Foothill Theater
3440 Foothill Boulevard,
Oakland,
CA
94601
3440 Foothill Boulevard,
Oakland,
CA
94601
1 person
favorited this theater
Built by Merrill Newsom in 1915. Was named the Glen Theater from 1915-21, the Casino Theater from 1921-37, and finally, the Foothill Theater from 1937-58.
It now houses the True Buddha Vijaya Temple.
Contributed by
john brennan
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
I’d always known it as Dean’s Foothill Theatre
Went there from the mid 30’s to late 40’s.
Wow, I was actually in the Foothill theatre once when I was about 8 years old (1963)! It was a single floor theatre, and when you walked in, the candy counter was to your right. What I remember was that they had hardly anything to buy at the counter! When my mom and I went in to the auditorium we were the only ones there, and I don’t remember what was playing. Just a couple of black and whites. It had a small lobby and a pretty good sized auditorium with a nice sized screen. I don’t recall any drawings or anything. There was a curtain but it wasn’t used. When the movie ended, the next one started up right afterwards, no intermission. It was closed most of the time back then.
At least when it was the Studio 1, the Foothill seated 367 people.
…but as the Foothill it seated 687.
According to the Oakland Tribune theater listing for July 4, 1960 it was re-named the NEW FOOTHILL.
The venerable Foothill Theater holds a multitude of memories that I share with my brothers and sisters. Going to “the show†meant plunking down twenty-five cents and never being disappointed. Never in life afterwards would I ever get my moneys worth like I did when I was a kid sitting in the Foothill for a Saturday matinee of entertainment. Prizes raffled off during intermission included a wooden rocking horse and box of assorted concession goodies plus complimentary movie tickets. Irish luck would have it that these enviable items would be won by my two sisters whose matching ticket stubs were plucked from a tumbling mixing bin on stage, and forever become part of our family story.
There is a small photo on this site. I think some remodeling has been done:
http://tinyurl.com/3cylx6
Here is a larger view from Google:
http://tinyurl.com/4gm9ln
Back to Google again?
i grew up in the fruitvale district in the 80s and 90s and i remember this theater being open for a short time in the mid 80s. i never went in it but i do remember it being open once in a great while during most of the 90s it sat vacant till the buddhist church took it over in early 2000 tobad i never got to see a movie here …..