Jack Moelmann - Paramount Music Palace, Indianapolis

[LeviWood5]

@you99tubejimking 1

that really, really sucks... thanks for the response though, but wow, feels like a big part of my childhood is gone for good.

[windnchgo]

I remember going there in 1979 with a date before we saw "Alien". A cool place but maybe not the best place for a first date since you can't hear each other from across the table, lol!

[MommaEvans02]

That breaks my heart!!! Someone needs to buy it and bring it back to Indianapolis!!!!! Donna, Bill, Dwight, and Ken all need to come back with it!!!!! I was raised with them, since my mom was the manager and I worked in the ice cream shoppe.... I want to scream every time I drive down Washington St!!! Wouldn't it be awesome to open a NEW Paramount Music Palace in Downtown Indy.... Now that would be something to have during Superbowl.... OH YEAHHHHHHH!!!!

[furrypeanut1]

I haven't heard it confirmed but last i heard, the pipework of the instrument was in storage, with the wurlitzer privately owned, and the console being converted to control Walker Digital Organ Samples.... What a waste of a fantastic instrument

[mseangunn]

We had sooo many birthday parties at Paramount Music Palace!!! I love the memories that this has brought back...thanks!!!!

[LeviWood5]

anyone know if the original building is still around by chance?

[you99tubejimking]

@LeviWood5 - No Levi...Sorry to say the building was razed to the ground in 1995. A hotel now occupies the location.

[joetrackside]

Where is the organ now? I heard the Roaring 20's in Florida closed down.

[hateangel666]

OMG the memories of the Paramount just come flooding back!!! I loved that place and was so sad to see it go.

[joncory1980]

Just went to the Organ stop in Phoenix last night. It looks just like the Paramount pizza place in Indianapolis. But the organ is not the same one, because I ask the man!!

[chezdan9]

I worked there in the ice cream shop from the day they opened for about a year and a half. I was 16 and in high school. Wow...seems like forever ago.

[EsperRanger]

Good memories. I used to drive up to Indy for Japanese animation and comic conventions in the late 80s and would stop by here for pizza and music on the way home.

[indykid49]

I LOVED THIS VIDEO!

[whlong35]

The Paramount Music Pizza Palace(?) was a fun place to go. They closed the place kinda quietly,not a lot of fanfare to announce the loss of something that neat.

Indy's loss is Florida's gain I guess. Still a loss for Indy.

[pianoboy79]

I was 13 when Paramount closed its doors. I cried so much! Still do when I think about it! I miss that organ!

[mgriffis38]

Donna Parker (I think I must have had a crush on her as a kid) still plays on occassion at Organ Stop Pizza a place near Phoenix. I remember Bill Vlasak & Ken Double. Such great memories of that place. I wish it were still here.

[NineMMAR15]

I was sad to see it get turned into a Don Pablos.

[SaintMichael305]

I was lucky enough to grow up going here on a regular. Bill Vlasak, donna Parker and dwight Thomas were great. dwight and Bill still play this same organ at Roaring 20's pizza near Tampa. And yes I remember Sammy Terry there too! lol

[acoustics101]

That was quite an instrument! I remember hearing Donna Parker playing it during a visit to Indianapolis years ago. I'm glad to know that it's still up and running. I was part of the restoration crew of the former RKO Albee WurliTzer at Emery Theatre during the mid 1970s.

[utubeftd]

I'm so glad I got to experience the pizza palace with my wife in Indy before it closed. She grew up in Indy and couldn't wait to take me there to show me the mighty wurlitzer. I'm going to find Ellenton, FL and hopefully go there someday.

[ctla4play]

I remember when my mom played there as a kid. My favorite was the bubble machines :)

[grantden1]

WOW!!!!! I really miss this place. What memories I have as a kid on Indy's east side going there for pizz and fun. They actaully played a Starwars song with the trumpets for my birthday party there. I remember Sammy Terry doing a show there. Wish my son could see what I grew up with. Sad that its gone.

[VaanRatsbane99]

I grew up on the East Side of Indy, and remember my parents taking me there very often (my favorite at that time was Chattanooga Choo-Choo). From what I know, this organ is not in Florida anymore, and is in Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, Arizona. Also I believe Lew Williams (who I believe played the organ at the Paramount Music Palace) is still with the organ.

[JackMoelmann]

The organ is still in Ellenton, Florida at the Roaring 20's Pizza and Pipes. Dwight Thomas and Bill Vlasek are the organists and were the organists in Indianapolis. Don't believe Lew Williams ever played regularly there. J A C K Moelmann

[VaanRatsbane99]

Sorry about that, my sources were wrong. I just looked it up on the site.

I do wish it was still there, because the building is now vacant again.

[VaanRatsbane99]

I did just play the clip from the Roaring 20's Pizza and the Youtube video of Lew playing, and both sound very similar, that was probably where my main error comes from. It would seem to me that the two are pretty much sister organs (as close as pipe organs and theatre organs get).

[Guvnor6L6]

Thanks for the post. I am a resident of Indianapolis, and miss the WurliTzer. Do you

know what Donna Parker is up to lately?

Mr Thomas and Vlasak are great performers,

but Donna was a favorite.

Cheers!

[kringle2010]

donna last i heard she was playing with trio von brio with jonas nordwall i talk to bill and dwight alot being i was a student of dwights she was working for allen organs

[Guvnor6L6]

Greetings, and thanks for the reply! And, apologies to Jack

Moelman... this is a great performance, and- all I commented

on was how I miss hearing Donna in Indy. So, Jack- thanks

for the post.

All the best....

[kingjames8283]

@JackMoelmann This is only an update this July 29th, 2011. The original Oakland Paramount Mighty Wurlitzer which called Indianapolis home at the PMP from 1978 to 1995 had been playing at the Roaring 20's in Ellenton, FL but that business went belly up in July 2010. As of four months ago, the organ has been bought again in it's entirety and is being moved to a new theatre in Jacksonville, FL. Indy organist included Donna Parker, Bill Vlasak, Dwight Thomas, Ken Double plus a few spares like Jack.

[Ronboy1]

I used to always make a point of visiting the Music Palace on my many trips to America. This venue was unique, and it was a sad day for Indianpolis when it was closed down. I knew people who knew the owners, and it was pure greed that made them sell out. SHAME !!

[762minigun]

WOW i remember this place.. I used to go there all the time with my grandmother. I remember piling a bunch of people in my Camaro one night to go, and sadly the place had been closed down.

[CRPurvis4]

What memories...Paramount Music Palace on the East Side of Indy. Remember going there as a kid..for birthday parties. We would be on the edge of our seat, waiting for the organ to rise up and start playing...all the while munching on our pizza!!! Thank you for sharing the vid!!!