DETROIT, MI
December 2009.
December 2009.
Eastown Theater
DETROIT, MI
December 2009.
December 2009.
Detroit's Eastown Theater, which began showing
movies in 1931, was the first truly grand abandoned theater I've photographed.
It is only fairly recently that this building became a ruin, and despite its
location in a notoriously rough part of town, most of the damage here has been
due to exposure to the elements.
The movie house closed in 1967, and the building was converted to a hall for
rock concerts two years later. Rock bands at the height of their international
fame, including The Who, The Kinks, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Jefferson Airplane,
and many others played here. Local Detroit bands such as the MC5 also performed
here, and the neighborhood, even then considered rough, lent an air of legitimacy
to these proto-punk hard rock bands. Drug dealers had free reign to do business
in the Eastown, while concert-goers might find their tape decks or tires stolen
upon returning to their cars after the show.
Community concerns led to revoked licenses for the operation of the theater, and
it held shows only sporadically through the latter-half of the 1970s.Community
acts took place at the Eastown in the 1980s, but these ventures foundered in the
1990s. Later in the 1990s raves occurred in the still lavishly decorated
theater, and lastly a church group took over the site, mainly to house members
in the adjacent apartment building.
The group started offering the building for sale about 2004, but found no takers
and the Eastown was abandoned. Holes in the roof led to severe deterioration of
interior architectural details, and 1970s replacement seats were recently
removed. Today prostitutes ply their trade in and around the building, and
undercover narcotics agents look for drug dealers or anyone who might be a
patron, as there really isn't much of another reason to spend an afternoon in
the area. Except to photograph the sad decay of a once-beautiful movie house and
legendary rock concert venue.
My guide Randy from DetroitFunk.com kept a lookout while I snapped away some
overview shots of the theater interior. He also managed to grab some great fisheye
photos of the theater and photos of the ballroom
in the process.
Architectural
salvagers looted details from
the building's roof this past
year, and the office building shown intact above caught
fire in the summer of 2010. The Eastown Theater is also featured on the
cover of the 2010 publication Lost
Detroit by Dan
Austin and Sean Doerr.
Just as I was about to publish this page, the office building portion burned
again, on November 29, 2010, leaving only the theater and ballroom (left half
of the building as shown above) still standing.
December 2009.
December 2009.
This and all interiors, November 2010.
View from the stage.
The dome above the balcony is in perfect condition.
Despite severe water damage, many painted
details remain.
Backstage.
This page copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Yasinsac.
All rights reserved.
Reproducing or copying photographs
without the permission of Robert Yasinsac is prohibited.
