Old theaters don't just fade away. They get torn down. At least that's the case of the Wood-lawn Theater, 1011 N. Main.

Jesse Fine of Premier Theaters said the building would be torn down "soon" and leveled with an adjacent lot which the firm owns so it can be "morel easily developed." He said, however, there is no present development plan beyond the razing.

The building was erected in the early 1920's, was taken over by Premier in the late summer of 1930. It cut down to a weekend-only double bill for several years.

"It was really the place," Anne Pampe, 416 Stanley Ave., remembered. "I used to go there all the time — until I got to a certain age. you know. They played cowboy shows on Satur­ day afternoons and sold popcorn for a nickel. Boy, you can't find that anymore."

The Woodlawn closed its doors for the last time Sunday, Sept. 1, 1957, and had been unused.

"It's hard to remodel an old theater for any other business, Fine said.

Premier still operates the Washington, Ross, Columbia and Franklin theaters here. Other recent casualties of the chain have been two Downtown movie palaces. One, the Carlton, was razed a few years back to make way for a parking lot for People's Bank, and the Grand, which met the same fate last year. The site is now a parking lot for the Vendome Hotel.

The Alhambra, the American, and the Rosedale were other neighborhood theaters which have been closed since World War II.