I went here often from 1974 to 1979 when it was an arthouse cinema. The balconies on the side were unique. The theater was an old public swimming pool that had been converted into a movie theater. At the deep end was the screen and the floor sloped up to shallow end and exited into the lobby. The building had apartments on one side and a dive bar on the other. It was in a residential neighborhood just off of Harbor and Commonwealth. In the evenings it was okay to park in the parking lot for the Pacific Bell office across the street. I liked that this place often had foreign films such as those by the Yugoslavian director DuĊĦan Makavejev, which was unusual for Orange County in the 1970s.
Going to The Strand was a step back in time to the earliest days of commercial cinema because it was built in 1906-1908. In the early 1970s it had an unsavory reputation for uncleanliness, but it held its own as a second-run cinema until it was closed in 1975 to make way for downtown redevelopment in Mason City. Next door to it was The Golden Rule clothing store, which sold work wear and Western wear. On its other side, to the south, was an old-fashioned soda fountain that managed to persist despite nicer things elsewhere. Upstairs were apartments. This place was one large building on South Federal as can be seen the photo.
I went here often from 1974 to 1979 when it was an arthouse cinema. The balconies on the side were unique. The theater was an old public swimming pool that had been converted into a movie theater. At the deep end was the screen and the floor sloped up to shallow end and exited into the lobby. The building had apartments on one side and a dive bar on the other. It was in a residential neighborhood just off of Harbor and Commonwealth. In the evenings it was okay to park in the parking lot for the Pacific Bell office across the street. I liked that this place often had foreign films such as those by the Yugoslavian director DuĊĦan Makavejev, which was unusual for Orange County in the 1970s.
Going to The Strand was a step back in time to the earliest days of commercial cinema because it was built in 1906-1908. In the early 1970s it had an unsavory reputation for uncleanliness, but it held its own as a second-run cinema until it was closed in 1975 to make way for downtown redevelopment in Mason City. Next door to it was The Golden Rule clothing store, which sold work wear and Western wear. On its other side, to the south, was an old-fashioned soda fountain that managed to persist despite nicer things elsewhere. Upstairs were apartments. This place was one large building on South Federal as can be seen the photo.