I’m curious about places where people once gathered. That interest often leads me to schoolhouses and courthouses, but I’ve got a soft spot for movie theaters, too. They don’t even have to be particularly old to catch my eye, and case in point is the long-shuttered Holiday I and II in Elkhart. I found myself slowing down there on my last visit, camera in hand. I couldn’t resist grabbing a few photos of a place that once flickered with life.
Elkhart’s Holiday I and II cinema owed its life to the Pierre Moran Shopping Center, which opened as an 80,000 square foot strip mall in 19601. W.T. Grant and Kroger anchored the place, which was bounded by West Hively, Benham Avenue, and Prairie Street. The shopping center got its unusual name from the Potawatomi Chief who sold Dr. Havilah Beardsley a square mile of land that later became downtown Elkhart2.
In 1971, the strip mall was enclosed and expanded to the 420,000 square foot Pierre Moran Mall3. Around that time, and certainly by 1972, the Holiday I and II opened in an outlot just west of the property4. Its owner, Miller Theaters, was the only cinema operation in town5.
Miller Theaters would likely have retained ownership of the Holiday I and II if its principal, Bill Miller, hadn’t been murdered in the Concord Theater by one of his employees in 19876. Instead, the company sold its leases to GKC Theatres, Incorporated, which took over Elkhart’s Cinema I, Concord, Holiday, and six-screen Encore Cinema. Under GKC, the Encore received two more screens once the Holiday closed7.
By the time I spent time in Elkhart after my dad moved there, the old Holiday I and II was home to a Hollywood Video that swallowed the front of the building. A Subway occupied part of the rear. Today, the space looks to have reinvented itself yet again and appears to be home to a couple of Mexican restaurants. I’d love to try them next time I’m in town!
The Holiday I and II may never reclaim its marquee or roll another reel of previews, but its story still feels familiar. Like so many neighborhood theaters, it lived a full life, slipped quietly into obsolescence, and adapted just enough to stay standing. Even in its altered state, the building still does what it always did by gathering people. For me, that lingering sense of shared experience is more than enough reason to slow down and look a little closer.
Sources Cited
1 Kurowski, J. (1984, January 15). New ‘super’ store is in works for Kroger’s at Pierre Moran. The South Bend Tribune. p. 15.
2 Beardsley, E. (1906, June 27). Chief Moran’s Friendliness. The Elkhart Daily Review.
3 Cooke, W. (1970, December 3). New Wyman’s Store In Plan. The South Bend Tribune. p. 17.
4 New Elkhart Theatre (1972, August 13). The South Bend Tribune. p. 12.
5 Kurowski, J. 1992, September 10) Holiday’s last picture show tonight (. The South Bend Tribune. p. 8.
6 Kurowski, J. (1987, April 29). 2 offer plan for Elco site. The South Bend Tribune. p. 10.
7 (See footnote 5).
The freestanding triplex on the mall property near my childhood home was initially repurposed as some kind of gymnastics/dance facility after the theaters closed. But a few years back it became a Grote Automotive dealership and Grote’s other 2 locations are in your neck of the woods: Elkhart and Ft. Wayne.
How interesting! I’m going to have to check that out. A childhood theater in Fort Wayne became a Dollar General. Next time I’m up there, I’ll have to check it out. I assume both mine and yours both had their sloping floors filled in.
Fort Wayne had a Holiday theater next to the Northcrest shopping center starting in the mid 60s, and now I wonder if it was part of a larger chain or if Holiday was just a popular name for theaters around that time.
I’m not sure who opened the Holiday I & 2 at Northcrest, but it was owned by Regal when I was a kid. I can’t remember seeing a movie there, but we occasionally went to the larger Holiday 6 a few hundred feet away.