The first movie theater in Baltimore opened in 1906, on the 400 block of East Baltimore Street, which is close to center city Baltimore. After 1906, smaller theaters opened throughout the city. The Ideal and the Hampden Theaters in Hampden were examples of early theaters that opened. This neighborhood is located in the northern part of the city, and both theaters were on 36th Street in Hampden, which is locally known as the “Avenue.” West 36th Street or the “Avenue” is the main street in area and the location of many of the neighborhood’s shops and businesses.

The “Avenue” is also home to cultural events, such as the annual Hampden HonFest, The Hampden Fest and the Mayor’s Christmas Parade. John Water’s 1998 film Pecker featured this neighborhood and showed the unique Baltimore culture that exists in Hampden. This neighborhood within Baltimore, which originated as a mill town is continually evolving and attracting artists, young working professionals and college students from nearby school. The Hampden neighborhood although continuously developing, has largely been a blue collar, working class neighborhood. This history of Baltimore’s theaters and the culture that developed is discussed in the upcoming book, “Flickering Treasures: Rediscovering Baltimore’s Forgotten Movie Theaters,” written by a Baltimore Sun photojournalist, Amy Davis.

The Ideal Theater Building, 903 West 36th street, is an art deco style building located on 36th Street in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. Peirce and Scheck who also built the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore built the Ideal Theater in 1908. The Theater was remodeled sometime prior to 1932. The interior style of the theater was designed in the same art deco style that appeared on the exterior of the building. The lighting fixtures and exit signs art examples of this style. The theater was owned by the Goodman family, who sold it in 1960 to the chain of Milton Schwaber Theaters. It acted as a subsequent run theater that showed films, which had already premiered. It was called a ‘twenty-one day house’, and the films were shown twenty-one days after their premiers in down town theaters.

The Hampden Theater, 911 West 36th Street, building was originally constructed in 1911 as a single scene theater that which accommodated crowds of 800. The theater was designed with Italianate or Romanesque influenced, which is seen in the clay-tiled roof and rounded arched windows. Druid Mill, a cotton duck mill located in Hampden was built in 1866-72 and was also built in the Italianate style. The current Hampden Theater building was constructed 1938, and operated as a theater until 1976. After 1976, the building was converted into the Hampden Mall, which it remained until the 1990’s. Since the 1990’s the building has been utilized by a series of restaurants and other local businesses. At present it is the Le Garage Restaurant. The current design of the theater is in an art deco style, similar to the architectural style of the Ideal Theater. And the building also now features a large mural on its façade, which displays hands spelling “Love.”

Both of these theaters located in Hampden had vertical marquis, which were central features along the “Avenue” at the time of their use. These twin theaters, which are located within walking distance of one another, were able to sustain themselves until the 1960’s and 1970’s when first the Ideal Theater closed in 1963, followed by the Hampden Theater, which closed in 1976. After the Ideal Theater in Hampden was closed in was converted into a Salvation Army. The Stratis Family, who converted the building into an antique store, which was called “Avenue Antiques.” The former Ideal Theater was also leased by Woodward’s Auction house after Avenue Antiques downsized. In March 2014, Woodward’s action house moved locations, the Ideal Theater is currently not being used, but projects are in the works for it to become the future home of a business on the Avenue in Hampden.

Theaters acted as social and cultural centers within Baltimore neighborhoods during the early and mid 1900’s. In the case of the Ideal and the Hampden Theaters as the neighborhood underwent changes the use of the theaters adapted to suite those needs. Hampden a largely working class neighborhood has seen these theaters transform into locations for businesses that better suite the needs of the community.