Golden State Theatre
3745 7th Street,
Riverside,
CA
92501
3745 7th Street,
Riverside,
CA
92501
2 people
favorited this theater
Originally opened in January 1890 as the Loring Opera House. Star such as Sarah Bernhardt and W.C. Fields performed on its stage.
Later it became a movie theatre and was renamed Golden State Theatre, operated by Fox West Coast Theatres.
It was closed in January 1973, and stood unoccupied until the empty building was gutted by a mysterious fire (possibly arson due to the high cost of renovation?) in October 1990. City officials then approved plans to demolish the remains of the building.
Contributed by
William Gabel, James Costa
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Recent comments (view all 24 comments)
I would like to have seen this theater when it was still standing. It’s a pity that more effort is not made to reuse the buildings instead of demolishing them.
I worked at the Golden State Theatre as an assistant manager in the early sixties. It was a wonderful old theatre, considered to be a B level or “move over” theatre from the Fox Riverside. Once in awhile, The Fox would hold a film several additional weeks if the seats were needed. This is how, we got to open “Dr. No” first run and pack the house for weeks.
Some of the odd memories were the wooden floors. The theatre had wooden floors and it was difficult for patrons to quietly leave their seats for a smoke.
Another memory was the extraordinary keystone angle of the balcony. Being first a legit theatre, the balcony was steep and intimate to the stage. Heaven help you on a change of program and as an employee you carried the film cans up through the balcony. If they ever got away from you, they wouldn’t stop until they hit the main floor.
Sometimes on a morning, I would take the box of keys that had long ago lost their name tags and would explore all the rooms in the theatre building. It took a great deal of patience but over time, I managed to open doors closed for decades. It was a wonderful time.
I was sad to learn of the fire. I don’t think anyone really appreciated the theatre for it was always in the shadow of the Fox, but any of us that worked there loved it as a very special place, not to be duplicated…ever again.
Here is an excerpt from an LA Times article dated June 16, 1930:
RIVERSIDE, June 15-Saving them the disgrace of terms in San Quentin by granting probation, Superior Judge Morton yesterday refused to turn loose without punishment two of the three boys who staged the bold Golden State Theater safe robbery, and sentenced them to serve terms of six months at the junior division of the county prison camp in the San Jacinto mountains.
The three boys gained entrance to the Seventh Street theater building through a balcony door, wheeled the safe to a side fire exit and onto a platform. They were frightened away by a door opening in a nearby restaurant, but returned forty five minutes later, toppled the safe into a car they had stolen, and drove away.
The safe was left in the car on a lonely West Riverside quarry road. There it was discovered about eight hours later by officials of the theater who started out in search of the strong box and became suspicious upon seeing the three boys returning from West Riverside.
Fearing they were suspected, the three fled to Arizona. The third youth got off the freight train to get a drink and was left behind. Pricking consciences sent the other two back to their homes.
Interesting. Thanks.
Here is an expanded view of the photo at the top of the page:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics08/00023563.jpg
Interesting article, ken mc, even though it’s from 1930. Thanks for that, and the expanded photograph of the Golden State Theatre.
Riverside seems to have improved in the ten years since I first went there, at least in the downtown area. We had lunch in the old fruit company building that is now the Spaghetti Factory. Once the Fox is a performing arts center, I think you will see some real gentrification in that area. It was pretty shabby looking in the late 1990s, like Old Town Pasadena was in the early to mid 1980s.
1983 Photo
I have a great picture of my mother in the late 1940’s in the ticket booth. She worked at the Golden State theater from about age 16 to probably age 20+. She worked in the ticket booth and also as a bookeeper. She loved that job and the people that owned it then for giving her a job when needed and the belief of her abilities. My mom, now in 2011 age 83, is still married to the young fighter pilot stationed at Victorville!! I wish I had known it was demolished in 1990. I would love to give her some memorabilia. I will try to scan the photo to post of her in the theater booth… she looked like a starlette herself!!
This is a revised version of an April 2004 post, which I removed)
Information on file at the Riverside Public Library says that the Golden State, built by Charles Loring, opened as the Loring Opera House on January 8, 1890.
Seating was put at around 1,000 and it showed its first silent film in 1910. The nearby Fox Riverside is remembered, as having the first sneak preview of “Gone With The Wind” in 1939 but the Loring was the first in the nation to screen D.W. Griffith’s “The Clansman” before it was renamed “The Birth Of A Nation.” A Riverside newspaper ad from that time announced the showing on January 1 and 2, 1915. It read “ ‘The Clansman’ is being shown in Riverside for the first time in any theater. It will go direct to New York, where it will be shown at the same prices of the higher class dramatic productions.” The film was later called racist in its depiction of African Americans and was banned in many cities.
In 1918 the opera house became the Loring Theatre and it received a modernization, which included removing the entire balcony and replacing it with one supported by steel
In 1928 its operation was later taken over by veteran Riverside exhibitor, Roy Hunt who entered into a joint partnership with Fox West Coast in 1933 to run it along with the Fox and Rubidoux theatres. In 1938 it was renamed the Golden State Theatre.
It is not known how long the theater had been closed up to 1950 when it made the news again. A Boxoffice Magazine article from October 14, 1950 said that Fox was reopening the Golden State with a new marquee, seating, carpeting curtains and equipment.
The Golden State, then a National General Theatre, closed in January of 1973 after playing a double bill of “Suburban Wives” and “Trader Hornee.” Fire destroyed the more than 100-year-old Golden State in October of 1990 and it was leveled by the city.