Park Theatre
1275 El Camino Real,
Menlo Park,
CA
94025
1275 El Camino Real,
Menlo Park,
CA
94025
4 people
favorited this theater
Built in 1947, The Park Theatre is located between Oak Grove and Val Pariso in lovely Downtown Menlo Park. Like the nearby Guild Theatre, the Park is a short drive north of the Stanford Shopping Center. In the early days of the Park, live vaudeville-style stage plays abounded.
Eventually converted to a movie theatre, the theatre hosted the Bay Area’s premiere of “Singin' in the Rain” in 1952. Since this time, the Park Theatre has retained its classic and elegant atmosphere, and in 1998 it was presented with a plaque for its contribution to historical preservation.
Between 1989 and 2002, Landmark Theatres operated the theater and featured the finest in independent film and foreign language cinema.
Recently, however, the theater closed and the property was put up for sale. Additionally, the letters and neon tubing have been removed from the theater’s marquee.
Contributed by
Michael Collier, Donald John Long
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Recent comments (view all 25 comments)
The 2/1 link does not work.
Try it again, it’s working for me.
The link posted by ken mc on Feb 1, 2008 at 7:16pm works. The headline reads: “Park Theater could get face-lift after all” By Banks Albach / Daily News Staff Writer.
Yes, it looks good now; however, note that the Daily News likely won’t keep the article at this url for very long, so you might want to provide a brief summary of its content here.
This is dated Sep 13, 2007 which is newer than the Jan 25, 2007 story posted on Feb 1, 2008.
The August 24, 1946, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Park Theatre was under construction and expected to open in November that year. It was designed by San Francisco architect O.A. Deichmann (Otto Deichmann.) He also designed the Del Rio Theatre in Riverbank, California.
The March 22, 1947, issue of Boxoffice said: “Bob McNeil of Golden State gave a gala reception at his home last week following the opening of the Park Theatre at Menlo Park. Looks like the opening was a bit behind schedule.
I forgot to close my quotes. The last sentence in that comment wasn’t in the Boxoffice item.
Here are some 1986 photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Photo3
Nice phots Lost Memory.
I was working here when the theatre was shut down. It was a sad day for everyone. The owner tore out the sign illegally because Menlo Park had already deemed it as historical landmark. I remember that day too cause I was managing the Guild and another manager called me to tell me she was watching a wrecking crew take the sign apart and she wanted me to do something. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. If I was smart I woulda walked right over and made some BS up like I was with the city attorney’s office. Of course, he only got a slap on the wrist for that. Luckily I got some beautiful Super 8 footage of the animated marquee before it came down.