United Artists Theatre

[Gistok]

Lorax, although the Ramona [[which I went to as a child) and the Grand Riviera [[also at times known as the Riviera)... looked like twins from the outside, they were quite different inside.

The 1925 buiilt Grand Riviera was by famed "atmospheric" theatre architect John Eberson. Eberson built the 2,786 seat Grand Riviera with a "Mediterranean Village" style to the auditorium sidewalls. And it had a large balcony. It was Detroit's finest atmospheric theatre [[runner up had to have been the surviving Redford Theatre, a Japanese atmospheric).

Atmospheric theatres had a blue painted flat curved ceiling, with all the ornate plaster detailing around the procenium and sidewalls to make it seem like you were in some exotic ancient courtyard once the house lights dimmed. Many atmospheric theatres even had machines that twinkled lights and clouds onto that nighttime sky to make the effect even more real.

Here is a link showing the beauty of the atmospheric interior of the Grand Riviera... sadly pounded to rubble in 1999.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage...pe=1&maxCols=4

As for the 1929 built Ramona, it seated 2,020 [[all on the main floor) and was not an atmospheric theatre. It was designed by the rather obscure architectural firm of Kohner & Payne. It was pounded to rubble in 1978. It had a beautifully detailed Mediterranean style auditorium:.

http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com...?id=736&type=5

In a sense, the Grand Riviera and Ramona were like an enormous pair of bookends, one anchoring Grand River on the west side, the other Gratiot on the east side... in the same sense as the large elegant mansard roofed Montogmery Wards stores anchoreing each street on Grand River/Greenfield and Gratiot/7 Mile Rd.