Ridgemont Theatre
7720 Greenwood Ave.,
Seattle,
WA
7720 Greenwood Ave.,
Seattle,
WA
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The Ridgemont opened in 1924 as the Bathhouse Playhouse and was one of the first art houses in Seattle.
After closing in 1989, it was demolished in October 2001.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The Ridgemont Theatre seated 456 people.
Small photo and brief article are here.
Ridgemont Theater circa 1930.
Bruen, the name on the 1930 photo, also ran the 45th Street in Wallingford.
The Ridgemont property is now an apartment/retail complex, but it retains the theater name. I saw my first subtitled movie at the Ridgemont in 1957 (and also my first nude female — Brigitte Bardot!)
It kicked off the era of arthouses in Seattle, although the Varsity and the Uptown showed occasional imports but mostly from Britain. It had a stepped floor with narrow rows so leg room was terrible and there was no way to improve it without redoing the whole floor. It had a small screen that did not handle scope movies very well.
A Kimball theater organ KPO 6842 size 2/6 was installed in the Ridgemont Theater in 1923.
From 1978 through its closure in 1989, the Ridgemont was operated by a local art-house chain, Seven Gables Theaters. Seven Gables was later purchased by Landmark Theaters. Prior to 1978, the Ridgemont operated as a porn theater.
Some history and photos on the PSTOS website.
View link
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120109/LETTERS/120109979
Is 63 weeks really the length-of-run record for a Seattle theatre?
neeb’s link