West Side Theatre

The information in the comment above by thomas_gladysz is the final piece I needed to clear up the mystery. The West Side Theatre did indeed open as the Newman Theatre, probably in 1936 or 1937.

Southwest Builder & Contractor of March 6, 1936, mentioned plans by architect S. Charles Lee for a theater project at Newman. Boxoffice of December 18, 1937, said that the newly formed West Side Theatre Company was taking over two houses from the Harvey Amusement Company; the land and building of the Newman Theatre at Newman, and the leasehold on the Empire Theatre at Gustine.

I’ve been unable to find an exact opening date for the Newman Theatre, or when it was renamed the West Side Theatre, but I no longer have any doubt that they were the same house.

This web page (http://louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com/2010/04/high-class-pictures.html) contains Newman, California newspaper ads for two theaters in the town of Newman. The Star (with Gus Johnson as proprietor) was operating by the mid-1920’s, and the Newman in 1937. I am not sure of the relationship of either of these theaters to the West Side.

A photo of the current interior can be seen here:

http://www.westsidetheatre.org/inside.html

Box 6, folder 16 of the S. Charles Lee papers concerns a Newman Theatre in Newman, California. Could that be this house under an earlier name? (The Lee website doesn’t provide any photos or drawings of the Newman Theatre.)

My most vivid memory of the West Side Theater is seeing “Jaws” there in 1976 with my wife when she was eight and a half months pregnant with our son. We would later tease about the scary scenes and music of that film being the cause of her going into labor. Based on that teasing, a teenage cousin of our newborn son bought him a stuffed animal shark which was immediately christened “Jaws.”

We’ve seen several live performances since the conversion to cabaret seating, and have thoroughly enjoyed them.

Carl Hughes