The lower side of the 100 block of East Superior Street hosted several theaters over the years. The Bijou Theatre stood at 12 East Superior Street and operated as part of the Sullivan and Considine vaudeville circuit from 1903 until 1911, when it became the  Empress Theatre. The Empress burned in May of 1915, and the building was converted for retail sales; today the building is home to the Electric Fetus. The Strand, at 16 East Superior Street, was built in 1906 as a meat market, but by 1915 it was showing movies, and did so until 1953. The building stood vacant until 1971, when it reopened as an adult theater. It closed again in 1986, remaining vacant until its 1998 demolition; the lot is now part of a condominium complex and medical offices. Various theaters moved in and out of the Wieland and Hayes buildings at the eastern end of the block over the years, including the Star in the Wieland and the Savoy at the Hayes during the first decades of the century. The Lake Theatre was in the Savoy location from 1935 to 1950, replaced by the World Theatre in the 1950s.

[Draft text from the forthcoming "Lost Duluth"....]