Portrait of a Dead Mall

The ominous hum of the Segway's electric motor filled my ear as a Cincinnati Mall security guard rode her mighty steed beside me, leading me towards the mall exit. I had been "asked to leave" and they were going to make damn sure I didn't provoke any more "security concerns" with my picture taking ever again. I had been caught read handed, dead in the act of taking photographs within the confines of this dying mall that felt more like the set of Dawn of the Dead than a shopping complex.



- "Cincinnati Mall" deserted on a Friday afternoon.

"Cincinnati Mall" was once better known as "Cincinnati Mills" and before that it was the "Forest Fair Mall," named after the complex's location directly on the dividing line of the cities of Fairfield and Forest Park, Ohio. The mall opened in 1989 and immediately faced problems. The high end anchor tenants proved to be unpopular with the area's demographic and despite a location directly adjacent the Interstate 275-Winton Rd. interchange, the mall was built between two already successful, established malls; The Tri-County Mall just four miles to the East and Northgate Mall seven miles to the west.



- This aerial image shows not only the vast size of the mall, but it's close proximity to Interstate 275.

Despite the amenities such as an indoor amusement park known as "Time Out on the Court," which I'm sure many kids who grew up in the 90's such as myself remember, and upscale retailers, the mall struggled. All three original anchor stores packed up and left by 1990 as the mall entered a decade of ownership changes, renovations and attempts to appeal to the local market. Forest Fair had it's ups and downs, but by the mid 90's seemed to have found a niche offering several discount anchor stores while at the same time attracting many big box retailers such as Bass Pro Shops of Springfield, Missouri. In the late 90's, the mall axed many of it's nightclub and entertainment venues including "Time Out on the Court," which was replaced by "Wonderpark" a Namco Entertainment indoor amusement park that even featured a small roller coaster.



- Mid 90's photograph of the mall showing it's decor prior to the renovation by the Mills Corporation. Courtesy DeadMalls.com

Just when it seemed the mall had finally found it's target market, many of the big box stores and major tenants began to pack up and leave. By 2002 the mall's occupancy had fallen well below 50% and failure of the Forest Fair Mall seemed imminent for the second time. Hope would arise once again later that year when the Mills Corporation, a Maryland based real estate firm known for their construction and management of highly successful regional shopping centers, purchased the fledgling Forest Fair Mall and began a 70 million dollar renovation. Forest Fair Mall reopened in August 2004 as "Cincinnati Mills" to huge crowds and high approval. Despite the enthusiasm, new name, new image and new management, Cincinnati Mills did not experience the success of it's sister Mill properties. The mall once again continued a steady decline and was sold by Simon Property Group (who had acquired the Mills Corporation and who is currently building a new outlet mall just a little further north of Cincinnati Mall) in early 2009. On March 4, 2009 it was announced that Georgia based Northstar Realty Group had purchased the mall, renaming it "Cincinnati Mall," with plans to sell the land in three parcels for redevelopment.



- Despite the Showcase Cinemas and a few tenants on the second floor, the main concourse and food court of the mall are nearly deserted on this Friday afternoon.

I grew up in Fairfield just five minutes away from the mall. I have many memories of being there as a kid; playing mini golf and riding the ferris wheel as well as "hanging out" with my friends through those awesome teen years. After arriving home from college this past Friday, I once again visited the mall. I admittedly hadn't been through the mall in years except to occasionally see a movie, avoiding the main sections of the mall. Having worked at a mall in high school and having dealt with mall security before, I figured it be better to ask permission before I started taking photographs. I know how people often rag on mall security guards for being "rent a cops," but I didn't want to hassle anyone and figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I walked to the "info" desk only to find that like many other sections of the mall, it had been abandoned.



- Just like many other parts of the mall, this customer service desk was vacant

Seeing as how they didn't care to staff their customer service desk, I figured they wouldn't care if I took a few photographs. Walking throughout the mall I came across many closed shops that tenants had vacated long ago, the glass windows painted over in black. At American Eagle, two employees packed up the last of their products, the store had just closed a few weeks before. The mall's custodial staff had removed many incarnations of the word "Mills" leaving just the word "Cincinnati" emblazoned all about the shopping center. The mall changed drastically during the 2002-2004 renovation by the Mills Corp., completely changing how I remembered the mall as a young kid. The renovations had drastically improved the mall. It really is nice, just depressingly empty.




Walking about the mall is kind of like being in a scene from "Dawn of the Dead." Except, instead of hordes of flesh eating zombies, the only other souls you encounter are the occasional mall walker or few actual customers browsing stores. The staff of the Johnny Rocket's restaurant chat at the counter, no customers to wait on, while the employee at Starbucks reads a book, no customers to serve. It's 4:00 on a Friday afternoon after school has let out for the day and the mall is just dead. Many of the dynamic lights once used to create an atmosphere are turned off or burnt out. Sign posts indicating which store is in what direction are left blank, save for the names of the few remaining tenants.



- While most of the second floor in this wing is vacant, the bottom floor is probably the most populated section of the mall

Unlike other abandoned locales I explore, this place isn't technically "abandoned." I'm not trespassing, it's open to the public and I'm more than welcome to come inside, but Cincinnati Mall has the feeling of abandonment. It's quite obvious that this mall was never meant to be and despite the attempts and millions invested in it, it has sadly not been successful.



- Remains of the former "Wonderpark" indoor amusement park.

I'm making my way towards Kohl's when from behind me I hear the soft hum of an electric motor getting closer and closer.
"Sir."
"Sir!"
I turn around, it's a Cincinnati Mall security guard. Looking down at me from her mighty segway, helmet on her head, she says:
"You're not allowed to snap photographs in the mall, it's a security concern and it's prohibited. I'm going to have to ask you come with me and leave."
I oblige to her request for me to leave and stop taking photographs, but when she asks to see some identification and for me to go to the office with her, I decline. I respect her for doing her job and enforcing the rules, but I don't have to give them anything. The Delta Force like security team follows me in their SUV as I stop at the far end of the mall parking lot to snap some photographs of two restaurants, which like many of the malls tenants, are now vacant.



- One of two vacant restaurants in the Cincinnati Mall parking lot. This one was a former Roadhouse Grill

I smile and wave goodbye to the security guard following me as I exit the parking lot and think about what the other guard inside the mall said.to me:
"This is your one and only warning, any further infractions and you could be banned from the mall for the rest of the year."
I wonder though; will there even be a Cincinnati Mall the rest of this year?

To see more photographs of Cincinnati Mall check out the Queen City Discovery Photo Gallery: Cincinnati Mall

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Previous Update :: 3/23/09 - Take a Ride on The Anderson Ferry

Take a Ride on the Anderson Ferry

By: Ronny Salerno
queencitydisco@gmail.com

There's a shortcut connecting the shores of Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati and it's the only one of it's kind in the area. That shortcut is the Anderson Ferry. Operating three boats, the crew of the Anderson Ferry shuttles passengers from Anderson Ferry Rd., six miles west of downtown Cincinnati, across the Ohio River to Constance, KY, just North of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) or vice-versa.




I can vaguely remember taking the ferry when I was really young and to be honest, had forgotten about it's existence till I stumbled upon the website of Dennis Camp, a great photographer who had been documenting the Ferry for some time. I still needed a subject to photograph for my final assignment at Ohio University so I contacted the ferry's owner, Paul Anderson, and made the necessary arrangements.



-The Ferry on the Kentucky Shore.

I was able to photograph the ferry on two separate occasions, each time spending about four hours with the crew, crossing the Ohio River many times. The Anderson Ferry is unique in that it is the only ferry currently serving the Cincinnati area. The ferry has existed since 1817 and is a landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. Occasionally bridges have been proposed in the location of the ferry and the recent economic woes and fuel prices have had an affect on ferry customers and operating costs, but Mr. Anderson and his team continue to offer a very unique and convenient service.



-Don Phelps pilots the "Boone No. 7." The "No. 7" is the oldest boat in the ferry fleet, still using wooden paddle wheels and originally running on steam. The two steering controls seen here were originally used in a Cincinnati streetcar.

If you want to avoid I-275 or I-75 the ferry provides close access to downtown Cincinnati, just six miles to the west of the city. The Kentucky side is just North of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). "...if I time it just right, my personal best is about 20 minutes." says Brian Malloy, a resident of Northern Kentucky who often uses the ferry to commute to Cincinnati with his daughter Maire Shannon.




The crew of the ferry operates three boats: The Deborah A (named after owner Paul Anderson's wife), the Boone No. 7 and the the Boone No. 8. The busiest time for the ferry is during rush hour from 4:30 until about 6:00 when the crew will operate two ferry boats simultaneously.



-A loaded boat during rush hour.

During my visits to the ferry I had the opportunity to meet many crew members, each with their own unique story. Crew members like Don Phelps; who was inspired to become a pilot after reading Siddhartha, John James; a proud military veteran who has lived on the ferry property and worked there on and off since 1966, Virgil Souder; a deckhand and former captain who can no longer pilot the boats due to his deteriorating eye site and Paul Anderson; while not related to the original Anderson Ferry operators, he continues to run the operation today. Audio interviews with the crew and more photographs can be seen in this interactive slideshow:



The Ferry not only provides you with a shortcut and alternative to the interstates, but the opportunity to experience something not commonly seen on American rivers today. Despite the changing times, the Anderson Ferry continues onward into the future. If you ever get the chance, take the ferry and support a great local business! Whether your coming to and from the airport, commuting to your job or just looking for something interesting to do, take the ferry and get out of your car for a few minutes while enjoying a nice relaxing ride on the Ohio River.

Thanks to Paul Anderson, Don Phelps, John James, Virgil Souder, Don, Brian and Mairie Shannon Malloy and everyone else I met while documenting the ferry!

The prices to take the ferry are as follows:
Cars: $4 or $7 round trip
Motorcycles: $2
Bikes: $1
Pedestrians: .50 cents

A map to the ferry's location and an "unofficial" website can be found here: Anderson Ferry

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Previous Update :: 3/8/09 - The Cincinnati Subway

The Cincinnati Subway

By: Ronny Salerno
queencitydisco@gmail.com

It was a cold night in March, 2008. I had just finished up photographing an assignment story downtown when I met up with Zach. I was dressed in slacks, dress shoes and a nice button down shirt, hardly exploring clothing. I exchanged my dress shoes for muddy combat boots and my jacket for an old sweatshirt. We grabbed cameras and flashlights then headed out for a recon mission. We parked the car on Central Parkway, and walked over to the stone fence.

"That doesn't look too far down." I said.
"Yeah, we should be fine." replied Zach.

Over the fence and down we went, neither of us landing on our feet. Tours of the abandoned Cincinnati Subway were once put on by a now defunct website and tours by the historical society were few and far between, not to mention they didn't allow cameras and charged you an arm and a leg. By jumping down near the subway portals along I-75, we thought we may able to find a crack in the wall or an old, open vent that we could one day use to slip through and take our own subway tour. Our luck had run out. While the internet was rampant with photographs and stories of explorers before us, the subway was now sealed up tight with metal sheets and steel bars of a post-9/11 world, putting off the dreams of one day seeing the subway.

However, luck would change as I received an email from Zach, now working in New York, about tours of the subway being done by the Over-The-Rhine Foundation as part of the 2009 Bockfest. I immediately bought my tickets and nearly a year after our failed attempts and years of childhood curiosity...I was able to see the abandoned Cincinnati Subway on March 7th, 2009:



-Stairs connecting the Race St. station of the abandoned Cincinnati Subway to the surface.

Did you even know Cincinnati had a subway? If the answer is "no," that's quite understandable. The subway never had a single train run through it and never served a single passenger. Planning for the subway began in 1914, with 6 million dollars in bonds being raised initially. The plan was to design a 16 mile loop running through downtown Cincinnati and around it's urban core, while connecting it with the suburbs of St. Bernard and Norwood. The idea to construct the subway came from the Miami-Eerie canal. The canal winding through downtown that had once been the main means of travel and shipping for many, was now a stagnant cesspool of standing water and becoming a health hazard. The decision was made to drain the canal, build the subway in it's place, bury the subway and construct a grand street on top of it which is known today as "Central Parkway." Construction of the first phase began in 1920



-Workers constructing the Cincinnati Subway in place of the now drained Miami-Eerie Canal. Photograph from Cincinnati-Transit.

The history of the Subway's construction is fascinating. Many factors ranging from poor planning, city politics, the looming onset of the Great Depression, and the decrease in Cincinnati's urban population and demand for such a system eventually stopped the subway from completion (A more detailed and thorough history of the Subway can be found at Jake Mecklenborg's Cincinnati-Transit website). In short; the $6 million in bonds set aside in 1914 had run out by 1927. Construction of the partially completed subway ceased and was never resumed. Various uses were found for the subway over the years. Eventually a water main was constructed through the tunnels beneath Central Parkway, the station beneath Liberty St. was transformed into a bomb shelter during the Cold War and many other proposed uses for the subway tunnels have come up over time.

The Subway exists today as a utility tunnel and a subterranean monument to a forgotten piece of infrastructure that would have changed the landscape of the city from what we know it as today. Two miles of tunnels still exist today beneath Central Parkway, as well as one other short section of tunnels crossing beneath Hopple St. The portals of the Central Parkway tunnels can be seen while drive southbound on I-75 towards downtown, just after passing the Hopple St. exit. I remember passing the portals as a kid, in the car with my dad on our way to a Reds game. He explained to me what they were and my subway curiosity was born. For my birthday one year he purchased a fantastic book called "Cincinnati Subway". by Allen J. Singer. My curiosity and desire to see the subway stems from my childhood. After years of waiting for a chance to take a tour and after a failed attempt on that cold March night, I got to see the abandoned Cincinnati Subway with my dad, the person who first sparked my interest.

The tour by the Over-The-Rhine foundation started out with a presentation by John Luginbill, the man who oversees the maintenance of the 82 year old tunnels. The presentation offered participants a unique look at the construction of the Subway through historical photographs before beginning the tour. Following the presentation, we followed Mr. Luginbill to a small metal grate in the landscaped median in the center of Central Parkway, near where Race St. intersects. Upon opening it, we were met with stairs leading down into the subway.



-Stairs leading from the surface into the depths of the Cincinnati Subway's Race St. station.

I set up my tripod and camera. I had seen many photographs of the Cincinnati Subway on the internet. Most were taken prior to 9/11 before the subway tunnels were tightly sealed or during official tours with the city and were usually taken with the cameras flash unit on. I decided to use a tripod, long exposures on my camera and a 1,000,000 candle power spot light to take these photographs.



-Looking East from the Race St. station. Interurban track seen at center while the Outbound track can be seen on the far left and the Inbound track (with the water main running through it) at right.

The station at Race St. is essentially an island. It is the largest of all the remaining stations along the line. There are three tracks here: A track for outbound trains, a track for inbound trains (the track that now has the water main running through it) and a stub track that comes up to the back of the station stairs. This stub track would have served the interurban rail cars.



-Looking east, the subway is three tracks wide at this point.

Our tour guides ushered us to the west end of the station. We stepped off of the platforms down into the dirt and through the tunnels.



-Tour participants exploring the tunnels beneath Central Parkway.

If we were to follow the tunnels westward, we would have gone on for nearly two miles encountering stations at Liberty St., Brighton St., and Linn St before coming to the tunnels end near the Western Hills Viaduct and I-75



-Tour participants exploring the tunnels beneath Central Parkway.

Unlike most railroads, the ties of the wooden tracks do not run horizontally. Instead, they run parallel to each other. The ties are made of solid oak and the steel track would have been bolted to the top.



-The Race St. Station. The center track would have been for the smaller interurban rail lines, while the track in the background would have served inbound subway trains. That track now houses a water main.

Today the subway exists more as a utility tunnel than a transit tunnel. The water main built in the 1950's runs nearly the full two miles of the tunnels, as do fiberoptic cables.



-The Race St. station.

Had it been completed, the Cincinnati Subway would have run cars similar to those found on Boston's Red Line and been one of few major cities to have completed a subway system before World War Two, joining the likes of Boston, New York and Philadelphia.



-The Race St. station.

Could the subway still be completed? The answer is "yes." There have been many proposals brought forth that would have completed the Cincinnati Subway system which is now 82 years old. Modern passenger cars in similar tunnels still run in Boston, MA so size of the tunnels is not a problem. However, the Subway's biggest obstacle to a life it never had is threefold:
1) The cost of removing, relocating and constructing a new water main to replace the one running through the Subway.
2) Cincinnati has become a city surrounded by sprawling suburbs and suburban commutes that a regional rail line would be more beneficial than the original 16 mile loop envisioned 95 years ago. (A proposal for a small tax increase to begin funding a regional light rail line in 2002 unfortunately failed.)
3)Sections of land cleared for above ground sections of the subway are now the Norwood lateral and sections of I-75.



-The Race St. station. The stairs in the foreground would've lead to underground concourses connected to buildings along Race St. These concourses were never completed. The stairs in the background lead to the surface.

It seemed to go all too fast. My flashlight's battery was dying and the tour guides began ushering us out. After waiting so long, I had finally gotten to see the Cincinnati Subway and that experience was coming to an end. In a way, I felt things had come full circle. I first discovered the existence of the subways with my father and now I had experienced the subways with my father. It was a very happy moment as we exited the abandned Cincinnati Subway.



-Tour participants exiting the Race St. station to the landscaped medians of Central Parkway.

As I came up to the surface and my eyes adjusted, I noticed this mural:




A very fitting tribute to Central Parkway's history.

However, while the "official" tour ended, ours did not. My dad, my friend "IlDuce" of the website Ohio Urbex, and myself headed west along Central Parkway. We were riding parallel, above ground to the subway tunnels we had just seen. We arrived just South of Hopple St. near the White Castle. Parking the cars, we hurried across Central Parkway and down an overgrown asphalt path.



-Overgrown pathway leading to the Hopple St. tunnels.

Through the brush we approached the Hopple St. tunnels. These parallel tunnels once followed along Central Parkway, crossing beneath Hopple St. They had no stations and ended just before Mitchell Ave. where an above ground station had once been located. The above ground station at Mitchell Ave. had been demolished some time in the 1950's and the Hopple tunnels were cut off to dead ends with the construction of the nearby I-75.



-Entrance to the Hopple St. Tunnels

The tunnels run a length of approximately 400 feet before coming to a halt, littered with graffiti. Unlike the other tunnels, which house the water main and are kept sealed to keep said water main secured, the Hopple tunnels are wide open caves hidden behind the highway brush. These tunnels often serve as a refuge for homeless persons seeking shelter from the outside elements.



-The Hopple St. Tunnels often are used by Cincinnati's homeless population as a means of shelter.

The day ended with a stop at Bellevue Park, overlooking the Queen City:




It's interesting to think how the subway's completion and operation would have affected Cincinnati as we know it today. Obviously, public transportation within the city and possibly the greater Cincinnati area would be drastically different. Unlike the cities of Chicago, New York, Boston and Philadelphia, Cincinnati has a smaller urban population, while the surrounding suburban region is home to nearly 2,000,000 residents. If a subway or light rail system were to be built today it would undoubtedly need to serve the Cincinnati region as a whole. The prospect of light rail has been voted down and looked down upon over time, but a regional light rail system could easily reap economic benefits and improve business/transportation within and around the city. As the old system lays dormant and incomplete, many Greater Cincinnati residents are pushing for the construction of a modern Streetcar system. The streetcar might just be the first step in the right direction of regional light rail, a prospect that could be so very beneficial to the Tri-State.

Special thanks to Mike of the Over-The-Rhine Foundation for all of his help and work organizing this tour. I'd also like to thank John Luginbill of the city of Cincinnati for taking the time to conduct the tours!

Want to see more photographs from the subway tour? Check out the Queen City Discovery Photo Gallery for the full collection of photographs.

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Previous Update :: 3/1/09 - Cincinnati's Forgotten Theatres

Cincinnati's Forgotten Theatres

Standing in the vast, empty parking lot the only cars you can now hear are the ones passing by, honking their horns on the nearby Norwood Lateral. In the center of the wide expanse of asphalt is a rectangular, one story building adorned with white tiles, locked doors, boarded up windows and the words "Showcase Cinemas" across the top. In Bond Hill, you can find one of the area's forgotten theaters. Located right of Reading Rd., this closed cinema is a reminder of a type of movie theatre that has come and gone. At one point in time, Bond Hill and Norwood were two of the most prominent examples of only a few Cincinnati suburbs. Over the last few decades the suburbs surrounding Cincinnati have continued to expand and grow outward. The closed Showcase Cinemas in Bond Hill are a reminder of the suburban expanse we now see moving further and further out of the greater-Cincinnat area. The single story cinemas with sticky floors and aisles and aisles of seats once found in places like Bond Hill have become replaced by giant multiplexes with stadium seating and reclining chairs in the newer suburbs like West Chester.



-Entrance sign in the parking lot of the now closed Bond Hill Showcase Cinemas.

On April 28, 2008 Channel 9 WCPO ran a story about how the Bond Hill and Erlanger Showcase Cinemas had abruptly closed. Days later it was released that Showcase Cinemas had decided to close the locations due to declining attendance and the opening of a new, more modern "Cinema De Lux" in Florence, KY.



-Emergency exit door.

For many locals, the experience at the Bond Hill location seemed to decline in recent years. According to readers of the "Citizens for a Better Norwood" blog, the patrons at this location were often loud and talkative during the movie. Rude experiences seemed to be common and rules rarely enforced. Similar cinemas in Milford and Springdale experienced renovations with modern amenities, while the Bond Hill location stayed the same and eventually closed.




Wooden boards have been placed in the windows to keep out any would be explorers/photographers interested in seeing into the lobby where tickets and popcorn were sold, arcade games were played and patrons went about an American movie experience that has changed so rapidly in the last 20 years. I can remember as a kid going to the Springdale Showcase Cinemas before they were renovated, where you sat in a long row of seats hoping someone tall didn't sit in front of you. In just ten years that location has transformed into two story tall screens with digital picture, stadium seating and reclining seats. The move-going experience is changing and the now abandoned Bond Hill cinemas are a reminder of a cinema experience on it's way out.



-The sign for the Bond Hill Showcase Cinemas adjacent to the Norwood Lateral no longer advertises whats showing.

Just a few miles away in Colerain, a similar cinema sits abandoned in the parking lot of the Northgate Mall, connected to a T.G.I. Fridays. As far as I could tell, it seems the Northgate Theater closed sometime around March 2007 and used to show a mixture of first and second run films. This "older" theater probably had a hard time competing with the more modern multiplexes in it's closing days and according to locals it had been falling into disrepair.




"I took my kids to go see 'Bridge to Terabithia' and during the movie a piece of the ceiling just fell down, right into a section of seats. About a month later the theater closed for good." says Bill Ware, a 10 year resident of Colerain.




A temporary fence now erected around the theatre keeps patrons out for good. Following the theater's closure, the adjacent Northgate Mall announced plans to demolish their recently closed JCPenny store to put in a brand new RAVE theater. The plans eventually fell through leaving the Northgate area with a closed theater and space where a new theater was supposed to go.



-A broken lamp post in the parking lot of the now closed Northgate Theater.

In the Summer of 2007 a friend told me about an abandoned Drive-In Movie Theatre on the East side of the city. One evening a friend and I came upon the remains of the Oakley Drive-In Theatre in the process of being destroyed.



-Sign for the now closed Oakley Drive-In Theatre

Once billed as Cincinnati's "last outdoor picture show", this drive in movie theatre was able to accomidate 900 cars and at one time featured 2 screens. In 1996 it was voted one of Cincinnati's best entertainment venues by City Beat Magazine.



-Construction taking place on the site of the former Oakley Drive-In Theatre seen at right, one of the screens (seen at left) still remained as of summer 2007.

The Oakley screened its last films in Sept. 2005. Today constructions is taking place to turn the property into something new. Only the ticket booths and main screen remained when I last visited the site during the summer of 2007.



-Speaker poles left behind during the destruction of the Oakley Drive-In Theatre

Perhaps the most interesting forgotten theatre in the Cincinnati area though, is one right in the heart of downtown. One that until the summer of 2008 I didn't even know existed; The Emery Theatre.



-Stairs leading to the upper levels of the Emery Theatre

The Emery Theatre was completed in 1911, originally constructed as an auditorium for the adjacent Ohio College of Applied Sciences in the city's "Over-The-Rhine" neighborhood. It housed the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra until 1937 and ran silent films as well as a "classic film" series before falling into neglect in the mid 80's when several attempts were made to restore the theatre. In December 1999 the Emery closed.



-The Emery Theatre.

Since the theater's closure, attempts have been made to restore it. In 1997 the University of Cincinnati partnered with the Cincinnati Preservation Association to begin drawing plans to renovate the theatre the adjoining College of Applied Sciences building. In May of 2001, the Ohio College of Applied Sciences reopened as the Emery Center Apartments, while the renovation of the adjoining Emery Theatre was still being debated and planned.



-The Emery Theatre.

In July of 2008, my good friend and fellow explorer Sherman Cahal, moved into the Emery Center Apartments and discovered that the Emery theater was adjoined to his building. After speaking with his landlord, we were able to gain access to photograph the first floor of the theatre. Larry Schwabb of Emery Center Apartments is currently involved in a project to get the theatre restored and was kind enough to allow us inside to take photographs.



-Mechanical levels used to control the curtains inside the Emery Theatre.

Peeling paint, burnt out light bulbs and plastic wrapped chairs fill the inside of the theatre, but despite nearly a decade of no use, the Emery Theatre still holds it's great charm. The backstage rooms are empty, old levers still control the curtain rods and work is being done on renovating the theatre's wooden stage by Give Back Cincinnati.



-Looking out from the backstage area onto the stage of the Emery Theatre

The Emery is being restored in hopes that it's 1600 seats may eventually fill a mid sized venue role that the city is currently lacking. In November 2008, the Emery hosted it's first event in close to a decade, a sign of progress as suburban cinemas close and evolve into new levels of American entertainment, and as a historical relic downtown begins to breathe new life.



-The Emery Theatre.

Did you ever visit any of these theatres? Have any memories or thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment or join in the discussion at the QC/D Facebook fan page.

By clicking here you can read a more comprehensive and detailed article about the Emery Theatre by Sherman Cahal.

More photographs of the Oakley Drive-In can be seen in the Queen City Discovery Photo Gallery.

Previous Update: Feb. 22, 2009 :: "Diamondback" Almost Ready at Kings Island.

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