Elma Theater

Recent exterior & interior photos:
http://www.pstos.org/instruments/wa/elma/graham.htm

People here would have to go to Olympia or the S.shore in Aberdeen for entertainment since the theater in Montesano closed a long time ago.It's a tribute to these tough folks who have been through so much,from heartless robberbarons,anti-human enviro nazis,and the occasional hostile bigfoot,to keep this treasure going.

You would never know such a plain front holds such a nice treasure inside.

The Elma Theater is a nice theater, but it does need some fixing up and needs to show movies more often. The Lacey Cinemas and Capital Mall Cinemas in Olympia are set to close when Regal Cinemas opens up a brand spanking new 16 plex (all Stadium seating) in August here in Olympia. The South Shore 10 theater is a dump and is in a dump of a mall there in Aberdeen.

As much as I like Aberdeen(I used to make more $ per sq.ft.there than any other town for my industrial sales efforts),the whole place was a bit seedy and unsophisicated.I had hoped they could market the place for its timber boom past,but no way.There is great potential there still,but money,vision and willing hands are not there.The two theaters there could have had a great part in that untried effort.

Having grown up in Aberdeen I have to agree with Mr. Layton that the So Shore 10 and the mall it resides in is a dump. The Elma theater could be a lot more but it is nice that it is open at all. My grandparents lived in Elma and the whole time I was growing up I don't remember the theater being open. If it was it seemed that everyone went to Olympia or Aberdeen to see movies. Sometimes people don't know what they have in their own backyards. The old theaters in Aberdeen are a perfect example of this.

Here is a close-up view of the Elma Theater.

1986 Photo

1987 Photo