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Tarkus
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Username: Tarkus

Post Number: 285
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 3:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Does anyone know whats up with the Alger Theatre?
The website is still active but does not seem to have been updated in 2 years.
I remember going there to see my first movie. 2001 Space Odessey. When I got older to go by myself we would stop at Rose & Doms or A&K for candy, then to the show.
Sneaking in the hidden exit next to the Red Carpet was always fun. After the show it was over to Sanders for hot fudge.
www.algertheatre.org
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Wkl
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Username: Wkl

Post Number: 107
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 4:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I grew up katty corner from the Alger. Worked there from '74 until it closed the first time back in '76. Went on to the Vouge and Eastland from there. They where are part of the Suburban Detroit chain back then.

When we had 2001 on one of it's re-releases, we couldn't figure out how we got done 20 minutes early. Turns out we skipped a the reel with the trip from the space station to the moon. The movie made perfect sense without it.
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Eastsidelady
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Username: Eastsidelady

Post Number: 5
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 7:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I live near there. It would nice if the theatre could be put to use.
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Harsensis
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Username: Harsensis

Post Number: 187
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 8:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have some advertising from the Alger. I have been meaning to get it up on ebay, but I haven't made the time yet.
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Tarkus
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Username: Tarkus

Post Number: 286
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 8:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Harsenis before you do that what do you have I would be interested. You can reach me at rkn65@yahoo.com
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Chalu64
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Username: Chalu64

Post Number: 124
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 8:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Advertising for the Alger? Who needs Ebay, i'd be interested.
I have fond memories of the Alger. One of the funniest memories was the time I begged my mom to go see Pink Floyds Concert at Pompeii. It didn't matter what movie it was, I just wanted to go. As an 8 year old, I had absolutely no idea as to what it was all about. But, we pigged out on candy from A&K, so it was all good.
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Tarkus
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Username: Tarkus

Post Number: 288
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 8:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I asked first Chalu, by a minute LOL :-)
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Chalu64
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Username: Chalu64

Post Number: 125
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 8:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Tarkus,
Your post wasn't there when I was filling out the post.
How about we split the ads, teeheee.
(Your post did show up on this thread 1 minute before my post.)
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Tarkus
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Username: Tarkus

Post Number: 289
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 9:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Chalu,
Sure ;)
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Diehard
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Username: Diehard

Post Number: 32
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 12:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This article is from 2002, but Geoff Gowman has been trying to get the place reopened for several years now. I met him in '05 and he said the efforts were still underway. They had some fund-raisers last year, like a gospel lunch and a blues series, but from what he was saying it's gonna take a lot of dough.
I saw a picture from 1985 where it had been broken into and vandalized - but it was open for business. Anyone know how long it was open then?
For now, they just use the marquee as ad space.
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Harmonie
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Username: Harmonie

Post Number: 690
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 12:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I grew up down the street from the Alger but have no memory of it actually being used as a theater. I do remember going to a haunted house there one Halloween, and having my mother put a message on the marquee for me when I turned 13. I always wished it would open so that I could walk to the movies, but alas it never happened.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2040
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 1:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Alger Theatre was within walking distance of our house on Three Mile between Warren and Mack, so I was allowed to walk there for the Saturday matinee occasionally if the film was deemed OK for me to see. At the age of 9, the first movie I went to see by myself was "Billie" starring Patty Duke. Of course, over the next 10 years or so, I saw many movies there.

Erv Steiner produced a number of events at the Alger Theatre, bringing in notables from across the country. As a Gone With The Wind fan, I'm still reeling from the fact that I missed Olivia de Havilland's "Town Talk" event in June 1978!!!

From the Winter Wonderland Theatre site: http://water-winterwonderland. com/location.asp?id=474&type=5
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Chalu64
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Username: Chalu64

Post Number: 126
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 9:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I shutter when I think of what The Steiner family did to the Alger. (Along with the Esquire theater, too) They may have brought in some good acts at one point, but my opinion is that they were the beginning of the end for a wonderful, little theater.
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Taj920
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Username: Taj920

Post Number: 196
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 10:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don' t think the Steiner family was the beginning of the end. They were trying to keep a couple of neighborhood theaters going. All the bigger theaters that put them out are now out themselves -- Eastland, Beacon, Woods.
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Harsensis
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Username: Harsensis

Post Number: 188
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 11:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'll see if I can locate what I have from the Alger.
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Oladub
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Username: Oladub

Post Number: 17
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Friday, March 09, 2007 - 12:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Peace Lutheran Church, of 15700 E. Warren, used to conduct its Good Friday service in the Alger Theater. I don't know the reason - maybe community outreach.

The Alger didn't offer much in the way of parking. That must have eventually been an issue.

I too lived on Three Mile Drive between Warren & Mack. (4351)
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2044
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 4:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oladub: I lived at 4166 between Waveney and Bremen from 1960 to 1978. How many houses above Waveney were you? And what years?
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Chalu64
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Username: Chalu64

Post Number: 128
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 8:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Lots of Clark families on that street. Who were some of them?
Did the Kings live on that street?
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Oladub
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Username: Oladub

Post Number: 18
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 11:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Most of the Three Mile Drive names I remember were German. Goeltz, Belk, Kierdorf(Bedford), Jansen, DeMeyers(Courville) & Eichenlob. The neighborhood along E Warren from the Alger to maybe Somerset used to be heavily German.

Kathleen, I lived on the next block, between 1948 and 1956, seven houses from Wavenly, toward Munich. We moved to Farmbrook. I think Dave DeBusschere, the Pistons star, grew up almost behind you, some years before, on Courville.

Our Three Mile Drive house was the birthplace of New Era potato chips.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2047
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 10:14 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dave DeBusschere lived on Courville between Windsor and Brunswick (2nd block n. of Mack).

Families that I remember on Three Mile Dr. in the 3 blocks between Warren and Waveney were: Carroll, Ciluffo, Dollard, Dougherty, Connolley, Tonnello, Guillamin, Campbell, Dyer, and Chappelle.

(Message edited by Kathleen on March 11, 2007)
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The_rock
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Username: The_rock

Post Number: 1615
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 12:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathleen--Did you E. Warren folks ever patronize the Bedford Inn? I think it's at Bedford and Warren, so it is a tad West of the Alger theatre. I guess the establishment got to be a rough spot in the 80's and 90's. I had one lawsuit concerning that place, and I thought it might not be the nicest spot to be in anymore. It involved a shooting both inside and outside the place.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2049
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 7:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember the name Bedford Inn, but I don't ever recall going there.
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Krawlspace
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Username: Krawlspace

Post Number: 297
Registered: 04-2004
Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 8:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bedford Inn is still there and going (sort of) strong.
Peace Lutheran School 8th grade class of 1986 myself.
Still live near there off Cadieux and E. Warren.
Drive past the Alger almost every day.
Sometimes I see Mr. Gowan changing the marquee.
I attended high school with his daughter, and she got a few friends inside in 1989. Building was in good shape, but the mechanical was shot from flooding and water damage.
In recent years they have updated one half of the marquee, and added new roof flashing over the brickwork, and removed the red panels of the marquee tower to leave that brick exposed.
That stretch of Warren is going down hill fast.
I noticed it looks like AAA Office Supply/Halmark is closing. Peace School has been closed and for sale for nearly 5 years now. And Three Mile looks bad... lots of houses boarded up, some burned. Definitely not the way it was even a decade ago.
Damn shame...
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Oladub
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Username: Oladub

Post Number: 19
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2007 - 1:10 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My computer will not open Tarkus's link to the Alger Theater. I wrote to the Alger website last year but my e-mail was returned. Not good signs.

Many years from Finney and W.S.U., I now farm in Wisconsin. A movie theater near here accomplished what the Alger people are attempting to do. The facility had seen better days. The plumbing was problematic. The seat cushions were irregular. It closed, http://www.temple-theatre.com/ was refurbished by donors and volunteers, and has reopened for live performances. Easily said, but not so easily done in Detroit methinks.

Krawlspace, please fill me in regarding Peace School's demise but off of this Alger thread at de22bock@yahoo.com . (P.L.S.'62 grad)
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Harpernottingham
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Username: Harpernottingham

Post Number: 136
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2007 - 12:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I knew of a King family who lived on the southwest corner of Three Mile Drive and Cornwall in the '70s and '80s.

I think they had a pool in their back yard.

My aunt and uncle lived behind them on Bedford.
Years later (1993-'96), I lived in that same house on Bedford.
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Harpernottingham
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Username: Harpernottingham

Post Number: 137
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2007 - 1:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just read that piece about the Alger in the Metro Times. Man ... God bless Geoff Gowman!
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2055
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2007 - 1:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Geoff's been involved in the neighborhood there for years. I remember him from when I was a DEAR block captain back in the late 70s-early 80s there.
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Harpernottingham
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Username: Harpernottingham

Post Number: 138
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2007 - 3:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

DEAR!
Now there's a blast from the past.
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Chalu64
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Username: Chalu64

Post Number: 130
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2007 - 3:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Who was your Aunt/Uncle? Did they have kids?
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Harpernottingham
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Username: Harpernottingham

Post Number: 141
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 - 3:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My aunt is Vicki Mesrey, and her uncle was Michael Mesrey. Neither of them had kids. Uncle Mike ran some grocery stores on the east side -- one at East Warren and Marlborough (Mesrey's Party Store) in the '70s, and prior to that, Little Mike's Market on Charlevoix and Seyburn near Van Dyke. That was long before I was born. Probably in the '40s and '50s.
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 2
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 9:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When I was at Wayne State University, I had a part-time job at the Alger with another girl named Vida doing promotions for a guy named Steiner. This was about 1978 or 1979. He was the screaming type and neither one of us could put up with his hysterics for long, but we got to be good friends until I reluctantly moved to Texas in 1980.
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Tarkus
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Username: Tarkus

Post Number: 314
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Friday, April 06, 2007 - 3:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

bump

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