West Coast Theatre

In Fall 1996 I saw the exterior of this theatre, and it still looked exactly as it appears in the above photo except the box office was gone, and the neon tubing was missing from the marquee (though decorative striping was still the same colors as in the photo). The theatre was then being used as a church.

This theatre was located at 308 North Main Street. The Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties notes that this has been "Administratively removed from the Register on April 8, 2002 at the property owner's request as a religious organisation".

I came up with the following information while researching newspaper archives:
The Fox West Coast has the distinction of being the 100th theater designed by the Boller Brothers, who opened their Los Angeles office three years before this job.
The Santa Ana Register from January 28, 1924 says that Charles E. Walker built the New Walker Theater at a cost of $250,000 on the site of the old Princess Theater. Construction was completed in record time with three shifts working around the clock.
Seating included 800 on the main floor, along with 55 loges, and 500 in the balcony, which was tested with a twenty-five ton cement weight. Other feature included 3000 lights on a master switch with a dimmer that could supply any color effect wanted. An organ from the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company supplied the music. The cooling system gave a complete change of air every ten minutes.
One of the opening attractions was Will Rogers in “Two Wagons, Both Covered.” In September of 1925 it became under the direction of West Coast Theatres, with C.E. Walker remaining on as resident manager. Later names were the Fox Walker, West Coast Walker and finally the Fox West Coast. In its early years it played movies and was also associated with the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit, playing acts direct from the Orpheum in Los Angeles.
The theater was closed during the 1980s and fell into disrepair but in 1991 the Christian Tabernacle bought it for $750,000 and put another $500,000 into its restoration. According to the Orange County Register, Pete Montanez, a church member and general contractor, gave up two years of his time and donated $200,000 in labor to restore the theatre. Pete did all of this work despite the handicap of previously losing his right forearm in an accident.
The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

This theatre is one of some 200 that could be described as "Skouras-ized For Showmanship" which is the title of the ANNUAL of 1987 of the Theatre Historical Soc. of America. In the late 1930s through the 1950s, there occurred on the west coast of the United States a phenomenon known as the 'Skouras style' in recognition of the oversight of the Skouras brothers in their management of several cinema chains. They employed a designer by the name of Carl G. Moeller to render their cinemas/theatres in a new style best described as 'Art Moderne meets Streamlined.' The then new availability of aluminum sheeting at low cost was the principal material difference to this style allowing for sweeping, 3-dimensional shapes of scrolls to adorn walls and facades in an expression that would have been much more expensive and not at all the same in plaster. With the use of hand tinted and etched aluminum forms, the designers could make ornaments in mass production that allowed much greater economies of scale. The ANNUAL also show in its 44 pages how some 20 theatres were good examples of this combining of aluminum forms with sweeping draperies heavily hung with large tassels, and with box offices and facades richly treated with neon within the aluminum forms. Few of these examples survive today, but it was a glorious era while it lasted, and this collection of crisp b/w photos is a fitting epitaph by the late Preston Kaufmann.
PHOTOS AVAILABLE:
To obtain any available Back Issue of either "Marquee" or of its ANNUALS, simply go to the web site of the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA at:
www.HistoricTheatres.org
and notice on their first page the link "PUBLICATIONS: Back Issues List" and click on that and you will be taken to their listing where they also give ordering details. The "Marquee" magazine is 8-1/2x11 inches tall ('portrait') format, and the ANNUALS are also soft cover in the same size, but in the long ('landscape') format, and are anywhere from 26 to 44 pages. Should they indicate that a publication is Out Of Print, then it may still be possible to view it via Inter-Library Loan where you go to the librarian at any public or school library and ask them to locate which library has the item by using the Union List of Serials, and your library can then ask the other library to lend it to them for you to read or photocopy. [Photocopies of most THSA publications are available from University Microforms International (UMI), but their prices are exorbitant.]

Note: Most any photo in any of their publications may be had in large size by purchase; see their ARCHIVE link. You should realize that there was no color still photography in the 1920s, so few theatres were seen in color at that time except by means of hand tinted renderings or post cards, thus all the antique photos from the Society will be in black and white, but it is quite possible that the Society has later color images available; it is best to inquire of them.

Should you not be able to contact them via their web site, you may also contact their Executive Director via E-mail at: execdir@historictheatres.org
Or you may reach them via phone or snail mail at:
Theatre Historical Soc. of America
152 N. York, 2nd Floor York Theatre Bldg.
Elmhurst, ILL. 60126-2806 (they are about 15 miles west of Chicago)

Phone: 630-782-1800 or via FAX at: 630-782-1802 (Monday through Friday, 9AM--4PM, CT)

The architect was Carl Boller of the Boller Brothers.

This movie theatre was purchased from the Walkers and was operated by a Chicano family (Lewis Olivos Sr. family of Santa Ana, CA) for most of the 20th century (from the 1950's until the 1990's) before they sold it to the "Christian Tabernacle."

Still standing as of May, 2005...and still the crown jewel of Old Town Santa Ana.

A recent picture here
http://www.blu-iguana.us/archives/2004_12.html

I visited this theatre last month with the Theatre Historical Society of America Conclave attendees. The church that occupies the building keeps it clean and the interior is freshly painted. Along with the obligatory white walls and ceiling, the Skouras swirl and scroll ornaments are all gold, as is the original 1920s proscenium, which is visible within the later Skouras-era one. The ceiling coves all light up, though all in white. Doubtless they were once multicolored. The original Arts and Crafts stained glass windows on the Mezzanine are clean and bright.

From the UCLA Digital Archive:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/csta/kt6v19p65d/webfullsize/11478689.jpg

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/csta/kt6v19p65d/webfullsize/11498893.jpg

One more:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/csta/kt6v19p65d/webfullsize/12170590.jpg

From the Santa Ana Public Library:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/csta/kt6v19p65d/webfullsize/11483820.jpg

Our Church Christian Tabernacle has done its best to maintain this beautiful building. It looks as beautiful as it once did. Anyone is free to come in and view the interior. We are having a photo shoot of the building soon. I will post picture up as soon as their available.

Zedfla, heartfelt thanks for maintaining it and making it available for a public who appreciates and enjoys it as much as your congregation does.

From the Cal Davis collection:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/csta/kt6v19p65d/webfullsize/11455935.jpg

Re-opening of the West Coast theater in 1935 after reconstruction:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/csta/kt6v19p65d/webfullsize/11480586.jpg

Does anyone know a way of finding...vintage pictures of the interior??

I will post any that I find. Obviously exterior shots are more common. Here is an exterior photo from the 1930s:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/csta/kt6v19p65d/webfullsize/11480602.jpg

Thank you Ken so much for the pictures!!! They are very special to us.

You are welcome. It beats working, which is what I am supposed to be doing right now.

This is a mixture of pictures of Our Pastor & Church Choir inside of the Theater (currently use as our church sactuary) All the gold triming is...original..untouched.
All the lighting has been fixed in the exterior.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/alhezjr/aae18987.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/alhezjr/1cb20d12.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/alhezjr/82230a18.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/alhezjr/95fcc236.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/alhezjr/69d52250.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/alhezjr/unnuevodiaalbumcover.jpg

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982

Walkers Orange County Theater (added 1982 - Building - #82002224)
Also known as Fox West Coast Theater
308 N. Main St., Santa Ana
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Boller,Carl, House & Graham
Architectural Style: Mission/Spanish Revival, Moderne
Area of Significance: Architecture, Entertainment/Recreation
Period of Significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater

There have been "murmors" this past year that the church, now occupying the old FOX WESTCOAST, are/were looking for a larger facility... yes?

Here is a photo of the Christian Tabernacle church.

Why isn't this place listed with all of the other Fox listings?

Here is a 1949 photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics12/00025723.jpg

This photo is circa late 1940s:
http://tinyurl.com/3ap5b5

Great photo of a cafe.

I go to church here!!!
This church is extremely beautiful, inside and out.
Anytime you want to come, you are welcome...
I think we need to start giving tours of this church.
Across the street, we have:
-a ballroom
-classrooms
-the offices
-the development center
-the recording studio
-and there will be a cofee shop soon

There used to be a high school that was called CTA(Christian tabernacle academy)

If you want to know more, our website is ctchurch.net...we will be glad to hear from you!

The exterior of this theater appears in the opening credits of SOLE SURVIVOR (1983), a low-budget horror/sci-fi movie that was released on DVD in 2008.

Jon Putnam, can you show us a video of this? thanks

Here is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dyjpkr

It seems like the introduction should be amended since we do have a lot of information about this theater now.

Amended? "There is no description available for this theater." LMAO

Here is part of a November 1998 article in the Orange County Register:

Contractor Pete Montanez was sitting in a pew one Sunday morning when a surge of inspiration came over him. It happened as the pastor was preaching about Christian Tabernacle's terrible problem. The congregation had bought the 1923 Fox West Coast Theater on Main Street, once the grandest movie palace in Orange County, but had run out of money to transform it into a church. I will fix it, Montanez thought.

The restoration of the National Register of Historic Places landmark was a giant task. The walls had holes and the carpets were disintegrating. There were rats, smashed lights and basement dressing rooms choked with decades of clutter. Long expanses of graceful gold leaf lay under coats of dirt. The 50-foot-high ceiling needed paint. The intricate Spanish Colonial Revival facade had faded so much that it was hard to identify the original colors.

But Montanez, 47, who lost his forearm in an accident 26 years ago, felt moved by the spirit of God to restore the theater, and there was no turning back. Years before, his parents helped build a church in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico. It seemed like his destiny. He and his family had been living in Fontana; he was only visiting Santa Ana, his former home, that day he went to the church service. In December 1996, he moved his wife and four children back to Santa Ana, and into the home of his sister, suspended his normal work as a general contractor and set about fixing the theater.

Montanez started in the basement of the theater on a restoration journey that occasionally took him back in time. Removing layers of paint, he found doodles from long ago. Under the stage, someone had stashed soda bottles that were so old he didn't recognize the brand names. In the balcony, he found a row of square windows that had been covered up. He put in panes of glass and watched the morning light stream in. He borrowed scaffolding from a friend to work on the ceiling. He installed decorative trim around plain doorways. He noticed empty spaces atop the pillars on the facade, and fabricated big gold globes to sit on them.

Some of the tasks were more mundane. He installed plumbing in the bathrooms. He did electrical work. At first, Ariel Meza, the assistant pastor, got nervous watching Montanez climb up and down the scaffolding, because of his disability. Montanez lost his right forearm in a gasket-making machine in Anaheim in 1972. He says he was depressed for seven years, but finally snapped out of it and went into the homebuilding business.

Montanez finished his work on the theater Oct. 30, and on Halloween, the new church was rededicated in an all-day ceremony and lunch. Its gold leaf shone. Its pews stood on a rich royal-blue carpet. Meza said Montanez saved the church $200,000. Still, the project was an expensive one. The church paid $750,000 for the building in 1991, Meza said, and put about $500,000 into it. Christian Tabernacle, an evangelical Hispanic church, used to be on Susan Street but moved because it needed a bigger building. Meza said the church has about 600 members.

Montanez crossed Main Street this week to admire his handiwork on the facade from a better vantage point. He looked up at it and said he felt he could go back to breadwinning now, satisfied with the way things turned out.

Some photos from the Santa Ana History site :

http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/a8/37057-852-ps_edited-1.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/b2/xzx.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/b3/37057-138.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/a8/Main & 3rd, Main St, Santa Ana, ca 1947001.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/a8/35617-1-ps_edited-1.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/a8/200-ps.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/a8/Main St looking S, Santa Ana-ps.jpg (barely)

And what would these have been?
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/b5/santa-ana-tht.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/a8/761480-ps.jpg
http://www.santaanahistory.com/bk2pics/a8/35510-ps_edited-1.jpg (1st Princess, I think)

Actually, now that I look at it again, the second mystery photo probably says wATER instead of theATER. But what would the Santa Ana Theatre have been? It looks like 1910s, which would make it too old to have been Clune's Santa Ana/Yost.

The first "mystery theatre" picture, is the Santa Ana Theatre (also billed as the Santa Ana Electric Theatre), which was located on east 4th street. The theatre was operated by "Doc" Roberts (he's the man standing on the far left hand side of the photo). The Santa Ana library dates the theatre opening/picture to 1908, while the City of Santa Ana lists 1906; in either case, this would make the Santa Ana/Electric Theatre the first commercial movie theatre in Orange County, predating the Temple Theatre (which has traditionally been billed as the first) by a year or two.

1983 Day Photo

1983 Night Photo

Here is a 1958 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/klkhtn

Here is a March 2009 photograph I took of the West Coast Theatre:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/achangeinscenerymovies/3740013393/

Thanks for redoing the introduction. This is a photo circa 1959 that is currently being advertised on eBay:
http://tinyurl.com/oggh6k