Rheem Theatre

I show the address for the Rheem Theatre as 350 Park Street, Moraga, Ca. 94556.

Though it was built as part of a shopping center and opened around 1958, the Rheem looks fully like a theatre that would have been built ten years earlier. One could say that it was the last movie theatre of the classic era to be built in the Bay Area. There is abundant neon on the exterior, plenty of etched glass and terrazzo in the entryway, and murals depicting the Zodiac in the auditorium. The developer who built it wanted a truly luxurious theatre, and thus, the era and tradition of the show starting on the sidewalk was prolonged just a few more years with the construction of the Rheem.

I worked there for four years and have come to the conclusion that the company is either trying to loose money or incompetent. They made a 20 year old kid the general manager because he knew how to use the computer program EXEL. He had no idea how to perform in a leadership role and refused to make any decisions they may make him seam like “the bad guy” I saw plenty of illegal things going on there which I took no part of and was reprimanded for. I hear it is closing and I couldn’t be happier

This website has a small photo of the Rheem Theater.

Here is a recent b/w close-up photo of the Rheem Theater.

Here are some 1986 photos:

Photo1

Photo2

Photo3

Photo4

Architects Cantin & Cantin designed the Rheem Theatre, and it opened in June, 1957. Photos of it were published in the October 19, 1957, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. It was a 1000-seat house with a large stadium section. The auditorium walls featured extensive murals, and the house had what was then the largest installation of rocking chairs in the United States, being the only theater west of the Rockies that was entirely seated with them.

The Rheem was also unusually spacious for its time, with row spacing of 42 to 44 inches, and the seats had extra-wide arm rests. As Gary Parks commented above, despite its late construction date the Rheem had the style of the luxurious Art Moderne theaters of the 1940s; but it also had the spaciousness which has only become standard in recent years, so it was both a throwback and well ahead of its time. The owner of the theater, Donald Rheem, could clearly afford the best of everything, and Cantin & Cantin certainly provided it.