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| Detail from a June 1955 Lorain Journal ad |
Yesterday’s post dealt with the closing of the Ohio Theater in Downtown Lorain back in September 1971. Today, we’ll take a look at the demolition of the Tivoli.
The Tivoli lasted a little longer than the Ohio. It was vacated in 1977, leaving the Palace as the sole Downtown theater.
Since 2017, 642 Broadway has been home to United Way of Lorain County.
Below are the photos that the Journal ran on October 10, 1985 of the Tivoli’s demolition. I wish the photo quality was better but at least you can still see that the theater marquee was being carefully removed. Wonder where it is today?
As the short article noted, the demolition was being done with caution “because existing businesses still share a wall with the old theater.”
I did a “Then and Now” of the Tivoli back here in August 2011. Here are the two photos from that post.
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The Tivoli has been featured on this blog many times, mainly because of its movie fare (which seems to have been aligned with my tastes in entertainment).
Here are a few of those posts: back here I posted a September 1959 ad promoting the showing of the Three Stooges in Have Rocket Will Travel; this post revealed that a Three Stooges feature was again at the Tivoli in September 1963, this time being The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze; and this post was about the Hanna Barbera double feature at the Tivoli in March 1969 consisting of Hey There, it’s Yogi Bear and The Man Called Flintstone.
Yessir, my kind of educational movies.
The Three Stooges in Lorain?Talk about comedy royalty.They have to be in the top 5 classic comedians of all time.Along with Abbott & Costello,Laurel & Hardy,Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle.They might've been past their prime in 1963,but whoever was a current comedian in 1963 isn't being talked about and still watched on tv like the Stooges are some 55 odd years later.
ReplyDeleteIn the Sixties and Seventies, the Tivoli was my go-to place for horror and science fiction.I recall being shocked when it was torn down, having hoped that someone would reopen it. After it closed in '77, I never passed the theater without peering in through the dusty windows at the entrance, looking, perhaps, for the fleeting ghosts of childhood.
ReplyDeleteWow Dan this one is a memory jogger for me.I worked there form 1952 -1955,my LHS years.ticket taker,usher,concessions sales,etc. Great job !no worries.....Anyway the theater was completely remolded in 1948.Everything was gutted from the old Pantheon from the tornado....the new Tivoli was beautiful. Its opening feature was Captain from Castile.A Fox epic with Tyrone Power...I was a little kid but i remember the opening.
ReplyDeleteThe theater was the first in lorain to install the wide screen cinemacope stereo sound systems in fall of 1953.The Robe was the first picture at that Premiere..lots of great memories and people from those days.....Sorry to have seen it pass.Thanks for the memory. HB