Avalon Theatre

Building was gutted by fire on July 31, 2004.

More information on the fire at the former Avalon Theatre can be found in this newspaper article from today's Olympian.

The building is being saved! There has been a tall crane there for the past two weeks installing brand new steel I beams bracing the walls and getting ready to put on a new roof. Hooray!

Well after all these months, nothing more has been done. The walls have indeed been braced with a criss-cross mesh of steel "I" beams, but still no roof. The building is just an empty shell and is now boarded up at the street level to keep people out. Nothing is being done at this theater right now. :(

I have a great photo of the Avalon Theatre taken in 1929 ("Say It With Songs," Al Jolson's first full-length talkie, was showing at the time). I will upload it when that feature is reactivated. My grandfather, Arthur Hamer, was a projectionist at the Avalon for the entire time it was open (April 27, 1928 until June 1951, according to a newspaper article about his retirement). My mom virtually grew up inside the theatre, developing her great love of movies there, and still remembers the "popcorn lady," Mrs. Tryon.

Good news, according to the "Development Reports" in the Olympian newspaper, permits are in submission phase 'for restoration of the Avalon movie theater' by BJSS Duarte Bryant architects. YES!

Bad news....all work stopped and building put up for sale.

Hodges Commercial Real Estate
626 Columbia St. NW, Suite 1-A
Olympia, Wash. 98501
Phone: (360) 943-5079
Contact: Larry Gilliam at extension # 209

www.hgdre.com

There's a pdf file about this building but it makes absolutely no mention of it's life as the historic Avalon Theater, only it's last life as Griswold Office Supply. Check out the link at:

www.hgdre.com/pdf/308-310_4th_Ave.pdf

There is another photo of the former Avalon theater from 2001 on this website.

More bad news. A local business newspaper is reporting the building has been sold. It is to be torn down and be replaced with condos!

Here are two recent photos:
http://tinyurl.com/68unjd
http://tinyurl.com/5o4gku

Photo of the Avalon on the PSTOS site.
http://pstos.org/instruments/wa/olympia/avalon.htm

When I knew the Avalon in 1951 and early '52, it looked ready to breathe its last. The whole place smelled like popcorn. Still, it was the only one of the four downtown Olympia theaters to guarantee "always a double feature," albeit strictly second-run. (Other movie houses were the State, Capitol and Olympic -- all upscale compared with the gone-to-seed Avalon.) Despite the twin-bill obligation, the Avalon's proprietors usually managed to package the program for three hours total -- example, "Samson and Delilah" plus "Bowery Boys." That meant parents could drop the kids off a 1 and pick them up at 4.