The Avondale-Meadows area on the Indianapolis eastside was the hippest, trendiest area of the city from the 1950s through the 1970s. Times have changed in the Meadows over the past 40 years, but make no mistake about it, it once occupied a lofty perch on the ladder of Hoosier cool. Home to the Meadows shopping center, Howard Johnson’s and the legendary “Neto’s in the Meadows” nightclub owned by former ABA Indiana Pacer All-Star Bob Netolicky, it was “the” address for all the up-and-coming baby boomers of the Circle City. A decade before Neto’s nightclub stormed the city, the neighborhood featured a summer-stock theater that attracted Hollywood personalities to the playbill. For twelve years, the Meadows was home base for one of the highest profile dinner theaters in all of the Midwest: The Avondale Playhouse.
The Avondale Playhouse (also known as “Avondale-in-the- Meadows”) contracted nationally recognized stage and screen personalities to headline casts composed largely of local talent. The Avondale was housed inside a candy-striped tent at the Meadows shopping center on East 38th Street. The unique theater-in-the-round stage set the tone for the 1200-seat theater for most of its operating years, 1954–1966. Avondale regularly drew capacity audiences for productions ranging from popular light comedies to award-winning modern classics. As one of the nation’s few theaters-in-the-round, the Avondale stage afforded the stars and audience alike an unusual live performance experience. Its multiple viewing perspectives proved a challenge to directors, choreographers and set designers. Allen Whitehall Clowes and W. Taylor Wilson together founded Avondale and its better known friendly rival, Starlight Musicals, as the city’s two best alternatives to the summertime blues.
Avondale not only hosted Oscar winners, it boosted their careers. Tough Guy Jack Palance won an Emmy award in 1957 for his role as Mountain McClintock in Rod Serling’s “Requiem for a Heavyweight” but then fell into an 8-year slump. Palance came to Avondale in 1965 to star alongside his wife Virginia Baker in “Heaven Can Wait.” He would win an Oscar in 1992.
Shelly Winters was nominated for an Oscar in 1951 for her role in A Place in the Sun. She would win the Academy Award in 1960’s The Diary of Anne Frank which she donated to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. She would come to Avondale in 1964 to star in the world premiere of “Days of Dancing “ and won another Oscar two years later for her role in A Patch of Blue.
During the venue’s dozen years of life, Avondale-in-the-Meadows would continue with productions that, if you’re a film buff of any measure, featured a veritable who’s who of Hollywood Royalty. Here are but a few of those Golden Greats: John Carradine in 1959’s “Tobacco Road”; Sessue Hayakawa in 1959’s “Rashomon”; Linda Darnell in 1961’s “Monique”; Jan Sterling in 1962’s “The Miracle Worker”; John Payne in 1963’s “Calculated Risk”; Sylvia Sidney in 1963’s “Sweet Bird of Youth”; William Bendix in 1964’s “Take her, she’s mine”; Virginia Mayo in 1964’s “George Washington Slept Here”; the husband and wife team of Cesar Romero and Esther Williams in 1964’s “Kind Sir”; Dorothy Lamour in 1965’s “Two Dozen Red Roses” to name but a few.
There were many stars who would also make their names in television as well: Ricky’s brother David Nelson in 1964’s “Happiest Years”; I Love Lucy’s Vivian Vance in “The Marriage-Go-Round”; The Brady Bunch star Ann B. Davis in “Mrs. McThing”; Andy Devine in 1965’s “On Borrowed Time”; “Lonesome” George Gobel in 1964’s “Three Men on a horse” and even Edd Byrnes (a.k.a Kookie, Kookie lend me your comb) in 1964’s “Picnic”. Harry Truman’s daughter Margaret appeared at Avondale in 1961 for “The Time of the Cuckoo” and Bing’s wife Kathryn made several appearances at the Avondale, once with her future “Dallas” star daughter Mary.
Other big names who trod the boards in the Meadows included: Jack Carson, Wendell Corey, Dody Goodman, Joe E. Brown, Robert Q. Lewis, George Montgomery, Rudy Vallee, Mercedes McCambridge, Dick Van Patten, Hans Conried, Eddie Bracken, Margaret O’Brien, and Betty Hutton.
The legendary Pat O’Brien came to Avondale to star in 1959’s “The Loud Red Patrick” and again with his wife Eloise in 1961’s “Our Town.” Local legend claims that O’Brien liked Indianapolis so much that he visited the city many times in his career and always made it a point to stop in at an Irish bar near 10th and Sherman whenever he came through town.
The Avondale resurrected the career of the tragic Hoosier actress Frances Farmer after she appeared in 1958’s “Yes, My Darling Daughter” and again in “Present Laughter” in 1964. In between those two performances, Farmer hosted her own TV show on NBC’s Indianapolis affiliate WFBM-TV (later WRTV-6) called “Frances Farmer Presents” which ran from 1955 to 1964. It was one of the first locally produced television programs to be broadcast in color and remained at #1 in the ratings throughout its entire run. It was part talk show/part movie with guests like Ricardo Montalban and Dan Blocker of “Bonanza.”
The saddest chapter of the Avondale, and best candidate for a haunting if the building were still standing, was the appearance of Oscar winner Charles Coburn (1943 “The more the merrier”). Coburn appeared in the summer 1961 production of “You can’t take it with you.” While in Indianapolis, Coburn complained of throat pain and was told to see a doctor. After a check-up Coburn was admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, where his heart gave out on him following what was described as a minor throat surgery. He died a week after he left the Avondale stage on August 30, 1961. The irony of the show’s title was not lost on fans with his death at age 84.
In 1964, ticket prices ranged from $2.90 to $3.20. The Crown Room in the Meadows advertised a dinner, cocktail, and Avondale show package for $6.95. Encouraged by the theater’s success, Avondale’s Board of Directors sought expansion to other Midwestern locations, but the failure of a Louisville venture in 1965 force the company to sell its assets and declare bankruptcy. A proposed Avondale “Playhouse-On-The-Lake,” scheduled to open June 20, 1967 at 116th and Keystone in Carmel, never reached the construction stage.
The Meadows have fallen on tough times since Avondale and Neto’s in the Meadows left the area. The slide began in the late 1970s as “concentrated poverty” became the theme in urban areas nationwide. Urban flight hit the Meadows hard. The City of Indianapolis attempted to better manage its poverty by building five housing projects for low-income families in the Meadows. The projects drove out business and forced longtime residents into the suburbs. With 80 percent of its residents living below the poverty line and the area graduation rate dropping to a dismal 25 percent, the Meadows descended into poverty. The area became an eyesore of dilapidated buildings, trash-strewn lots and boarded up homes with weed-choked yards. The once-thriving Meadows became a fearsome crime center, eventually earning the title of “the worst part of the city.” Four city administrations have since attempted and failed to revitalize the area.
Twenty years after its heyday, iconic buildings that once bustled with shoppers, diners, athletes and movie stars in the Meadows were torn down in 1992. Since that time, the Meadows has been one of Indianapolis’ most challenged neighborhoods. The five low-income apartment complexes, once seen as a blessing, were now seen as a high crime, drug riddled no man’s land.
But over the last few years, the Meadows has been experiencing a renaissance. Outraged after 30 years of neglect, the citizens of the Meadows have stepped forward to address the problem head on. In 2004 and again in 2006, charter schools were established in the neighborhood. Two K-12 schools located in the heart of the Meadows — the Challenge Foundation Academy and the Charles A. Tindley School — have graduated 100% of their students, who have all have gone on to college fully funded. However, good schools alone weren’t enough to break the cycle of poverty in the neighborhood. Avondale-Meadows is banding together to revitalize their community. The future of the Meadows is looking brighter than ever.
Overall plans for this 100-acre site include a supermarket and additional retail space, and up to 900 apartments, townhomes and single-family homes including units specifically reserved for seniors. Plans also include a five-acre, multi-use park, ample green spaces, community gardens and a multi-purpose community center. The community center features a health clinic, area nonprofit and social services groups and a YMCA branch. And perhaps more importantly, star power has returned to the Meadows.
On September 28, 2011, the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffett, visited the Meadows, the site of his latest Hoosier investment, a 248 unit apartment complex known as East Village at Avondale Meadows. The apartment complex, part of a redevelopment of the historic Meadows neighborhood, is an affordable housing project targeting low-income residents. A phoenix is rising from the ashes.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest book is “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook
