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

