Old Chelsea Tri Cinema

514 NW 5th Avenue,
Portland, OR 97209

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Additional Info

Functions: Housing

Nearby Theaters

Beaver Hotel (1907)

The most notorious theater in Portland in the 1970’s. It showed straight porn in cinemas 1 and 2 and gay porn in cinema 3, the Tom Cat Theatre (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures). It was downtown in the sleaziest area of the city.

Contributed by David DeCoteau

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 6, 2007 at 2:04 pm

At least they were in step, according to the court:
http://tinyurl.com/2xgjf4

Douglas
Douglas on July 22, 2010 at 6:17 pm

I seem to remember in the 70s they also ran offbeat art films. I’m certain I saw Polanski’s REPULSION there one Friday night, circa ‘71.

DMarsh
DMarsh on January 7, 2024 at 10:57 pm

The building that housed the Old Chelsea Tri Cinema has not been demolished, at least not as of January, 2024.

The Beaver Hotel was built in 1907. In 1962 local producer and entrepreneur John Hillsbury converted the hotel ballroom into the Portland Playhouse, home of the Portland Players. Later, it was apparently converted into a storefront cinema with three screens.

In recent years the building has been used for transitional housing and social services.

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