Avalon Theatre

Info Updates:

3/12/2021 - waterwinterwonderland.com

I used to the Avalon Theatre with my Cousins, Bunny and Norman in the 1950's every Saturday. It was 20 cents to see the movie and we would get an extra five cents to buy candy. We lived around the corner on Tyler St, so it was a place that we 3 kids could go to by ourselves. The movie started at 1:00pm and we loved the place. My favorite time though was when my Aunt Emma came over to our house and my Grandmother and Aunt Emma and I went to the movies one evening. My Grandmother fried some chicken and we took that to the movies with us. We had the best time eating fried chicken and homemade French fries with hot sauce while watching the movie. It was something magical and so fun about it. I must have been about 7 or 8 yrs old, which would have made it around 1959. Then we moved away. The neighborhood had just gotten too bad. Plus, my Grandparents bought a house so we had to move. I'll never forget those wonderful days or the grand Avalon Theatre!

8/12/2018 - Fred

I lived a couple blocks away. Every weekend all the kids would line up to see whatever was playing. Usually several cartoons, a newsreel, previews and 2 action thriller movies. Admission was 12 cents on Sat and 20 cents on Sun. This was about 1950. The Avalon Restaurant was next door. My classmate's parents owned it and one day I was invited inside to eat in the back where the staff worked. Very exciting for a little kid.

12/13/2014 - Brian

I lived on Clements which was acoss the street from the Avalon I could sit on my back porch and I see the Avalon along with A&P and Food Giant , Majors BQ my first movie was Puss and Boots, many of times after that I used to sneek in those days I really miss.

3/5/2014 - Helen Kelley

I have so many fond memories of the Avalon Theater in Detroit. I spent my allowance on Saturday at the Avalon. I remember seeing Cat on A Hot Tin Roof with Liz Taylor and Paul Newman. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad with Kerwin Matthews, God Created Woman with Bridget Bardot, The Day the Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie, Gentleman Prefer Blonds with Marilyn Monroe, Creature of the Black Lagoon, The Blob with a young Steve McQueen, Journey to the Center of the Earth with Pat Boone, The King and I with Yul Brenner and Deborah Kerr, Around the World in 80 days with David Niven, John Wayne movies & Sandra Dee movies, as well as many B-movies, well the list is endless. My memory of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is so dear that I recently purchased this 1958 movie on DVD.

2/17/2014 - Dan Almond

Per my mother's yearbook(Centralite 1944-the ads at the back), The Avalon Sweet Shop was next door. 13305 Linwood.

2/9/2014 - Jerome

i have a lot of fond memories of the Avalon theater alsthough it wasnt my 'home' theater (that was the Westown on wyoming a half block south of fenkell). i had a girlfiend who lived just down the block from the Avalon and my cousin attended Toni's school of dance which was next door to that theater. once a year Toni's gave a big dance recital downtown at the ford auditorium whcih was recently torn down. i can still smell the popcorn that hit your nose the second that you stepped into the lobby. i believe the last time i was in the Avalon was to see 'Our Man Flint' , starring actor james coburn. good times.

10/15/2010 - John Bragman

This was one of the several theaters that we made the rounds of during my youth. Next door was a restaurant (The Avalon, of course) where I learned the delicacies of chopped steak and grape pop. And if memory serves well enough, our waitress was named Rose. Any help on that???.

3/9/2010 - Paul

I went there many times as a kid. To bad that there are no photos, but I do have a brick from the demolition. I was watching it come down years ago and took a brick.

1/10/2004 - Cinema Treasures

Although C. Howard Crane submitted early plans for the Avalon, it ended up being designed by the Chicago-based firm of Graven and Mayger, who only designed a couple of theaters in the Detroit area, including the original Mayan-Aztec inspired interior of the Fisher, lost to a bland 60s modernization. Built for the Wisper and Wetsman chain in 1928, the Avalon was fairly large for a neighborhood house, and sat nearly 2000. It closed in 1967 but its organ was removed. The Avalon sat crumbling away for almost another decade prior to being razed.

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