I was going to post on some of the downtown movie palaces, but the archives of DYES are full of hundreds of images of these remarkable theatres.

So I will just talk about one of the ones that got away.... sadly... the Grand Riviera, also at times known just as the Riviera. It was one of Detroit's 2 greatest neighborhood movie palaces [[the other was the long razed Hollywood on Fort near 18th street).

The Grand Riviera was Detroit's greatest Atmospheric Theatre... designed by the greatest movie palace architect of that genre... John Eberson. He built the 1925 built 2,786 movie palace at Grand River & Joy in his typical Mediterranean style.

Eberson often had problems controlling his more garish impulses when it came to interior theatre colors.

Here are 28 historic b/w images of the Grand Riviera [[destroyed in the early 1990s)...

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?...mber&op=PHRASE

To give you an idea of the fantastically painted interiors of this lost giant... check out these images of Eberson's 1929 Loew's Valencia Theatre... in Queens NYC... which is today a church [[they added a chandelier over the blue sky ceiling)...

But the details and colors that the Grand Riviera must have had can only be imagined in these images of the [[still in good condition) Valencia... enjoy!!

http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=6288