Capitol Theatre

212 S. Second Avenue,
Walla Walla, WA 99362

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Alliance Theater Corp., Midstate Amusement Corp.

Architects: Bjarne H. Moe

Previous Names: Legion Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Capitol Theatre

The Capitol Theatre was remodeled in 1938 by architect Bjarne H. Moe and it was operated by the Midstate Amusement Corp. This was a beautiful legit house in downtown Walla Walla that by the 1970’s was showing mostly art films. In addition to the art films, I saw such films as ‘Man of La Mancha" and a re-release of “Gone With the Wind” at the Capitol Theatre.

Periodically the theatre was used by local amateur dramatics groups but union people were always needed to run the lights, etc. An original show about President Kennedy was set to open at the time of JFK’s assassination. It never opened. The author of that show had provided piano and organ accompaniment for films in the silent days. I believe the Capitol Theatre was demolished in the early-1980’s.

Contributed by Parke Thomas

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 7, 2007 at 9:08 pm

In 1963, the Capitol was part of Alliance Amusements, a large Chicago chain. Besides the Capitol, Alliance also ran the Liberty, Roxy and Sky-View Drive-In in Walla Walla.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 9, 2009 at 7:54 pm

Here is an April 1970 ad from the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin:
http://tinyurl.com/o8mzdb

Parke
Parke on February 26, 2010 at 12:41 pm

Here is an ad from the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin circa 1952, along with one for the nearby Liberty Theatre.

View link

John_Freimann12
John_Freimann12 on August 28, 2011 at 1:30 pm

Actually the play about Kennedy did open: one performance.Then they closed and rewrote the show making it about the Washington governor at the time. It opened about a week later.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 13, 2013 at 12:56 am

This brief biography of architect Bjarne H. Moe, from the Washington State Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, says that he was the architect for a remodeling of the Capitol Theatre in Walla Walla in 1938.

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