United Artists Theatre
108 S. Main Street,
Pendleton,
OR
97801
108 S. Main Street,
Pendleton,
OR
97801
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Originally opened as the Alta Theatre, a Robert Morton theatre organ was installed in 1926 which could have been the year of opening.
It was later re-named the United Artists Theatre, in fact in Film Daily Yearbook’s from at least 1941 through to 1950 the theatre is listed under both names.
However, it could be that a different Alta Theatre was opened though, as in the 1950 edition of Film Daily Yearbook, the Alta Theatre is given at a different address; 25 SE. Dorion Avenue, Pendleton, OR.
Any further information on the Alta/United Artists or even if there was a second Alta Theatre would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Ken Roe, Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
Here is a recent photo of the church located in this former theater building.
Before you proceed with this entry, you should change the introduction’s first sentence, which is grammatically incorrect.
Hello-The Alta Theatre in Pendleton, Oregon was located on Dorian Avenue. It was the smallest of the three downtown theatres and I was informed that it was owned by the same family that operated the Rivoli. The Alta did have a 2 manual 4 rank theatre pipe organ munufactured by the Robert Morton Organ Co. It was their opus 2287 and was installed circa June-July, 1926.
This organ still sees regular use at Bellingham, Washington’s Central Lutheran Church. I play each week and maintain the organ to keep it in excellent condition.
Hopefully this information will help.
The opening sentence of the introduction doesn’t make sense. I think that the two Kens had something different in mind.
1981 photo of the UA Theatre.
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1988 photo of the UA Theatre.
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Also contrary to what Warren says I have no problem understanding the opening line in the intro. The organ was installed in 1920 so that was probably the year the theatre opened.
An icy wintry night time view from 1949 of downtown Pendleton and the United Artists Theatre.
Nice shot Don,love the vertical sign.
All those “STAR WARS” nuts outta come here and order a picture of the 1981 maequee..HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLINT EASTWOOD,i know you filled seats in this lonely theatre.
As the photos show two very different buildings, there was apparently an earlier Alta Theatre in Pendleton. The photo of the earlier Alta Theatre can be seen on this page of The Moving Picture World, December 6, 1913. The 550-seat house was designed in the Mission Revival style by its owner/operator, C.E. Oliphant.
Does anyone know what became of the 1913 Alta Theatre?
I’m still puzzled about the aka Alta Theatre for the United Artists. I’ve checked Google Street View for 25 Dorian Avenue SE, the known address of an Alta Theatre, and it looks like the building there now is the same one pictured as the Alta Theatre in the 1913 issue of The Moving Picture World that I linked to in my previous comment.
The front has been altered to open up the ground floor for storefronts, and the arc of the central section’s parapet has been flattened, but the proportions of the building are very much the same, and the arch over the original entrance is still indicated by trim, though the arch itself has been filled in.
The building the United Artists occupied is clearly fairly old itself. If it had a theater in it from the time it was built, then the operations of the two houses could have overlapped. If that’s the case, then one or the other of them must have operated at some point under an aka as yet unknown to us.
The 1913 Alta was called the New Alta in the magazine article. I wonder of the house that eventually became the United Artists could have been the original Alta? If it lost that name as early as 1913, though, and wasn’t thereafter closed for more than a decade, then it must have had another name before becoming the United Artists.