Louis to the tune of nearly 550,000 people lost since 1950.the customers up and left and demanded newer multi-plex theaters surrounded by a sea of surface parking. Pair that with the intense wave of suburban flight that continues to suck people from St. It was tough to keep up, many older theaters were reconfigured to skating rinks or bowling alleys. ![]() ![]() in the 1950s, burlesque/go-go dancers in the 1960s, XXX adult films in the 1970s and VHS/Beta in the the 90s most of the theaters were all gone (except the Hi-Pointe and Union Station Cine).it seems these buildings were under constant attack by technology and the changing times. Louis summer before the onset of affordable central HVAC. Many were simply places to get the hell out of the heat, a brief respite from the hot and humid St. History was not on the side of the movie houses. Louis-only problem: the other three Midwestern cities I scanned (Kansas City, Memphis and Cincinnati) have lost most of their theaters too. >90% of them are aning demolished, wiped out. Louis neighborhood theaters, so there was fierce competition as well. There were over 150 theaters at one point in the heyday of St. 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. Movie theaters and cinema in general are one of the greatest things 20th Century American's gave the world. I've lived here for ~21 years and many of my favorite metal signs have vanished. These signs are disappearing at a tragic rate. Louis theaters, I thought I should share my findings and a summary of the info I pulled from various sources.Īs a result of my online research, I've also become fascinated with the all-black movie and vaudeville houses and will be posting my findings on them as soon as I do a little more poking around and after I read this recent find on eBay:īut, my true fascination with movie theaters started with something very simple: the signs.the metal and neon of the grand marquees. Louis such a charming place to live.Īnyhow, after spending a solid week of my spare time reading, riding around and looking for photos of the St. These chance connections are one the things that makes St. Turns out, this guy has devoted a tremendous amount of time looking into this same topic and just so happens to have a three-ring binder filled with research, photos and info.I have connected with him and hope to revisit that conversation and follow up on this fun topic. 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. Louis small town/big city fashion, the plot thickens. We connected briefly via social media channels, but there was no interest to meet or do an interview. I tried to connect with him to get his story and understand how he has so much information and experience with St. This guy obviously has a ton of experience and first hand knowledge of the city's theaters. Louis theaters were written by one Charles Van Bibber. ![]() Louis theaters of the past that I could find. And the point of this post is to share a list and as many photos of the St. Lord knows I did, for almost a week straight. However, that should not stop you from exploring this amazing site. 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. This online catalog of movie theaters past and present has some incredible photos and snippets of information. 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.įor the latter, there is a fantastic source: 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. You can take the academic approach and go straight to the library, reading through the documents, papers, maps and corroborated information that may or may not exist.this is the time consuming route, the route journalists and other people getting paid should take. Well, there's always more than one way to try to understand the past. While looking into their backgrounds, I became fascinated with the history of the past theaters of St. Previously, I discussed the four remaining, fully operational, St.
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