60 | DECEMBER 8 • 2022
ARTS&LIFE
CINEMA
W
hen the Main Art Theatre
was torn down on July 25,
2022, movie lovers were out-
raged.
“Such a shanda (shame),” people
lamented about the theater that had been
at the corner of Main Street and 11 Mile
Road in Royal Oak for 81 years. The
iconic marquis had been taken down
to make way for a five-story, mixed-use
space.
“Don’t wait until it’s gone to miss it,”
advises Jon Goldstein, managing partner
of The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Hills.
“The Maple is a neighborhood treasure
and staple of the Jewish community.
People shouldn’t assume that we will be
here forever. It’s time to come back to the
movies. People need to support our local
mom-and-pop Jewish-owned business.”
The Maple Theater was built 45 years
ago by Richard and Eugene Sloan.
Over the years, the theater has changed
ownership from the Sloans to AMC to
Landmark. Ten years ago, Cloud Nine
Theater Partners, headed by Jon and
Lauren Goldstein of Bloomfield Hills,
purchased The Maple. Since then, Cloud
Nine Theater Partners took the old, run-
down theater and renovated it, making
first-class upgrades to the three-theater
and event space. The Maple’s Sony Digital
4K with Dolby Surround sound technolo-
gy is unsurpassed.
THEN COVID HIT
“From 2012 to 2019, we made the theater
nice and got people to come back. We
sold 150,000 tickets a year. This year, we
might sell 45,000. That’s a huge drop in
attendance,” says Goldstein, who also
locally owns the Riviera in Farmington
Hills and the Emagine Woodhaven as
well as theaters in five other states.
“The rest of our movie theaters are fine
— the younger people have come back.
It’s the older Jewish audience that has
gotten out of the habit. And it’s not just
the movie theater; it’s the temple, too. The
rabbis have the same problem that I have.
‘How do you get people to come back?’”
asks Goldstein, a member of Temple
Find entertainment 365 days a year
in this newly remodeled neighborhood gem.
Come Back to the
Maple Theater and Lounge
JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MARTY ABRIN
Freshly prepared appetizers in the newly remodeled Lounge.
The Maple
Auditorium