Aberdeen Theatre

The Aberdeen theater opened in October 1929 just days before the stock market crash. The original name was Warner Bros. as the theater was built by Warner Bros. Studio. The original decoration was heavy spanish/moorish. The interior has many arches that originally contained dark red velvet valances. There are also 4 large stained glass windows each depicting a spanish galleon in sail. These windows stayed back lit during the movie for soft illumination. The auditorium cieling contains 5 large lavishly painted coves with fake wood beams that house the auditorium lighting. The theater was built expressly for films, there is no stage or dressing rooms as no live performances were ever planned. There was a small pipe organ to accompany the silent and early sound films. The original sound system was Vitaphone sound on disc. The lobby is small with stairs on either side that rise up to the balcony, offices and lounges. The original entrance doors were solid oak and the entrance and box office was tiled with colorful imported tiles. The seating capacity was about 700. The name was changed to Aberdeen Theater most likely when the studios had to divest themselves of their theaters in the early 1950's. I have not been in the Aberdeen Theater since it became a church, but at least it has not fallen into the sad shape of the D&R.

I understand the church still has this theater for sale.

I wonder whats left of the theater now that the churuch is going to sell it. The front has been extensivly altered, but if the lobby and auditorium are still intact this could be a nice art house as there is no theater in the area that shows those kinds of films. There is a 10 screen in So. Aberdeen that has the first run product tied up but the art/foriegn/classic market is untapped. A price and condition would be nice, anyone know? Before this became a church it was a nice Warner Bros theater. The only alteration being the removal of part of the wall between the lobby and the auditorium to put in a snack bar.

Condition is good. Price is around $120,000 if I remember correctly. I've lost the real estate & contact info I had. It was a local Aberdeen real estate company though.

I believe a guy named Craig Fectzo (spelling?) was the agent.

Did some real tearing apart of my place and finally found the real estate & contact info on this theater/church:

Windermere Real Estate
Grays Harbor, Inc.
101 South Broadway
Aberdeen, Wash. 98520
Craige Fectzo, Associate broker
business phone: (360) 533-6464
Voice mail: (360) 537-7987
Fax: (360) 533-0375

Thank You for the sales info, this is a great opportunity to save one of the areas movie theaters. I think someone could make a go of it if they don't try to compete with the 10 plex for product. I might be interrested in trying if there is someone out there who whould be willing to partner with. Having grown up in Aberdeen I believe the area would support an alternetive cinema. The closest
Art house is the Capital Theater in Olympia. Besides I have heard that the 10 plex at So Shore Mall is'nt all that great.

The South Shore 10 crap-plex is barely staying open. I've heard many rumors from industry insiders that it is really struggling. They charge way too much money for everything. The whole mall is empty with many empty stores. The Aberdeen-Hoquiam area folks just can't afford to pay the prices over there at that theater. The area is primed for a good second run or discount theater and either the Aberdeen or D&R Theater would be a good choice. I don't know how an 'art' theater would do in the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area, but I kinda think it would not do anything. Since the Aberdeen has a stage, it could do well as a single screen discount movie house with live stage shows.

You may be right about the Art theater, I was just trying to think of something but first run. But the "stage" at the Aberdeen is really only large enough for a screen and speakers. There is no fly space or lighting, or dressing rooms. Having worked at both the D&R and Aberdeen for many years, the D&R was the only one equiped for stage shows. The Aberdeen was built only for movies. Unfortunatly the D&R has been closed for about 20 years and stripped and would take a vary large influx of cash to re-open. The Aberdeen should be just about turn key with the only issues being projection, sound equipment and a screen.

A quick phone call to Scott Hicks' American Cinema Equipment (www.cinequip.com) in Portland, Oregon could get you a package deal on all the used projection/sound equipment needed to operate this theater.

Thanks for the info.It's much appreciated.

The Aberdeen Theater is no longer for sale. It was sold over 2 years ago and the church that now occupies the building is not interested in selling. To bad it could have been a nice theater again.

Too bad, it sure would have been a nice place. :(

Maybe we should work on buying the land the Harbor Drive-in Theater was on and rebuild it.

I still think this would be a good alternative to the multi-plex in Aberdeen. I bet the church would sell if the price was right.

Hopefully a deal can be worked between Harbor Arts and the current owner to purchase this theater and return it to it's place as a venue for entertainment on the harbor.

From the Aberdeen Museum of History site:
"1986 - November 16 - Last movie shown at Aberdeen Theater".

Yes this is still a nice theater building.

The Aberdeen Theater had a wonderful, wall-to-wall, curved screen that made for a great CinemaScope presentation during that era. In contrast, the D&R screen was much more cramped, although also curved.

David, I hate to disagree with you but I was projectionist at both the D&R and Aberdeen theaters when they were open with Grays Harbor Theaters and later with Luxury, and the screen at the D&R was larger than the Aberdeen and neither screen was curved. The Aberdeen procienium opening was smaller and both theaters had the screens on the stage. While the screen at the Aberdeen may have apeared to go from wall to wall because the auditorium was narrower than the D&R it was smaller. The D&R also had Boush & Lomb cinema scope lenses that were for their time the best money could buy but the aberdeen had very cheap scope adaptors that hung on the front of the projectors and used the existing flat lenses as the base. The Aberdeens scope picture was always hard to focus and very severly cropped because the maskings at the Aberdeen were fixed while the D&R had movable maskings and separate flat lenses. The Aberdeen's capacity was about half what the D&R was. The Aberdeen was a fine picture house but the show at the D&R was better from a technical point of view.

There are great photo's of this theater in all it's incarnations at www.jonesphotocollection.com be shur to search using different spellings for "theater" and "theatre" as there are many different photo's and they do not all pull up at once.

Here is a recent photo of the church located in this former theater.

Nice picture, now if only this could become a movie house again and a nice marquee built across the front it wouldn't look to bad.

According to this weeks Daily World, both theatres are coming back.

http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2007/08/17/local_news/01news.txt

It's true the Aberdeen theater is going to be re-opened as a movie house. The format has'nt been decided yet and there are some restoration issues to be taken care of. I just found out that this theater opened as the "Roxy" then it became the "Warner Bros." then "Warners" and finaly the "Aberdeen". The "Roxy" moved over next to the Finch bldg on Heron st. sometime in the early 1930's. If my memory serves me correctly the theater opened in October 1929 a couple of weeks before the stock market crash. All the news paper articles state it opened in 1930. There used to be the exact date written on the wall in the projection booth by the first projectionists. Also I have been told that the place is in really good condition so a lot of money won't have to be invested to get the place running again. John Yonich said he would like to remove the churches remodel in the front and restore the entrance with the box office and of course erect a marquee. This was such a pretty theater that any restoration work will only enhance a building that was a vital part of the harbors entertainment history.

Recieved an e-mail from a gentleman who toured the Aberdeen last week and he states that the place is relatively intact. From the sound of his description the chruch has painted over all the decoration except in the balcony so a full restoration would be needed. Not to mention putting the lobby back into the original configuration. There is a screen but all sound and projection equip. has been removed. Seats would have to be replaced also. Thankfully there is a very extensive photo record of how the place once looked and most of the changed are painted decor. So it shouldn't be to expensive or hard to replicate. The biggest challange is going to be the lobby, outer foyer, and a marquee.

From The Daily World, the newspaper in Aberdeen, on Wednesday, Jan. 23:

John Yonich "is also buying the former Aberdeen Theater (now a church). The plan is to show first-run movies and special cinematic events for about $10 per ticket, as well as house retail space."

Yonich is the guy who bought the D&R in Aberdeen and is restoring it for live shows.

John Yonich is doing a magnificent job with the D&R, one can only hope that he can come to an agreement with the church to purchase and save the Aberdeen (Warner) theatre. A restored Aberdeen theatre along with the D&R and the Morck Hotel will jewels in the crown for Aberdeen's rebirth.

The top right photo shows the theater box office, circa mid 70s:
http://tinyurl.com/2rp4wl

Looks familiar.

ken mc:

That's a copyrighted photograph from page 67 of the book, "Movie Palaces: Survivors of An Elegant Era" by Ave Pildas (ISBN 0-517-53857-1

I've been trying to get that message across for a long time now. One day he could pay a price for those photos. Its not worth it.

Yep, that's the box from the Aberdeen (Warner) Theatre. My understanding is that the church has kept the original lighting fixtures and they can be re-installed once the front is restored.

Just had the pleasure to tour the theater today and I must say that it is in very good shape. While the interior has been painted by the first church to occupy the space the current owners are very careful that they only do things that can be easily undone. While it would take a lot of work to put the place back into original condition it is mostly paint and removal of some of the churches remodeling. With a little luck, this would make a very nice movie house again some day.

Also they have repaired the outside stucco and had the building painted. They are also going to have the brick work re-pointed, so the exterior is now going to be weather tight again.

What's going on? Is Yonich still buying this theatre???

Yeh, I'm curious too. Is he still going to buy and reopen this theater?

This is from the Centralia Daily Chronicle dated 4/10/30:

ABERDEEN, April 10.—The new Roxy Theater, just completed and opened by D. Constanti, Tacoma theater man, has been sold to the Warner Brothers Picture Corporation for a sum reported in excess of $250,000. The Roxy is the first theater Warner Brothers have purchased in the state, but it is intimated they have further purchases pending. The Roxy is one of the largest and finest show houses in Southwest Washington, with a seating capacity of 1,100 persons. Ii was formally opened April 1.

I was employed by ACT III theatres to remove the projection equipment from the aberdeen theatre in the early 90's. The projectors were rebuilt and installed in the Newport, OR tri-plex shortly there after. The Newport theatre is expanding, and I am getting the projectors back. It would be cool to see them returned, should the theatre reopen.

Scott, what make of equipment was removed? When I left in the 1980's the projectors were Simplex 35's with RCA Photophone sound heads, Simplex bases and Brenkert EnArc lamps with a generator and voltage regulating equipment. Also the sound system was an Eprad stereo setup with 1 back stage speaker and surounds in the auditorium. Not a very good system. (a poor man's dolby) That is what Grays Harbor Theatres installed and sold out to Tom Moyer who I believe then sold to Act 111.

In the opening description it states that the theater was heated by a wood fired boiler. In fact there has never been a boiler in this theater. The Aberdeen Theater's furnace is located on the third floor over the stage house. The original stoves are still in use, they are now fired by gas but they were originally fired by black oil. In the 1980's one of the staff members tried wood but it was difficult to haul it up three floors of narrow stairs. The stoves are like a wood stove used today in many peoples homes only much larger. the heat is dry and behind the fire boxes is the fan and ducting to circulate the hot air into the theater. This works very well. But there has never been steam in the Aberdeen.

Also; when wood was tried it was done because the theater was in financial trouble. The employee who tried the wood could get it for very cheap but because the stoves are so large the theater would burn a cord every other day. So not only was hauling it up to the stoves a problem, storage of a quantity to heat the place for 1 week in the winter required about 4 cord. There was no place to keep that much wood. Also the fire dept. approved the use of wood but only grudgingly. And they did not want it stacked all over the place. The theater was designed for oil or gas and nothing else.

Here is a 1975 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yjnzoor