St. Helens Theatre
508 N. Market Boulevard,
Chehalis,
WA
98532
508 N. Market Boulevard,
Chehalis,
WA
98532
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Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The building still exists but has been converted to retail store space. This theater is shown in the Reelife Productions movie, “The Chehalis Story” (early 1950’s). I had the pleasure of projecting the only remaining copy of this movie in the Chehalis Theatre a few months ago. It shows the interior of the St. Helens Theater and some beautiful nightime views of it’s marquee all lit up with flashing neon and border chasing lights.
Did this theater ever show movies? I had researched it before and thought it was only a venue for live shows. (Then again, like a lot of theaters from that era, it probably did both …)
It was indeed a movie theater. When I showed the movie, “The Chehalis Story” a few months ago the nighttime scenes showed a couple of movie titles on the marquee. I forgot what those movies were though.
I had a chance to take some photographs of the St Helens Theater the fall of 2007, the owners stated that the ground floor would be retail space and the second floor would be renovated back to a performance space.
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After a couple minutes the owner said he had things to do and just let him know when I left, I dont think he thought I’d walk through the whole building and find all the old rooms and stairwells that were partially collapsed/filled in with dirt.
Here is a May 1938 ad from the Chehalis Bee-Nugget:
http://tinyurl.com/3w4wnr
This building was originally built as The St. John Garage in the 1910’s. The side walls and roof were kept but the facade was replaced for the theatre It was designed by Hill, Mock & Griffin Architects of Tacoma.
This is how the theater was going to look originally:
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From 1941 a view of Market Blvd along with the St. Helens theatre in Chehalis.
I believe the St. Helens Theater closed around 1958 or 1959.