The 92-year-old Garden Theatre on the city's North Side features a neon sign built in the 1930s and a canopied marquee installed in 1958 after the original collapsed following a snowstorm.
The theater started showing adult movies in the 1970s. The city bought the theater for $1.1 million and closed it earlier this year after a protracted legal battle. The former owner had tried to keep it open on First Amendment grounds because it was the city's last adult movie house.
The theater is one of a dozen properties the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority has bought in hopes of rebuilding the neighborhood.
