Cascade Theatre

Come visit The Cascade Theatre's resident repertory company at http://www.jeffersonrep.com

Some great photos of the theatre Before, Restoration and Current at their website.
http://www.cascadetheatre.org/Page.asp?NavID=1005

Opening day photos of the Cascade Theater can be seen here.

From the UCLA Digital Archive:

http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-1399.jpg

This looks like a different theater in Redding. I thought this was a small town?

The photo is from the UC Davis Collection:

http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-622.jpg

ken mc;It is a different theatre. It is the Redding Theatre, 1537 Califormia Street, Redding. CA. that had a seating capacity of 1,002. It currently does not have a listing on Cinema Treasures.

Thank you for the information.

ken mc: Redding has long been a good-sized town, usually rivalling Chico in size. Chico has supported at least two theatres at any given time since the 1920s, often three, and may have had as many as five operating at one time, so it isn't surprising that Redding could support two large downtown theatres.

My first visit to Redding was about 1970, and by that time, many of the old buildings along California Street had been demolished to make way for parking lots serving the downtown businesses along Market Street, one block east. I think the Redding Theatre must have been among those demolished, as I have no recollection of it being there at that time.

The building is interesting. The style, with its Roman arched windows, looks to be late 19th century. This was probably Redding's first big theatre. I'd bet they called it an opera house when it opened.

Before television, movies were the primary source of entertainment for most people, along with radio. I believe that most theaters in the 1930s and 40s changed their film once a week. The accompanying newsreels were also the only way to see news live, or sort of live. Subsequently, even the smallest town had at least one movie theater.

From the UC Davis Collection:

http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-1398.jpg

Here is another photo of the Redding Theater:

http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-622.jpg

1945:
http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-4018.jpg

1948:
http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-6139.jpg
http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-6101.jpg

1954:
http://ulibimage.ucdavis.edu/speccoll/east01/full/B-8579.jpg

Wow: this place rules.

Did I mention that this place rules?

What a great theatre.

Does anyone know more about the architect, J. Lloyd Conrich? Did he design other theatres, and specifically in the S.F. Bay Area where his office was located?

This is a recent night view of the Cascade Theater and here is another.

A few more recent photos of the Cascade theater can be seen here another one here and the third one is here.

Another recent night view of the Cascade Theater can be seen here.

Sweet.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002

Cascade Theatre (added 2002 - Building - #01001459)
1731 Market St., Redding
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Conrich, J. Lloyd, Salih Brothers
Architectural Style: Art Deco
Area of Significance: Architecture
Period of Significance: 1925-1949
Owner: State
Historic Function: Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Business, Department Store, Restaurant, Theater
Current Function: Industry/Processing/Extraction, Work In Progress
Current Sub-function: Communications Facility

This is a 6/07/2004 article about the renovation of the Cascade Theater.

"Oregon radio station renovates Redding theater.

Source: Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland
Byline: Jessica Swanson

A historic building owned by the state of Oregon is helping to change the face of a Northern California town. Over the last five years, the 70-year-old Cascade Theatre in Redding, Calif., has been transformed by an Oregon radio station from a dilapidated four-plex cinema into the art deco gem it was when it was built in 1935.

With 90,000 people, Redding is the largest metro area Jefferson Public Radio serves, and the Southern Oregon University station had operated studios there since 1992. When they were forced to move from their leased space, they began searching around for studio space to purchase. James Theimer, Redding architect and downtown booster who long had visions of restoring the old theater, paved the path to the Cascade Theatre.

When the theater closed in the late 1990s, Theimer got in the habit of showing prospective buyers the building, trying to entice a new owner into making it into a downtown showpiece again. Theimer had also redesigned the chunk of Market Street in front of the Cascade in support of recent efforts to revitalize the downtown core. Theimer met with Paul Westhelle, Jefferson Public Radio's associate director, and others from the radio station early in 1999, and a plan for the theater quickly coalesced. The radio station felt owning the 13,000-square-foot space spoke to the station's vision of itself as a cultural institution.

"I don't know if we would have gotten involved would it have not been for someone like James who was the biggest booster (of the downtown revitalization efforts)," said Westhelle. "Then we saw the building and the building was really something special."

By July 1999, the Oregon Board of Higher Education had issued $800,000 in bonds to purchase the theater and build the radio station's new studios. The JPR Foundation set a capital campaign goal of $5.2 million dollars, and the phased project got underway. Right away, the studio was built so Jefferson Public Radio could continue its work in Redding and in short order, the theater's marquee was restored as a statement to the community and as an inspiration for gift-giving. There was a public lighting of the marquee in December 2000.

"The old-timers just cried when they saw the marquee lit up again," said Westhelle.

In addition to a comprehensive seismic retrofit, and full mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrades, the theater needed to be pieced back together and painstakingly restored to its original character.

"It's always been about being more like Sherlock Holmes than Frank Lloyd Wright," said Theimer. "We were finding out what the place really used to be."

Evergreen Studios, a New York interior finishes firm, sent a team to work on the theater for 16 months. They used chemicals to remove much of the paint that covered the theater's ceiling, which revealed an enormous mural featuring almost 20 female figures and told the story of a girl's coming of age. Using a pencil and flashlights, they traced the lines of the mural's images and repainted it with the original colors, which were obtained through a chemical analysis of old paint chips. An old black and white photo was used to recreate the mural. The team also approximated the large amounts of copper, gold and silver leafing that were used throughout the mural.

The original stage, built at the end of the Vaudeville era, was too small to accommodate the radio station's vision for the theater as a state-of-the-art midsize performance space that would serve as a new home to the local symphony and other arts groups. The venue also needed to serve some of the acts the radio station regularly sponsored in the Ashland-Medford area, as well as a place for the local film society to show art flicks. Theatergoers should feel like it is 1935, but performers at the venue should have a 21st century experience, said Theimer.

The 40-foot wide stage was increased from about 15 feet deep to 38 feet deep. A new orchestra pit was built as well as new dressing rooms under the stage and all new lighting, sound and set-rigging systems. More than 400 seats were removed to accommodate the new stage, and the theater will now seat 999 patrons. Loud mechanical systems were replaced and vents cut into the ceiling were removed.

Although the theater was structurally sound, a seismic retrofit was necessary to inhabit the space. Contractors built a large concrete beam underground to anchor the walls, and a new concrete and steel roof was built over the fly loft, where the sets are rigged.

"The theater was so well built," said Ken Putnam, the theater's manager, "it was a monumental task at times to get through the cement." He added that some steel found during the renovation was actually salvaged from the Golden Gate Bridge, which was built at the same time.

The restoration is about 90 percent complete, said Putnam, with the seats, curtain, lights and carpeting to go in before the end of the month.

The fundraising efforts are almost wrapped up as well, due to substantial donations from a number of public and private agencies as well as nearly 1,800 individual donations from Redding Community members. Even Clint Eastwood, who grew up in the town and watched movies at the Cascade as a boy, recently donated $25,000.

"This project is as community-based as you can get," said Theimer. "We've made $5 million, $25 at a time."

The Cascade Theatre's grand opening is planned for late this summer with a celebration by the community of Redding".

This is a recent photo of the Cascade Theater.

Here is a more recent photo of the Cascade Theater.

This website has three photos of the Cascade Theater. Scroll down near the bottom of the page.

Here is more information about the renovation that was done to the Cascade Theater.

An August 2008 photo can be seen here.

This is a really nice October 2008 night view.

Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cddnw6

1980 Photo

1986 Photo