SitemapNeighbors and motorists passing by the Foster Theatre on Youngstown’s South Side in recent years probably know it mostly for its seedy, run-down image.
But it always hasn’t been that way, and we are hopeful that new plans being laid by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to reinvent the theater soon will help ring in a new perception not only of the building, but also of that part of the community, triggering new visitors and new growth.
YNDC, a planning and development organization that provides housing and neighborhood stabilization services in Youngstown, last month announced it had purchased the 800-seat theater at 2504 Glenwood Ave. for about $100,000, with plans to close it to pornographic movies and preserve the structure for other uses.
Steven “Shags” Shagrin of Walnut Creek, California, recently relayed a story to Vindicator reporter Ed Runyan about his grandfather’s vision to be the first to build a theater in Fosterville, then the city’s suburbs, in the 1930s.
Predicting the expansion of business into the neighborhood long before shopping centers became popular, Joseph Shagrin Sr. built and operated the Foster from 1938 until 1965.
To see the full story from The Vindicator, click here.