Elmo Theatre
Morro Street and Marsh Street,
San Luis Obispo,
CA
93401
Morro Street and Marsh Street,
San Luis Obispo,
CA
93401
1 person
favorited this theater
At this point, little is known about the San Luis Obispo Elmo Theatre. The Elmo Theatre opened in 1921 with a small 2 manual 4 rank style 135 piano console player Wurlitzer organ opus 260.
In the the latter 1920’s, this original Elmo organ was removed from the theatre and rebuilt by Louis A. Maas and installed in the new Obispo Theatre with 7 ranks of pipes.
The older Elmo Theatre had a second, “new” Wurlitzer installed that had previously been installed in the DeLuxe Theatre in Los Angeles. This organ, opus 430, was shipped to the DeLuxe from North Tonawanda, NY on 6/28/21. This organ was a style 210 special and included a piano. It is assumed Louis Maas also did the transfer and reinstallation of this organ into the Elmo Theatre (as he had for the Obispo Theatre organ.)
In the 1950s, this 2 manual 9 rank Wurlitzer organ was removed from the Elmo Theatre by Richard S. Villemin (who also removed the organ from the Obispo Theatre) and reinstalled the second Elmo organ in the Malibu home of his sister Ruth V. Dresser.
The Elmo/DeLuxe Theatre console, piano, and a portion of the relay are in the Fox Theatre in Hanford, California playing a composite Wurlitzer donated in 1988 by Ruth Dresser.
Ruth Dresser eventually donated the rest of the Elmo organ (with many, many additions plus a 4 manual console from the 1918 San Francisco California/State Theatre) to the Fox Theatre in Visalia, CA.
As I recall, the Elmo Theatre was part of a larger building that was owned by the B.P.O.E./Elks in SLO. It was also my understanding that the name “Elmo” was shortened from an earlier theatre name in San Luis Opisbo, the “El Monterey”.
Another assumption could be that both the Elmo and Obispo Theatres were associated with Fox/West Coast Theatres as Maas did many pipe organ reinstallations and rebuilds for Fox/West Coast. All of this organ/theatre infomation came directly from Richard S. Villemin.
If anyone has any further information on the Elmo Theatre, please submit it.
Contributed by
Tom DeLay
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
Here is a wider version of aroid’s picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selago/22190944/
It’s been ages since I’ve been there, but I believe the view is southward on Morro Street from Monterey, and if so then the Elmo must have been on the east side of Morro, north corner of Marsh. Is there anyone here from SLO who can confirm or deny this location?
Also, here is aroid’s birds-eye view of SLO, with the distinctive arc of the Fremont’s blade visible at left of center, and the Elmo at the right with its large, red stage house clearly visible:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/selago/860154876/
Comparing the facade of the Elmo with that of the Obispo Theatre, they were, as expected, two distinctly different buildings. As I said earlier, a late theatre historian who lived in Moro Bay, Bob Longfield said the Obispo was owned by the El Monterey Theatre Company. It is congecture that the ElMo name was the shortened name for El Monterey.
As I said earlier above, the organ from the Elmo was enlarged by Louis Maas and moved to the Obispo in the late ‘20s. A much larger organ was moved from LA (Palace Grand Theatre opus 433) to the Elmo, the console of which is on the organ in the Fox Hanford Theatre in Hanford. The balance of the Elmo organ is, greatly added to, in the Fox Visalia Theatre. The remains of the Obispo organ are in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Visalia.
It’s been established that El Monterey was an earlier name of the Obispo Theatre (see Pat OD’s comment of May 25, 2006, and subsequent on the Obispo page.) In the SLO 150th Anniversary album there’s now a scan of an early postcard of Monterey Street, showing the distinctive facade of the El Monterey. The picture is undated, but from the style of the card,the vehicles on the street, and the fact that the theatre had no marquee, it looks as though it could have have been pre-WWI. The original El Monterey presumably took its name from its location on Monterey Street.
So, if am I following this correctly, the Elmo Theatre (in the old Elks building, demolished in the late 1950s) and the El Monterey (later Obispo, demolished 1975 or so) is the correct chronology of these two theatres?
The Elmo was certainly demolished first. I’m not sure which theatre opened first because a firm date hasn’t been established for the original El Monterey. The Elmo apparently opened in 1912 (see comment posted by Bonnach on Jan 27, 2007, above.) The El Monterey was extensively rebuilt (though later photos reveal that the original facade remained largely intact) in 1928, which was about when it was renamed the Obispo, but that postcard photo of it looks very old, and might even predate the 1912 opening of the Elmo. I’m thinking the El Monterey might have originally been a nickelodeon, with the bulk of the construction budget poured into that ornate facade and very little spent on the auditorium.
The facade of the El Monterey (Obispo) is remarkably similar to the T & D in Salinas, Richmond and the still standing California Theatre in Pittsburg.
My parents and I were driving to Santa Cruz one early morning in the 1970’s when we saw all the smoke from the Obispo theater fire. We didn’t know what it was until we got back. Another classic building gone! I went there a few times, think I saw some kind of Sinbad the sailor movie there. I sure miss those beautiful lobby and interiors compared to today’s theaters with their plain decor.
The El Monterey theatre name was changed to “Obispo” in December 1928 and equipped or “talkies”. Why the name change? Because the citizens of San Luis Obispo couldn’t understand why “their” theatre was named for the rival county to the north…even though it was on Monterey Street. The El Monterey curtain was removed from the Obispo and installed in the Elmo during that time. In the late 1950’s the Elks Club purchased property south of town and the great destruction of 1960 began: This historic 1911 brick building was torn down, along with the high school, the old high school/junior high and three grammar schools because the local school board was reminded that the Field Act made them responsible for the death or injury of any students during an earthquake.
The Obispo Theatre building was adjacent to Sully’s bar (formerly Dan’s). The bar was robbed on the night of Dec. 28, 1975. Investigators told me that the person who broke in, set a fire in the upstairs office of the bar early Sunday morning to cover their tracks. The widow Henry C. Dalessi Estate was given two days (between Dec. 29 and New Years?) to decide to either rebuild or tear it down. Trivia: Photos of the Obispo fire are hard to date, because the marque displayed “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. It took over 29 years to rebuild on the site because the city had somehow acquired the property for a parking lot! Today Plazzo Giusseppe’s restaurant sits on the site which is now referred to as Court Street, the old alley that cut between Monterey and Higuera Streets.
My Uncle, Les Hacker, owned and managed Station KVEC from the early 30’s through 1965. I lived in SF but would visit several times a year and spent my summers in SLO. I have many photos of SLO in the 50’s and recall the SLO Centenial celebration held in 1950 in the Obispo Theatre. I have shots of the interior that exciting day when Mel Venter and his Breakfast Gang held the radio show there. Also shots on the outside podium near City Hall where Earl Warren, CA Gov gave his speech; several movie stars attended. Arland Chevrolet furnished the convertibles for the Grand Parade. Also have photos of City Hall and the murder trial held there in 1950. ()
I remember your uncle Les Hacker, as I grew up just two blocks below the KVEC radio studios. They used to put on life radio dramas and a lot of us neighbor kids would sit in the audience watching the sound effects man make thunder, rain, horse hoof sounds all on a small table.
In those days radio was king. I caught the live Mel Venter Breakfast Gang broadcast at the neighboring art deco Fremont Theater one year. The San Luis Obispo Centennial parade was held in May 1956. The city got caught with it’s pants down in 2006 and were unprepared to celebrate their Sesquicentennial. All we have to show for it is a defunct website: www.slo150.com
I’ll be in touch.