Sunset Theater
1407 East Harry Street,
Wichita,
KS
67211
1407 East Harry Street,
Wichita,
KS
67211
1 person
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The Sunset Theatre opened in early-1950. At the link below is a 1951 photo of the Sunset Theater in Wichita, Kansas. It was closed in 1980. Any further information on this theater would be appreciated.
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Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
The Sunset and Southern were similar in design.
Wonder it the same architect designed both houses? This link has lots of photos of historic Kansas theatres,
View link
The Sunset Theater is listed in 1955 with 970 seats.
The Sunset Theatre is described in this article about its owners, Mr. and Mrs. T.H. Slothower. A late 1949 Boxoffice item said that the Sunset was expected to open on January 1, 1950.
The article says that Mr. Slothower made the initial plans for the theater, and hired architect George Mason to draw the final plans. As the article referred to Mason as “…one of Wichita’s most promising architects….” he must have been fairly young when the Sunset was designed in 1949, and as the Southern Theatre was built by the Slothowers in 1933 it’s unlikely that Mason designed that house.
It is not demolished. It’s at 1407 E. Harry, and has been turned into a banquet hall, though it looks like they’ve preserved some intersting parts inside. According to this, it closed in 1968. I only recall seeing one movie there as a small child – ‘Dr. Zhivago’ in 1965. As I recall, it was a pretty swanky place at the time, but it’s a pretty lousy neighborhood now.
http://www.sunsetbanquethall.com/about_us.html
Here is another link to the 1951 photo: http://members.cox.net/southwichita/sunset.htm
Described in this 1953 trade article: boxoffice
I have a great aunt that lived for decades in a house next to the parking lot behind the Sunset. When I was a kid playing outside her house I could see the marquee and remember seeing titles like “Funny Girl” and “Paint Your Wagon”. I only wished I had seen a movie there before it closed.