Movies Theaters In St Louis Park Mn

July 2, 2024, 3:30 pm

Pair that with the intense wave of suburban flight that continues to suck people from St. Louis to the tune of nearly 550, 000 people lost since customers up and left and demanded newer multi-plex theaters surrounded by a sea of surface parking. Lord knows I did, for almost a week straight. 5M people vacated for the exploding suburbs in a mere 50 years. But for a central repository for vintage photos of the cinemas, you can't beat Cinema Treasures. Movie Theaters / Cinemas Near Me. Movie theaters in st louis park mn 55426. These chance connections are one the things that makes St. Louis such a charming place to live. It was most recently Salamah's Market and was purchased from the local community development corporation.

Movie Theaters In St Louis Park Mn 55426

Too bad we lost so many of these places. Movie theaters and cinema in general are one of the greatest things 20th Century American's gave the world. It was tough to keep up, many older theaters were reconfigured to skating rinks or bowling alleys. I tried to connect with him to get his story and understand how he has so much information and experience with St. Louis theaters.

Anyhow, after spending a solid week of my spare time reading, riding around and looking for photos of the St. Louis theaters, I thought I should share my findings and a summary of the info I pulled from various sources. The Comet was at 4106 Finney (all black theater): The Empress was at 3616 Olive, it hosted many performances by Evelyn West, a beautiful dancer some called "the Hubba-Hubba Girl" or "the $50, 000 Treasure Chest" as she apparently insured her breasts to the tune of $50, 000 through Llyod's of London: The Gravois was at 2631 South Jefferson: The Hi-Way was at 2705 North Florissant: The Kings was at 818 N. Kingshighway: The Kingsland was at 6461 Gravois near the intersection with S. Kingshighway. Movies st louis park. The 70s - 90s were brutal for demo's in St. Louis.

Movie Theaters In St Louis Park Mn.Us

For instance, I was interested in the King Bee (great name), Tower and Chippewa Theater at 3897 Broadway which supposedly became the home of an appliance store owned by locale pitchman-legend Steve Mizerany. Movie theaters in st louis park mn inside. When the theater was torn down, the office building remained. The Mikado was renamed the Victory theater in February, 1942. Instead of a big city work of art we have a dead zone "plaza" in the heart of downtown: The Congress at 4023 Olive Street was in the Central West End.

It's destruction was captured within the "Straightaways" album inset by Son Volt showing the stage on display for the final time amongst the piles of red brick: Album inset photo: Son Volt "Straightaways", 1997 Warner Bros. Records. New Merry Widow: 1739 Chouteau, 63107 (near Ameren). How'd I find out about these places? Some of this info is crowd-sourced, so it may be more on the subjective or anecdotal side and there are some cases of slightly inaccurate details. There are 35 theaters (Kings is listed in error) that have photos of the buildings, but no obvious discernible evidence of the signage that it was indeed that particular theater.

Movie Theaters In St Louis Park Mn.Org

At 411 North 7th Street was a Downtown treasure. It is a strength of ours and the buildings themselves were built to be an extension of that artistic expression, a gift to the neighborhood or city in which they resided. Here's a list of the 38 theaters with no photo images on Cinema Treasures: Dig a bit deeper and you can find some photos of some of these missing places. The Bijou Casino was at 606 Washington Ave: The Capitol was at 101 N. 6th Street: The Cherokee was at 2714 Cherokee: The Cinderella was at 2735 Cherokee and is currently undergoing a renovation, yay! Or, you can scour the internet or best of all, get out and see for yourself (my go-to method) and try to imagine the place and how a theater would have fit into the fabric of the neighborhood. Will need to verify this. The Lyric was demo'd for the current Busch Stadium parking garages. The O. T. Crawford chain built the Mikado theater in 1911, the architect was F. A. Duggan.

The Apache was at 411 N. 7th Street: The Apollo Art was at 323-329 DeBaliviere and was raided several times by the police because they were showing foreign and independent films: The Arco was at 4207-11 Manchester in Forest Park Southeast, now called the Grove: The Armo Skydome was at 3192 Morgan Ford, now a 7-11. I was at a local tavern and started spieling about my new-found obsession with local theaters, and the conversation spread to the table behind me where sat someone who just happens to be an urban explorer with tenfold my experience. It was demo'd in 1983... You get the idea, we've lost a lot over the years. After adding a long succession of neighborhood houses, Fred Wehrenberg acquired the Melba Theatre. Some were massive losses to Mother Nature, Urban Renewal, or good old fashioned abandonment and neglect. The Lafayette was at 1643 South Jefferson (the building in white); this is now a Sav-A-Lot: The Lindell was at 3521 North Grand: The Loew's Mid City was at 416 N. Grand: The Martin Cinerama was at 4218 Lindell and was pretty mod, with a curved screen and plenty of mid-century charm: The Melvin was at 2912 Chippewa and is still there to see: The Michigan was at 7226 Michigan and was freaking ~1999 when it was razed: The Missouri was at 626 N. Grand (currently being renovated, yay! I've shown the most grand losses, but there are many, many others worth noting. However, that should not stop you from exploring this amazing site. Then (image via Cinema Treasures). This is not a St. Louis-only problem: the other three Midwestern cities I scanned (Kansas City, Memphis and Cincinnati) have lost most of their theaters too.

Movie Theaters In St Louis Park Mn Inside

Conceptual image of "Wild Carrot". Then by World War II it had become an adult movie house. A good example of this eventual demise is the Garrick Theater built in 1904 and eventually razed in 1954. Now that a selection has been made, an Indiegogo campaign has launched. Show Place Icon Theatres Contact Information.

Following are those others that we have lost entirely or are still there, waiting for someone with the means to save them. It was razed in 1954. The Virginia was at 5117 Virginia and is still standing: The West End was at 4819 Delmar: Here's another one right before its demo in 1985: The Whiteway was at 1150 S. 6th Street: The World Playhouse was at 506 St. Charles was known for burlesque: Thanks to Charles Van Bibber for the time and effort you've shared with us for future consideration and pondering. Photos are surprisingly very hard to find.

Movies St Louis Park

Such is the trend to this day in the suburbs. Here's the entry from Cinema Treasures: The Melba Theatre was opened on November 29, 1917. The dark horse method, usually the most fun and personable, you can read from or listen to first hand accounts from people who were there or who devoted their time to research and share it with the public. His proposal, titled Ritziata, received more than 42% of votes cast for proposed art installations on the site. The Grand Theater at 514 Market was built in 1852 and destroyed in the 1960s for the latest round of bad ideas (read recent NFL football stadium proposal just north of Downtown) associated with Busch Stadium II which stripped most of Downtown of it's history and brought us a ton of parking lots and surface activity killers. The good news is, there are 59 theaters with photos of the the buildings when they were operational or with enough there to verify it. There were over 150 theaters at one point in the heyday of St. Louis neighborhood theaters, so there was fierce competition as well. It was demo'd in January, 2012 and its demise is very well documented. Many were simply places to get the hell out of the heat, a brief respite from the hot and humid St. Louis summer before the onset of affordable central HVAC. How the hell do we continue to allow this kind of thing to happen? Address: Park Place Blvd & W 16th St. St Louis Park, MN 55416.

During warm evenings, shows would be stopped in the auditorium, and film reels carried to the airdome. The Grenada at 4519 Gravois was in the Bevo Mill Neighborhood at Taft and Gravois from 1927 - 1992. Here's the current site use: Now (image via Google Street View). Here are a couple examples: Bonanza: 2917 Olive Street, 63103. And the point of this post is to share a list and as many photos of the St. Louis theaters of the past that I could find. I've lived here for ~21 years and many of my favorite metal signs have vanished. Here's a story and excerpt from NextSTL: "A proposal by artist Walter Gunn has been chosen by popular vote to seek funding. All photos were sourced from the Cinema Treasures website. This one was operational from 1935-1999 and was popular in its later days for showing the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Phone Number: 6125680375. The marquee from the Melba Theatre was moved to the Melba Theatre in DeSoto, Missouri, another theater acquired by the Wehrenberg chain.

90% of them are aning demolished, wiped out. Per that story, the sign is returned. Most of the entries of St. Louis theaters were written by one Charles Van Bibber. The Shenandoah at 2300 South Grand and Shenandoah operated from 1912-1977: The Columbia was at 5257 Southwest on the Hill and it is rumored that Joe Garagiola worked there: photo source: Landmarks Association of St. Louis. These signs are disappearing at a tragic rate.

Go check them out, many are already gone or on their way to the landfills and brick/scrap thieves.