State Theatre
770 E. Colorado Boulevard,
Pasadena,
CA
91101
770 E. Colorado Boulevard,
Pasadena,
CA
91101
10 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Fox West Coast Theaters Corp., Pussycat Theatres
Architects: Oliver Perry Dennis
Styles: Italian Renaissance
Previous Names: Florence Theatre, Pussycat Theatre
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Opened as the Florence Theatre on March 28, 1918 with William Kerrigan in “The Turn of a Card”. It was equipped with a Seeburg-Smith pipe organ which had a 2 manual console. It was renamed State Theatre on August 31, 1935 screening Mae West in “Goin' to Town” & Neil Hamilton in “The Keeper of the Bees”. This former Fox West Coast Theatres house closed and was later operated by Pussycat Theatres, in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It became an independent theatre, closing in 2000. It was demolished, apart from the façade, which is now the entrance to retail and office use.
Contributed by
William Gabel, "manwithnoname"
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Recent comments (view all 54 comments)
I remember they screened Run Lola Run here. Sad when it was shut down. Things change. sometimes not for the better. isn’t there a Liberty tax there now?
Manwithnoname, Thanks for the memory of Canterbury records. I haven’t lived in Ca. since 1968, before the freeway.
“The Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ” by David L. Junchen, page 628, lists a “Pasadena Theatre” in Pasadena, California, as having a three manual Smith theatre pipe organ.
No other details, such as # of ranks or installation date, are given.
I could not find a “Pasadena Theatre” listed on this site right now (April 2014) but this has a fairly close name. However, according to Lost Memory, this “Pasadena Photoplay Theatre” apparently had only about 350 seats, and most three-manual theatre organs had at least ten ranks.
The largest known Smith organs were both 4 manuals and 16 ranks, so that this organ in question was probably between 10 and 14 ranks, or so.
This is quite large for a little 350-seat theatre, since most theatres of this size either had a photoplayer (such as those made by American Photo Player Co, or Wurlitzer) or simply a person playing the piano, or, if an organ, nothing larger than about six or seven ranks (and thus, two manuals). Thus, I think it is unlikely this is the same theatre mentioned in the book.
Does anybody know more about this instrument, or a larger “Pasadena Theatre?” in Pasadena?
Thanks!
I think the State might be a good candidate, time-wise and size-wise, for having had such an organ, so am placing this here also for the time being.
The State was not gutted, the theater was torn down. The face to the theater was kept and restored. The builders could have used the space and restored the old theater house as retail space but the powers that be did not. We all fall for such perverse business ( $$$ ) ideals ! Just look at how beautiful the house for State WAS for that period in the pix above.
I’ve read conflicting reports of this building being gutted vs. torn down. The complete teardown (minus the facade, of course) theory made sense until I walked around to the back on the Oak Knoll side where the curved roof is clearly visible at the back of the structure where the offices are now located. It seems very odd that they would have chosen to build the roof like this if it were truly all new construction. I’m going to go non-suspiciously poke around inside that back office area one of these days!
AndrewBarrett: You will probably be interested in this item I ran across in the February 9, 1918, issue of The Moving Picture World:
Listings for the state theatre in Pasadena started in 1935 in the LA Times.
Opened March 28, 1918 with J. Warren Kerrigan in “The Turn of a Card.”
Reopened as the State on August 31st, 1935. Grand opening ad posted.
On February 25, 1979, the State Theatre became national headlines after its manager was injured after being severely beaten by mobs in connection of a crisis involving the film “The Warriors”.