Originally posted by SunDeck
Most of my friends from college grew up going to Clifton School, dodging Johnny K. and "Dr." Melzner, and sneaking into the Esquire (was it called that back then?). I always envied the life they had.
It was called the Esquire for as long as I can remember, probably forever. But it was closed down for several years - roughly 1983-1990 - and they were going to tear it down before a successful 'save the Esquire' campaign. When I was a small boy, it was a second-run movie theater. For example, it showed Star Wars about a year after Star Wars came out. With the advent of HBO and pay cable, second-run theaters became obsolete.
Now the theater is more of a first-run art house. I was hoping that the theater's website would have a history section, but it doesn't
http://www.esquiretheatre.com/
However, there's a small historical timeline on this link. You might have heard about the controversy over its management company cutting a scene out of a movie and not telling the customers - which was in breech of its contract with the studio.
http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/06..._theaters.html
However, I don't think that's affected attendance. My dad - a UC professor - recently moved back to Clifton, and he says that attendance appears to be good.