Chimes Theatre
5631 College Avenue,
Oakland,
CA
94618
5631 College Avenue,
Oakland,
CA
94618
1 person
favorited this theater
This theater opened as the Chimes Theatre, was later renamed the Uptown Theatre, but was once again renamed the Chimes Theatre. This old Oakland movie house has also been lost.
Contributed by
William Gabel
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Does anyone remember the Chimes as a foreign/art film house in the 60s? I think I remember seeing “Closely Watched Trains” here in about 1969. I do remember the theater was somewhere on College Ave.
The Chimes (its original name, by the way) was built by the Beach-Krahn Amusements Company and opened in December 1917. Originally a Period Revival structure, it was the first US theater to feature a row of chimes (hence, its name) on a projecting bay 40 feet above the ground. The first of many remodels was by architect James Plachek in 1920; the projection room was re-equipped on February 14, 1929 from plans by Allen J. Yerrick. In 1931 it received a new Moderne exterior by Alexander Aimwell Cantin and was renamed the Uptown; Cantin would do a subsequent exterior remodeling in the 1940’s. By the late 1930’s the theater was once more called the Chimes (though the row of chimes was by then gone). By the early 1950’s the Chimes had closed as a theater.
In February 1958 a a skating rink was installed on the second floor; ads read in part “Chimes Skateland—-Just a Little Nicer.” A short-lived trampoline studio was aded in 1960, and in 1961, a bowling alley, “Chimes Lanes,” was built. But about 1963, a fire occured that closed the building for good, and in April 1965, the Cleveland Wrecking Company finished the job to make way for the Grove-Shafter (William Byron Rumford) Freeway.
The Chimes was long gone by 1969—-could Andy T. be referring to the Elmwood instead?
I think you are right gsmurph. Certainly the dates make more sense, and as you may be aware memories become a bit fuzzy after 35 years.
Where would one look for photographs of the Chimes Theatre?
A Wurlitzer organ Opus 163 Style 1 PL was installed in the Chimes Theater on 1/1/1918. A Wurlitzer organ Opus 429 Style 160 SP replaced the previous organ on 6/27/1921.
The Chino Theater, designed by S. Charles Lee, would directly follow this entry:
http://sclee.library.ucla.edu/002/01/i0020104.jpg
http://sclee.library.ucla.edu/002/01/i0020103.jpg
From the Oakland Library, via the Online Archive of California, here is College Avenue in 1930, the Uptown Theatre in the distance (photo is highly zoom-able, so you can get a decent, though oblique, look at the front.)
In the early fifties I was in elementary school living on Hillegass near Claremont. During summer vacation, the Chimes had a Wednesday afternoon program, a respite for our mothers, who were all housewives, of course. We walked up to the Chimes and saw a few cartoons, a newsreel, a serial episode (Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen was featured one year), and two movies, all for 75 cents.
The Chimes was part of the theater lineup in the Oakkland Tribune in January 1922:
http://tinyurl.com/pcqcne