Oriental Theatre
828 SE Grand Avenue,
Portland,
OR
97214
828 SE Grand Avenue,
Portland,
OR
97214
5 people
favorited this theater
The Oriental Theatre opened on December 31, 1927, designed by the firm of Thomas and Mercier. The theater could seat 2,038 and was located in the East Portland district. While the exterior was fairly subdued, designed in an Italian Renaissance style, it was its lavish Oriental style interior decoration for which the Portland Oriental was most famous.
The wildly exotic, almost surreal appearance of the auditorium and other interior public spaces was created by interior designer; Adrien Alex Voisin, borrowing Asian influences from India, Indochina, and China, among others. The columns on each side of the screen were said to be based on the Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Over the proscenium arch, was a huge stylized face, which had a wide open mouth baring fangs and eyes lit by red lightbulbs that would glow demonically before a show began.
On the side walls and over the arch were life-sized plaster elephants, as well as apes, fishes, and mythological creatures, seemingly ready to pounce off the wall. Hindu deities decorated the lobby and mezzanine areas, and the main staircase leading to the balcony was flanked by a pair of huge dragons.
The auditorium was topped by a vast dome, from which hung a tree-sized Far Eastern style chandelier.
The Oriental Theatre contained a 3/13 Wurlitzer organ, a full orchestra pit, and spacious stage, large enough to accomodate the biggest stage shows of the day. In addition, the Oriental had luxurious lounges, smoking rooms and even a nursery in its basement.
Though the theater turned to a movies-only format by the 1940’s, and lost its towering vertical marquee in favor of a more modest marquee not long afterwards, it remained a city showplace for years.
In the mid-1960’s, the Oriental Theatre was used for concerts on its mighty Wurlitzer, but soon returned to films. In 1967, the City of Portland used the Oriental Theatre while the Civic Auditorium was being remodeled. It once again returned to showing films after the government left, but only for a brief time.
In 1969, no longer able to afford staying in operation, the Oriental Theatre was closed, and everything inside auctioned off, including the Wurlitzer organ, which was later broken up (but its console is now in a restaurant in Vancouver, Washington.) A year later, the amazing old theater was tragically demolished to make way for another parking lot, an irreplaceable loss for the city of Portland.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
Additional photos and history can be found here.
LOST MEMORY! You get my vote for Member of the Year for ALWAYS, and I do mean ALWAYS, coming through with the best photo links. Thanks for being a member here and participating so wonderfully. Keep those ‘Theatre Organ’ photos coming in!
Great pictures and history.
Is there anyone out there that knows of any color pics of the inside of
The oriental theatre? It sure would be great to see this one of a kind
Theatre in color.
There is one on the webpage posted by TC (see above) on February 17, 2005.
The color pic posted by tc is very nice. What I hope to find is a color pic of
The grand lobby with the stairway and both dragons on both sides of the
Stairs.
The oriental was truly one of a kind. In may & nov of 1967 the oriental theatre
And its mighty wurlitzer theatre pipe organ were out in the spot light when
Mr. George wright played to outstanding concert’s on the oriental’s wurlitzer
Pipe organ. George wright truly one of a kind in theatre organ history playing
At truly one of a kind theatre. If anyone out there was lucky enough to hear
One of these concert’s please share with us the magic of george at the oriental.
Well it’s dec 31, 2010. If the oriental was still with us she would be turning
83yrs old tonight!! There are still a few ranks of pipes from her wurlitzer
Theatre pipe organ that live on to this day.
Dennis Hedberg spent many yrs taking care of the Wurlitzer Pipe Organ in the Oriental. Mr. Hedberg removed the Organ before the Oriental was razed in early 1970. You can find much more info on the Portland Organ Grinder web site were the Organ was installed from 1973 threw 1996. The Oriental Organ was enlarged from it’s original 13pipe ranks to 48 by the time the 1980’s came around. What a masterpiece this Wurlitzer was both serving the Oriental Theatre with it’s 13ranks to it’s time at the Portland Pizza Parlor entertaining folk’s nightly with it’s unmatched magical sound!!
Dec. 31st, 1927 grand opening ad is in the photo section for this theatre.