Metropolitan Theatre

The Metropolitan Theatre at 5012 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland's Mid-town corridor opened on March 31, 1913 with an English production of Aida. During the early 1920's the theatre was used for stage presentations and later became a film house. By the early 1950's it became WHK's Studio One and was known as the WHK Auditorium. The late 1960's saw the theatre briefly remaned as the Grande, and used for rock shows. The theatre was sporadically used after that for graduations, talent shows, among other things. It was the scene of two benefit concerts for the Cleveland Urban Learning Community (CULC). The first was on Saturday April 10, 1976 with John Bassette, Mike “Mad Dog” Adams, Colleen Lilley, Wesley Malone, Dust, Odessa, Plus preview of Normal Jones Rock Operetta “What Must Be Must Bop.” and the second on Sunday March 13, 1977 with Robert Jr. Lockwood, Mr.Stress, Alex Bevan, John Bassette, Mike Carlozzi, Lighf, Winwood, Jim Ballard, and Murray Saul MC. For a brief period the theatre was renamed the "New Hippodrome" and showed films, but that was short lived. In the late 1980's it became a rock club called the Agora.

From The Plain Dealer, January 16, 1927. The Big Parade was a blockbuster anti-war picture from 1926. Like many big pix of the era it played legit houses, at advanced prices on it's initial run.