Santa Clara Theater
956 Franklin Street,
Santa Clara,
CA
95050
956 Franklin Street,
Santa Clara,
CA
95050
2 people
favorited this theater
Demolished, along with nearly all of downtown Santa Clara in an urban renewal project in the late-1960’s, this theater was the work of architects Binder and Curtis, who designed several theaters in both the downtown and neighborhoods of the adjacent city of San Jose.
For a time, at least, the Santa Clara Theater was run by the same chain which operated San Jose’s Binder and Curtis-designed Hester Theater (now Towne Theater), closeby.
Contributed by
Gary Parks
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
The Santa Clara was originally called the Casa Grande, when built in the 1920s.
Here is a photo circa 1950s:
http://tinyurl.com/nd4njx
And what would the source be for that photo?
Boxoffice of July 30, 1938, reported that the Harvey Amusement Company and Gerald Hardy had acquired the Casa Grande Theatre in Santa Clara, and would spend $20,000 renovating it. The house was expected to reopen in August as the Santa Clara Theatre.
I can confirm Harvey Amusement still owned the theater in 1955. I believe they owned it until it was demolished in 1963 as part of an 8-block urban renewal project. The photo posted by Ken Mc is from “Santa Clara” by Bea Lichenstein, the Images of America, Arcadia Publishing. Page 116. Margot Warburton owns the image.
There sure have been a lot of theatres lost in cities due to urban renewal.Nice photo posted by Lost Memory.Thanks Babcock.