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Source: Andy Gray
My grandfather Al Johnson built and remodeled about fifty theaters and drive-ins across Michigan. Today I'd like to highlight two of the theaters that patrons in the town of Romeo used to enjoy. The older of the two was the Juliet Theatre at 117 S. Main Street in Romeo. Johnson Construction Company remodeled the Juliet at least once. I suspect the company remodeled it twice.
According to my uncle's project list, the company remodeled the theatre into an A&P store in 1951. A caption on a September 1949 Juliet Theatre photo on a Romeo History Facebook page says that the theater closed because the Romeo Theatre (another Johnson project) a block south had recently opened. The marquee of the Juliet reads "FOR RENT WILL REMODEL." Well, I guess my grandfather got the remodel job!
In August 1948 Al shot a color slide of the outside of the Juliet Theatre. It shows marquee and door styles typical of projects that he completed in the mid 1930s to early 1940s. The cream and red color scheme are identical to most of the Johnson theaters built or remodeled during that era. This leads me to think that my grandfather also remodeled the Juliet Theatre during that period before remodeling it into a grocery store in 1951. I have not found any images of the building after it was converted to an A&P store. Google Maps shows the Yorokobi Sushi Restaurant in the original building today (2021).