100 Years in 100 Days: Fairmount Theatre in Shaker Heights
100 photographs that define Shaker Heights
Photos
Shaker Heights Patch is celebrating the 100 years of Shaker Heights history by creating an online scrapbook. Each day for 100 days, we'll feature a photograph that helps tell the story of Shaker Heights.
Today's photo features the Fairmount Theatre on Warrensville Center Road and Fairmount Boulevard. The theater was next to John Carroll University, but it was located in Shaker Heights according to the county property records.The cinema closed and a Huntington Bank branch now occupies the space.
There's not much information about this theater, so we're asking readers to help us out. The postcard comes from the late 40s or early 50s. The movie on the marquee, "You Gotta Stay Happy," was released in 1948. If you beat the summer heat by ducking into the Fairmount Theatre, tell us in the comments.
You can join our celebration of Shaker Heights history. Share your memories in the comments. Or upload your photos and we'll feature them in this scrapbook. Follow #ShakerCentennial on Twitter.
Gary Bakst
12:12 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
I used to live and Channing moved at the age of 5. I remember my mother sending me up to the theater with my siblings and 50 cents. 25 cents to get in and 25 cents for 5 pieces of candy or a large box of popcorn. I remember a direct entrance from the theater lobby to Campus Drug next door. It also had an old time pay phone where the receiver and the mouth piece were separate . Great memories!!!
Brandon Baker
12:37 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
Thanks for the great memories. I couldn't imagine enjoying treats at such prices!
Afi-Odelia Scruggs
7:58 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
Gary, thanks for your comment. I don't live far from Fairmount Circle, but I never knew a movie house was located there.
Judy Ringel
6:16 pm on Saturday, October 13, 2012
What a wonderful surprise to see a photo of the old Fairmount Theater, literally my home away from home when I was growing up in the 1940s and '50s. The movie theater was one of many in the Cleveland area owned and operated by Community Circuit Theaters, a partnership comprised of the Lefkowich and Greenberger families. (One of the partners was my father, Leo Greenberger.) Straddling the border between Shaker Heights and University Heights, the theater was a favorite destination for area residents, young and old alike, especially in the era before television. Saturday afternoon "kiddie shows" at reduced rates were very popular (I think the cost of a ticket was only 10 cents, but I'm not really sure because I got in free!), and after the movie we could go next door to Campus Drug to buy a comic book and a candy bar. Taking in a movie at the Fairmount was also a great way to escape the summer heat, as the theater was one of the few places in Cleveland back then that had air conditioning. Many thanks for the memories . . .
Judy Greenberger Ringel