Squirrel Hill Theater screens go dark after seven decades

When Ray Baum saw a ceiling tile fall on a patron's head during a movie at the Squirrel Hill Theater, he had a bad feeling about the place's future.

So it came as no surprise to Baum when Rick Stern, owner of Stern Enterprises, announced yesterday he is closing the theater after seven decades on Forward Avenue.

"They stopped investing in that place," said Baum, president of the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition, a nonprofit community group. "I'm not saying that as a criticism, but the fate of the theater has been sealed for several years now."

Stern said it was with "deep regret" that he is closing the theater.

"It is no longer a viable operation, and we can no longer sustain the losses we have experienced over the past two years," he said in a statement. "We will do our best to offer employment to long-time employees by relocating them to the Manor Theater."

The Manor, on Murray Avenue, remains profitable and is not in danger of closing, Stern said.

The Squirrel Hill Theater is about two miles from AMC Loews Waterfront, which offers 22 screens and ample parking.

For Bob Hough, a lack of parking was a key reason for the theater's demise.

"To be honest, (the closing) doesn't matter much," said Hough, 65, of Squirrel Hill. "There's no parking around here. None."

Hough has lived a block away from the theater for 20 years but said he has watched only a few movies there. The last was "Talladega Nights," a 2006 comedy about stock-car racing.

The five-screen multiplex had been in operation for about 70 years, according to CinemaTreasures.org, a Web site devoted to movie theater preservation and awareness. Some of the last films shown at the 841-seat facility included "An Education," "Up In The Air," "A Serious Man" and "The Hurt Locker" — all nominees for best picture at this year's Oscars.

Baum said the owner of the theater had an agreement to sell the space to a developer who planned to turn that corner into a hotel-condo complex, but those plans fell through. Baum said he would like to see another developer revive those plans or come up with their own for the area.

"The challenge is figuring out something that can be done there that's financeable," Baum said. "That's going to be market driven. We can help them with private support and political support, but it has to be developers and business people. We don't have the money to develop it ourselves."