Capitol Theater
206 East 5th Avenue,
Olympia,
WA
98501
206 East 5th Avenue,
Olympia,
WA
98501
9 people
favorited this theater
The Capitol Theater shows art, foreign, and classic films Sunday thru Thursday. Rock bands play onstage on Fridays and Saturdays.
The theater suffered major plaster damage to the ceiling during a February 28th, 2001 earthquake, but has since been repaired and re-opened.
Contributed by
Ken Layton
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Recent comments (view all 53 comments)
This was the Capitol in 1935.
Here is the Capitol Theater in 1980.
This is another shot of the Capitol with the old marquee.
Nice shot of the new vertical,looks very much like the old one in the shots.
Couple photos of the Capitol from 2000.
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The Capitol Theater has been sold to the Olympia Film Society.
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Timelines:
Theater opens Tuesday October 7, 1924.
Theater remodeled March 1937.
Major fire damages theater. Balcony, mezzanine, and projection booth destroyed. Roof and ceiling damaged. Fire alarm turned in at 9:28 A.M. of Saturday April 24, 1937. Cause of fire determined to be spontaneous combustion of a single reel of nitrate 35mm film that had just been delivered the night before and was temporarily in the janitor’s closet in the mezzanine awaiting to be taken to the projection booth. Theater will be closed for several months to repair the damage.
Theater reopens after repairing the fire damage on Wednesday August 25, 1937. A brand new Western Electric “Mirrophonic” sound system was installed along with hearing assistance headphones available in selected seats.
The theater got remodeled again in 1948. Theater reopened on Friday May 7, 1948. Installed were Gulistan carpets and draperies along with Heywood-Wakefield seats.
Boxoffice magazine did a story about the April 24, 1937 fire. It is on this page:
http://www.boxofficemagazine.com/the_vault/issue_page?issue_id=1937-5-8&page_no=50#page_start
February 25 to March 6, 1937 the theater was closed for repairs/remodeling due to a previous small fire in mid February 1937. Then came the big fire of April 24, 1937.