Irving owner eyes success where others have failed

Dale Harkins and the Irving Theatre are featured in the The Indianapolis Star:

When Dale Harkins bought the Irving Theater in 2008, he collected a stack of newspaper clippings about former owners who tried — and failed — to bring the Irvington landmark back to life.

The theater opened as a movie house in 1913 and flourished for half a century. Howard Caldwell, author of “The Golden Age of Indianapolis Theaters,” recalls taking dates to the Irving in the early 1940s, when he was a student at Howe High School.

“The Irving was very popular with the young folks, because it was very reasonable in its price, and most people could walk to the theater,” he said.

But when the Washington Street corridor changed, the Irving changed with it. Starting in the 1970s, different owners used it for adult films, foreign and independent films, and second-run bargain films. It was also used as a concert venue, and one group proposed using the building as an art school.

Harkins moved to Irvington in 1981, and he watched as the theater repeatedly changed hands, often sitting vacant for years at a time. An architect who specializes in historic preservation, he decided to scoop it up.

“It literally sits in my front yard, so there’s an attachment to it, whether I like it or not,” Harkins said. “The timing was right, I wanted to do it, and it looked like fun to see if I could turn around something.”

Now, quietly, he’s been bringing the community an eclectic blend of events. The Irving has welcomed a writers’ conference, ghost-hunting classes, theatrical productions, a John Lennon retrospective and a popular monthly midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” One of Harkins’ favorite roles is hosting local bands.

Along the way, Harkins has met hundreds of people who have shared their memories of the Irving. Among them: the son of the hardware-store owner who made the original sconces in the theater, a man who met his wife while working as an usher in the ’40s, and a woman whose parents owned the theater during its glory days.

“With my background in architecture and preservation, I thought I would be the biggest fan of the theater,” Harkins said. “I’m finding out that I’m not even among the top 100 people in this neighborhood who look at the theater as an icon.”