Update on the Starlite Drive-in & Swap Meet sale. Theater sold to a land developer for a record high price of 7.5 million dollars! He wants to tear it down and build a strip mall. :(
The huge 800 car single screen Star-lite Drive-in Theater & Swap Meet in Tacoma, Washington is on the auction block. The theater and 4 other commercial properties were seized by the government from a Pong Keun Rhee who is now a convicted organised crime racketeer. The theater is on 13 acres and has a mostly asphalt field (in the theater) and parking lot out front. There is a fairly new large seperate indoor swap meet building that was operating 7 days a week in addition to the outdoor swap meet on the theater lot proper. This swap meet is very popular. The theater last ran movies about 5 years ago. When Mr. Pong Keun Rhee took over the theater movies were discontinued and they concentrated on swap meets. I think the projection equipment was removed at that time, but the screen tower and huge snack bar is still in good shape. There is room at the back of the huge field to add two more screens easily. This theater would make good money if it were reopened for both movies and swap meets. Currently there are no discount or second run theaters in Tacoma—-only way overpriced first run houses.
The auction will be on May 18, 2004 and contact info is:
Phone (703) 361-3131 ext 279 or www.treas.gov/auctions/customs
The marquee was painted with house paint and looks bad. The awning over the sidewalk was hit by a truck and also looks bad. The current owner removed all the projection and sound equipment.
As of 3/24/04 the marquee is in terrible condition with major rusted out sections and tons of broken neeon tubing. Looks like it’s ready to fall off the building.
I used to live in San Mateo during 1966 to 1972 and attended this charming neighborhood theater many times. In those days it showed regular movies not porno. It would be a real shame to lose this treasure to developers.
The stage in the Capitol Theater is not big enough for an orchestra. Besides, the Olympia Symphony Orchestra already call the huge Washington Center for the Performing Arts (across the street from the Capitol Theater) their home. The Capitol Theater currently is very dilapidated and the marquee is totally rusted out with large holes in it. The pictures I submitted were from 1981 when the theater looked excellent and was under much better care & management.
Yes, go to www.bigscreenbiz.com and read ALL of the Frequently Asked Questions on the forum. Also while you’re there do a search on the thread “Exhibition 101”.
Suggest buying a copy of the book, “THE REEL MOSE” by Earl Moseley (ISBN 0-9617510-0-2). It’s an excellent autobiography of projectionist Earl Moseley in the heyday of film projection in the south and being in the Projectionists union. Highly recommended.
Theater is located at 206 East 5th Ave. in downtown Olympia and is just around the corner from the State Theater. The Olympia Film Society is the current operators of the theater and shows a mix of current first run movies, art, foreign, and student films in both 35mm and 16mm. Theater is equipped for Dolby Digital sound playback.
Theater is located at 119 South Tower Ave. (the one way street heading north) in downtown Centralia.
Theater opened on Sept. 5, 1930.
It was a single screen and access to the projection booth was by ladder! In 1982, Tom Moyer Luxury Theaters chopped up the theater into a triplex by walling off the balcony and making two small auditoriums.
Theater is located at 2347 California Avenue S.W. in West Seattle.
Oasis Entertainment took over operation of the theater in late 1999 from A Theatre Near You, Inc. and upgraded the sound to DTS digital. The snack bar was also upgraded and computerized ticketing system installed. In the 1940’s the exterior of the theater sported a real ship’s mast complete with Crow’s Nest!
The whole theater is built around a nautical theme and has etched glass (with Seahorses) hanging in the lobby. There is a huge mural behind the snack bar depicting sailing vessels.
Opened Nov. 22, 1949
Closed June 15, 1996
Architect: Joseph Wohleb of the firm of Wohleb & Wohleb
First operated by Evergreen Theaters, then Fox-Evergreen, then Fox West Coast Theaters, then Mann Theaters, then Tom Moyer Luxury Theaters, then T.P.M. Theaters (Thomas P. Moyer, Jr.), then finally Act 3 Theaters.
Theater was a 1,000 seat stadium seat single screen when it opened in 1949. In 1977, when it was operated as a Tom Moyer Luxury Theater, it was chopped up (quite badly) into a 3 plex. In 1983 it switched to second run and became a dollar house until closing.
Update on the Starlite Drive-in & Swap Meet sale. Theater sold to a land developer for a record high price of 7.5 million dollars! He wants to tear it down and build a strip mall. :(
The huge 800 car single screen Star-lite Drive-in Theater & Swap Meet in Tacoma, Washington is on the auction block. The theater and 4 other commercial properties were seized by the government from a Pong Keun Rhee who is now a convicted organised crime racketeer. The theater is on 13 acres and has a mostly asphalt field (in the theater) and parking lot out front. There is a fairly new large seperate indoor swap meet building that was operating 7 days a week in addition to the outdoor swap meet on the theater lot proper. This swap meet is very popular. The theater last ran movies about 5 years ago. When Mr. Pong Keun Rhee took over the theater movies were discontinued and they concentrated on swap meets. I think the projection equipment was removed at that time, but the screen tower and huge snack bar is still in good shape. There is room at the back of the huge field to add two more screens easily. This theater would make good money if it were reopened for both movies and swap meets. Currently there are no discount or second run theaters in Tacoma—-only way overpriced first run houses.
The auction will be on May 18, 2004 and contact info is:
Phone (703) 361-3131 ext 279 or www.treas.gov/auctions/customs
They took the marquee down! This theater is reported to be haunted and has been on local tv stations several times about the hauntings.
The marquee was painted with house paint and looks bad. The awning over the sidewalk was hit by a truck and also looks bad. The current owner removed all the projection and sound equipment.
As of 3/24/04 the marquee is in terrible condition with major rusted out sections and tons of broken neeon tubing. Looks like it’s ready to fall off the building.
Theater is located at 1225-31 Vandercook Way, Longview, Wash. 98632-4001 and the phone number is 360-423-1011.
I used to live in San Mateo during 1966 to 1972 and attended this charming neighborhood theater many times. In those days it showed regular movies not porno. It would be a real shame to lose this treasure to developers.
The stage in the Capitol Theater is not big enough for an orchestra. Besides, the Olympia Symphony Orchestra already call the huge Washington Center for the Performing Arts (across the street from the Capitol Theater) their home. The Capitol Theater currently is very dilapidated and the marquee is totally rusted out with large holes in it. The pictures I submitted were from 1981 when the theater looked excellent and was under much better care & management.
Yes, go to www.bigscreenbiz.com and read ALL of the Frequently Asked Questions on the forum. Also while you’re there do a search on the thread “Exhibition 101”.
Suggest buying a copy of the book, “THE REEL MOSE” by Earl Moseley (ISBN 0-9617510-0-2). It’s an excellent autobiography of projectionist Earl Moseley in the heyday of film projection in the south and being in the Projectionists union. Highly recommended.
Theater is located at 213 Main Street in downtown Morton. Projection & sound equipment are intact and operational.
Building is in need of a paint job and sections of neon tubing are broken out of the Roxy sign.
Theater is located at 206 East 5th Ave. in downtown Olympia and is just around the corner from the State Theater. The Olympia Film Society is the current operators of the theater and shows a mix of current first run movies, art, foreign, and student films in both 35mm and 16mm. Theater is equipped for Dolby Digital sound playback.
Theater is located at 6120 Motor Avenue. Built in 1937, it features separate glassed-in smoking room and cry room in the balcony.
Theater is located at 106 East State Street.
Theater was built in the 1930’s and closed around 1984.
Theater is located at the corner of McKay Street and Silverbrook Road. It was built in the 1930’s and closed around 1979.
Theater is located at 119 South Tower Ave. (the one way street heading north) in downtown Centralia.
Theater opened on Sept. 5, 1930.
It was a single screen and access to the projection booth was by ladder! In 1982, Tom Moyer Luxury Theaters chopped up the theater into a triplex by walling off the balcony and making two small auditoriums.
Theater is located at 2347 California Avenue S.W. in West Seattle.
Oasis Entertainment took over operation of the theater in late 1999 from A Theatre Near You, Inc. and upgraded the sound to DTS digital. The snack bar was also upgraded and computerized ticketing system installed. In the 1940’s the exterior of the theater sported a real ship’s mast complete with Crow’s Nest!
The whole theater is built around a nautical theme and has etched glass (with Seahorses) hanging in the lobby. There is a huge mural behind the snack bar depicting sailing vessels.
Opened Nov. 22, 1949
Closed June 15, 1996
Architect: Joseph Wohleb of the firm of Wohleb & Wohleb
First operated by Evergreen Theaters, then Fox-Evergreen, then Fox West Coast Theaters, then Mann Theaters, then Tom Moyer Luxury Theaters, then T.P.M. Theaters (Thomas P. Moyer, Jr.), then finally Act 3 Theaters.
Theater was a 1,000 seat stadium seat single screen when it opened in 1949. In 1977, when it was operated as a Tom Moyer Luxury Theater, it was chopped up (quite badly) into a 3 plex. In 1983 it switched to second run and became a dollar house until closing.