Crest Theater
4825 E. Douglas Avenue,
Wichita,
KS
67218
4825 E. Douglas Avenue,
Wichita,
KS
67218
2 people
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The Crest Theater in Wichita was designed by the Boller Brothers. It was located near the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center. The Crest Theater was opened in 1950, was closed in 1989 and demolished in 1997. A chiropractic clinic is located at this address today.
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Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
Not the greatest photos, but here’s the Crest in 1989 – with a hit on their hands!
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Chuck, you must be correct. I started working for United Artists in 1989, right after they purchased the Commonwealth chain. They went on a closing spree, and I’m sure this single-screen house was easy to walk away from. Too bad it couldn’t hang on!
This is another 1984 photo.
Here are more 1985 night photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Construction had not yet begun on the Crest when the December 4, 1948, issue of Boxoffice published Robert Boller’s rendering of the front. The firm name was not Boller Brothers, though. Carl Boller had died in 1946, and by the time the Crest was built Robert Boller was associated with Dietz Lusk in the Kansas City firm of Boller & Lusk.
The Boller Brothers architectural records agree with you Joe. Robert O. Boller and Dietz Lusk Jr. are listed as the architects of the Crest Theater.
I was an usher at the Crest, 1953-1955. When a patron, like a doctor, wanted to be paged if they had a call, they filled out a little card and we noted where they were sitting. If they got a call we went and got them (usuall a good tip followed). The Crest showed a couple of 3D movies while I was working there. Because, they had to use both projectors for 3D, they had an intermission to change the film.
A view of the auditorium is one of two photos of the Crest featured in an ad for Heywood-Wakefield theater seats in Boxoffice of October 7, 1950.
In the 1950s there was an usher’s dressing room down front at the left side of the screen. It could be reached from a tunnel that went under the theater from the front to the back. The uniforms were cleaned weekly and very smart
Linkrot repair: Here is the October 7, 1950, Boxoffice page with the Heywood-Wakefield ad featuring two photos of the Crest Theatre.
Bonus link: The architect’s rendering of the Crest, as featured in Boxoffice of December 4, 1948.