Utah III
161 South Main Street,
Salt Lake City,
UT
161 South Main Street,
Salt Lake City,
UT
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Built in 1933, just across the street from the Utah Theater, the theatre originally opened as the Stadium Theatre, and was renamed the Studio Theatre in 1934.
Despite a lobby redecoration in June 1939, the theater was somewhat austere, and once refered to by a movie critic as a ‘long isle with seats’.
The theater was last operated by Plitt or Cineplex Odeon as a discount theater, called the Utah III.
Eventually, the theater was converted into a store, and continues to operate as such today.
Contributed by
Grant Smith
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
I hate to say it, but you have the wrong building. The Studio was in the Bamberger Building. The space is empty. The store front has art work, placed there for the Olympics.
The Studio Theatre seated 285 people.
Some vintage photos are on this website.
1983 photo of the Studio Theatre.
View link
The Header should be Utah III with aka’s Stadium, Studio. Utah III was its last operating name.
Some info from the Tribune.
The Studio Theatre was narrow, about as wide as the hallway leading back to lobby of the Utah Theatre across the street. The Studio’s very small candy counter took the entire width of the lobby, with the aisle entrances on either side. The seats in the auditorium had high backs, making it impossible to see the person in front of you, but the screen was elevated high enough to give everyone an unobstructed view. The waterfall curtain for the screen rose in a scallop fashion.
The theater opened as the Stadium Theatre in 1933 and was renamed the Studio Theatre in 1934. In June 1939, the lobby was redecorated.
In July 1973, the Studio Theatre replaced its familiar triangular marquee with an almost flush sign on the front of its theater. The change was made because of the age of the old sign and a new city sign ordinance.
In the mid-1970s, Plitt Theatres acquired the Studio from ABC Theatre Holdings Inc. About the same time the theater was renamed the Utah III, because it was across the street from the Utah I and II theaters.
Plitt Theatres closed the Utah III in April 1983 and allowed its lease on the building to expire. Ed Plitt, western division vice president of Plitt Theatres, Inc., said, “It has been losing money. It is an old theater, there is a lot of competition growing up in the area. There are no facilities for parking since they narrowed Main Street … I would say that, basically, the Utah III has outlived its use.”
Plitt removed all the seats, projection and sound equipment, and the drapery from the building, leaving the owner, Bamberger Investment and Exploration Company, to consider whether to re-equip the theater and seek a new operator or renovate the building as office space.
“I think anybody who went there to run a theater would be rather foolish,” Mr. Plitt said. “It wouldn’t make any sense for a big chain to be pulling out if it could be run profitably by someone else.”[
Header should be changed to Utah III with AKA’s of Studio Theatre and Stadium Theatre. Utah III was the lasy name that this theatre was operated as.
Header should be changed with the info given in my 5/24/11 post.
Sorta a weird Triple theatre,Guess Plitt was right,but often a discount house will make money and heck you could walk the print across the street.Amazed how many cities have no bargin theatres.We have seven plex $2,00 house that does well.