Pla Mor Roller Rink Cedar Avenue at East 107th Street, Cleveland, OH. Sticker. Source: Cleveland Historical.
Pla Mor Roller Rink Cedar Avenue at East 107th Street, Cleveland, OH. Aerial taken in 1962. Source: USGS.
Pla Mor Roller Rink Cedar Avenue at East 107th Street, Cleveland, OH. July 1, 1966, after the fire on June 30th during the riots that began at the Seventy-Nine Bar.. Source: Cleveland State University.
Pla Mor Roller Rink Cedar Avenue at East 107th Street, Cleveland, OH
Pla Mor Roller Rink was a rink on the corner of Cedar Avenue at East 107th Street, Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960s which was the place for large musical nights with well knowns, both local and national. It was a minority-owned roller rink. Likely the address is 10620 Cedar Avenue which is the current address for a Cedar Avenue Service Center.
Originally, it was Mammoth Hall, an convention center that hosted trade shows. But in 1940, a new multi-purpose building, the New Coliseum Hall which replaced the Mammoth Hall. It was built by the same company that operated the Arena on Euclid Avenue. Mammoth Hall was built for any large activities including conventions/trade shows, concerts, boxing shows, basketball games, and of course, roller skating.
In 1942, Elmer “Al” Collins took over the “dark cavern,” as it was nicknamed for the Mammoth Hall. He painted its interior, and opened the well-lighted Pla-Mor Roller Rink. He hired a full-time skating instructor and an organist to provide music for skaters. "Al" Collins was truly having a mission to serve youth to be productive adults by enabling many youths to compete in the then Roller Skating Rink Owners Association, predecessor to current RSAI that he founded. "Al" was a community organizer in the fight against juvenile delinquency in Cedar-Central. Later, in 1948, he even encourage a “roving gang” that harassed the neighborhood to reconstitute as the Royal Dutchmen, a supervised social and athletic community group that pledged to educate and assist younger adolescents in need.
Pla-Mor hosted an array of events. the Pla-Mor ballroom attracted big-name musicians and bands in the 1950s and the 1960s, and a big name, B. B. King. In the late 1950s, DJs played music as well as organ music.
But the Pla-Mor was best known for skating, which ranged from children’s lessons to teen nights to skating shows with the Roller Vanities. Racial discrimination incresaed Pla-Mor’s popularity in the Black community. Segregation and discrimination were common in Cleveland during Mid-Century even when it was forbidden. Sometimes, Black people reported they had difficulties at Skateland, another popular roller rink at Euclid Avenue and East 90th Street. These problems seem to have escalated in the 1950s, when the adjacent Hough neighborhood transformed a big time in a decade with the population from 4 to 74 percent African-Americans. Around 1955, after an interracial group of youth from Boys Town, Nebraska, went to Pla-Mor after exclusion from an undisclosed East Side rink, a spokesman at Skateland denied knowledge of the incident but openly admitted that the rink tried to deny African-American entry except to private parties held by church or school groups. Although Skateland more openly hosted black events by the late 1950s, the Pla-Mor remained essential in the black community because of established reputation longer than Skateland as I observed here.
In 1965, the Pla-Mor began renovation, and took the new name, University Party Center. A few big names played there including Count Basie’s orchestra played jazz tunes. It turned out to be the last of the storied shows at the place many still called the Pla-Mor. Just over a month later, in July 1966, the Hough Riots broke out on Cleveland’s East Side. The University Party Center went up in flames and, according to the Call & Post, was reduced to “twisted lengths of burned steel.”
Today, when you mention the name of Pla-Mor, it will presents bittersweet remembrances--both happy and good times spent skating/dancing and the other, the sorrow for the roller rink’s tragic end. Fondness for the good times led a handful of investors to reopen in 2009, the former Euclid Rollerdrome as the new Pla-Mor at 22466 Shore Center Drive in suburban Euclid, promising to keep the memory of its namesake alive. It is called Mig's Pla-Mor.
Timeline --
1930s to 1942 -- Mammoth Hall
1942 to 1965 -- Pla Mor Roller Rink
1965-June 30, 1966 -- University Party Center.
End of June - Early July 1966 - Riots destroyed many businesses including Pla Mor Rink.
After 1966 to present - new built and it is a Service Center today.
The Interior.
Likely Maple wood floor. Need a or few photos of interior.
The Exterior.
I need a photo of what the exterior was like before the fire because the photo I see is from a newspaper of the fire. I could see the outlines that it did appear to be early 20th Century architecture. Either Red Bricks or Gray Cinderblocks that has that outline common for its day. It was two story high with large plane windows. Anyone has a good photo of the place before the fire?
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built/Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Riot Fire, NIGHT July 30, 1966.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Blocks - Walled Venue - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1942 to 1965.
Reason for Closure: Sold IN 1965, then renamed IN 1966 then one month later, riots burned the former rink down.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open of all generations (Mammoth-Pla Mor-University), and close date for both Mammoth and Pla Mor., why closed for Mammoth and Pla Mor, size of rink, rink materials, building size. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources:
Cleveland Historical - Pla Mor history.
Pla-Mor - Current incarrination of the rink.
Date of issue: 18 August 2021.
For office use only: 3
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.
Originally, it was Mammoth Hall, an convention center that hosted trade shows. But in 1940, a new multi-purpose building, the New Coliseum Hall which replaced the Mammoth Hall. It was built by the same company that operated the Arena on Euclid Avenue. Mammoth Hall was built for any large activities including conventions/trade shows, concerts, boxing shows, basketball games, and of course, roller skating.
In 1942, Elmer “Al” Collins took over the “dark cavern,” as it was nicknamed for the Mammoth Hall. He painted its interior, and opened the well-lighted Pla-Mor Roller Rink. He hired a full-time skating instructor and an organist to provide music for skaters. "Al" Collins was truly having a mission to serve youth to be productive adults by enabling many youths to compete in the then Roller Skating Rink Owners Association, predecessor to current RSAI that he founded. "Al" was a community organizer in the fight against juvenile delinquency in Cedar-Central. Later, in 1948, he even encourage a “roving gang” that harassed the neighborhood to reconstitute as the Royal Dutchmen, a supervised social and athletic community group that pledged to educate and assist younger adolescents in need.
Pla-Mor hosted an array of events. the Pla-Mor ballroom attracted big-name musicians and bands in the 1950s and the 1960s, and a big name, B. B. King. In the late 1950s, DJs played music as well as organ music.
But the Pla-Mor was best known for skating, which ranged from children’s lessons to teen nights to skating shows with the Roller Vanities. Racial discrimination incresaed Pla-Mor’s popularity in the Black community. Segregation and discrimination were common in Cleveland during Mid-Century even when it was forbidden. Sometimes, Black people reported they had difficulties at Skateland, another popular roller rink at Euclid Avenue and East 90th Street. These problems seem to have escalated in the 1950s, when the adjacent Hough neighborhood transformed a big time in a decade with the population from 4 to 74 percent African-Americans. Around 1955, after an interracial group of youth from Boys Town, Nebraska, went to Pla-Mor after exclusion from an undisclosed East Side rink, a spokesman at Skateland denied knowledge of the incident but openly admitted that the rink tried to deny African-American entry except to private parties held by church or school groups. Although Skateland more openly hosted black events by the late 1950s, the Pla-Mor remained essential in the black community because of established reputation longer than Skateland as I observed here.
In 1965, the Pla-Mor began renovation, and took the new name, University Party Center. A few big names played there including Count Basie’s orchestra played jazz tunes. It turned out to be the last of the storied shows at the place many still called the Pla-Mor. Just over a month later, in July 1966, the Hough Riots broke out on Cleveland’s East Side. The University Party Center went up in flames and, according to the Call & Post, was reduced to “twisted lengths of burned steel.”
Today, when you mention the name of Pla-Mor, it will presents bittersweet remembrances--both happy and good times spent skating/dancing and the other, the sorrow for the roller rink’s tragic end. Fondness for the good times led a handful of investors to reopen in 2009, the former Euclid Rollerdrome as the new Pla-Mor at 22466 Shore Center Drive in suburban Euclid, promising to keep the memory of its namesake alive. It is called Mig's Pla-Mor.
Timeline --
1930s to 1942 -- Mammoth Hall
1942 to 1965 -- Pla Mor Roller Rink
1965-June 30, 1966 -- University Party Center.
End of June - Early July 1966 - Riots destroyed many businesses including Pla Mor Rink.
After 1966 to present - new built and it is a Service Center today.
The Interior.
Likely Maple wood floor. Need a or few photos of interior.
The Exterior.
I need a photo of what the exterior was like before the fire because the photo I see is from a newspaper of the fire. I could see the outlines that it did appear to be early 20th Century architecture. Either Red Bricks or Gray Cinderblocks that has that outline common for its day. It was two story high with large plane windows. Anyone has a good photo of the place before the fire?
The Stats:
Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: N/A. Built/Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Riot Fire, NIGHT July 30, 1966.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Blocks - Walled Venue - like Building.
Roof: Gable.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1942 to 1965.
Reason for Closure: Sold IN 1965, then renamed IN 1966 then one month later, riots burned the former rink down.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open of all generations (Mammoth-Pla Mor-University), and close date for both Mammoth and Pla Mor., why closed for Mammoth and Pla Mor, size of rink, rink materials, building size. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you.
Sources:
Cleveland Historical - Pla Mor history.
Pla-Mor - Current incarrination of the rink.
Date of issue: 18 August 2021.
For office use only: 3
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.