Downtown Architecture Tour

[Glenna]

Thank you for sharing your photo collection. I just love looking at old pictures of Youngstown.

[Towntalk]

I have just added a number of new pictures of downtown theaters to my Webshots site.

http://community.webshots.com/user/ladynews500

When I can get to it, I'll be adding a seperate group of ads from old downtown theaters you might be interested in. These will be for theaters most of you never heard of.

I've created a Downtown Theater Ad album and so far have 5 theater ads in it with 14 more to go as time allows.

[Towntalk]

You're absolutely right Glenna, the Youngstown of 1900 thru 1950 was really something. There was always something going on especially at the local theaters ... everything from live Broadway plays and musicals to symphonies and Grand Opera to Vaudeville featuring Superstars  to first run movies, and even a few nite clubs with live bands. There were also sporting events at two sports palaces and plenty of restaurants for an after the theater meal, and a couple of dance halls.

In my vast collection of historic Youngstown photos I have photos of our downtown that I would gladly put up on my web shots site if enough people were interested. Right now there are over 250 photos there already.

[Glenna]

Even with the rain I had a nice time. I know a lot more about the Warner Brothers and downtown. I really wish I could have seen downtown in the early 1900's. it is a shame that so many of the theaters were not saved. I had to leave before the tour was over so I am not sure if he scheduled another tour for next month but I hope he does. Thanks to Mark Peyko from the Metro monthly I am still learing about Youngstown.
P.S. One of the reasons I had to leave early was I had a late night last night. I went downtown for the movie and  had a great time. Thanks Phil Kidd!

[Towntalk]

It's a crying shame that of all the theaters that were downtown (twelve in all at its peak) there is precious little that remains except in photos and old theater ads.

I'm sure though that Metro Monthly will do a bang up job educating  those that go on this tour. I've collected many of the Metro Monthly papers that had rare photos of Youngstown and keep them in my history file.

For those who didn't see a post I posted listing these theaters some time ago, at their peak there were 6 theaters east of the square and 6 west of the square with the Palace and Park Theater being the two major theaters and the Hippodrome being a distent 2nd after the Palace was opened. The Hippodrome was a B.F, Keith house that featured vaudeville and lavish musicals such as Earl Carroll Vanities. After the Palace opened, the quality of the stage shows at the Hippodrome declined, and later was turned into the Greyhound Bus Terminal.

[Glenna]

According to the Metro Monthly there will be another of the downtown architecture tours tomorrow night  Tuesday, July  22nd  at 7:00PM. It starts at the Civil War Monument. This one will focus on many of the  downtown theaters. I went last month and had a very nice time and learned some things I never knew about the downtown. I haven't seen much about this so hopefully it is still on.
Glenna