This replaced the Mid-Valley II, which closed one day prior to the opening of the 10-screener.
The closure of the Illinois Valley Cinemas in 1996 left one movie house still operating in LaSalle, and it was the Showplace Cinemas (former Kerasotes/GKC house; also a twin-screener) nearby (until closure sometime in the mid-2000s).
The Illinois Valley Cinemas was once operated by Network Cinema Corporation and lastly by GKC Theatres.