SitemapOne of the people most excited by news that the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. has purchased the closed Foster Theatre on Glenwood Avenue is Steven “Shags” Shagrin of Walnut Creek, Calif.
Shagrin is a grandson of Joseph Shagrin Sr., the man who built and ran the Foster from Dec. 26, 1938, until his retirement in December 1965.
Steven’s grandfather had the vision to build a movie theater in a neighborhood setting, selecting a site near Idora Park and Mill Creek Park on the city’s South Side, according to his obituary. He had predicted the expansion of business into the neighborhood before shopping centers were popular.
“My grandfather was the very first one to break away from downtown,” Steven noted. “He said, ‘You gotta put it in the neighborhood. That’s where the people are.’ That was brilliant because the bus line ran from Mill Creek Park out to Idora Park. And what was on the way? The Foster Theatre. People could go out to Fosterville, they could watch a movie for a nickel, a dime, maybe a quarter.”
Years later, “everybody moved to the suburbs,” Steven said.
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