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Source: Frederick Nelson
The Hollywood Theatre in Petoskey operated from 1925 until 1972. It was a summer-only operation showing first-run films and catering to the Petoskey areas large summer-resort population. The buliding at 325 E. Lake began life as a department store in the 1870s, owned by the Levinson family. The store ceased operation in 1925 and the building was converted to a theater by removing most of the second floor (except a small area near the front, which became the managers office and the projection room).
The main (first) floor was let down in back to provide an inclined surface. The theater was small, with only about 225 seats. Rest rooms were in the basement. Interestingly, the third floor of the old store was left intact and a lot of the unsold merchandise from the 20s was still there when my father (Fred Nelson) bought the place in 1964 from Al Stein, an absentee owner from Illinois. The Temple Theatre down the block was also included in the purchase. Nelson installed a concession stand, the first the theater had ever had, and briefly operated a sidewalk cafe in front of the building. In 1973 the building was converted to an indoor shopping arcade, which is still operating.