Reg Lenna Civic Center

The Reg Lenna Civic Center was first opened on February 5, 1923 as the Palace Theatre, a “High Class Vaudeville” house. Films, usually a short comedy plus a feature, were shown before and after the twice-a-day vaudeville performances. Three years later Nikitas Dipson bought the facility and continued with film and vaudeville shows. In 1930 Dipson leased the Palace Theatre to Warner Brothers for 20 years.

For a short time the format of films and vaudeville was continued, but live performances were slowly downplayed to emphasize the cinema. By 1934 films were the only entertainment available on a regular basis. In 1950 Warner Bros. terminated their lease and Dipson Theatres, still the owners, once again took over management.

The Palace Theatre was remodeled by installing new heating and cooling systems, carpeting, wall coverings and new seats. At the reopening Dipson reaffirmed his intention to feature not only first run films of the best quality, but also stage shows, orchestras and vaudeville. In 1956, “Forever Darling”, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had it’s world premiere at the Palace Theatre (Jamestown being Ball’s hometown). With the passing years, fewer and fewer people attended the theater, equipment was wearing out, and the building needed repairs. On September 10, 1981, the last movie was shown: “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”.

At that time, many of us in the Jamestown area assumed that the Palace Theatre would be left to decay, as was the other vintage cinema in town (the Winter Garden Theatre). However, the community gathered in force to save the Palace Theatre.

Since then, the Place Theatre (renamed as the Reg Lenna Civic Center, in honor of the principal donor for its restoration) has been completely and lovingly restored; with the addition of new and/or refurbished seating, air conditioning, stage and sound equipment, and projection units. The Reg Lenna Civic Center is now a state of the art performance space; which retains all of the unique design qualities it originally had.

Recent comments (view all 26 comments)

Patsy on October 13, 2007 at 9:36 pm

I just saw a wonderful Tribute to Frank Sinatra at the Reg tonight so if you get a chance to see and hear Tom Tiratto…..you won’t be disappointed. http://www.sinatra-tribute.com/index.html

lostmemory on March 22, 2008 at 8:36 am

Here is a photo of the Reg Lenna Civic Center.

Patsy on March 24, 2008 at 9:26 am

This is a special theatre and one that was saved by the late Reginald Lenna and his generous contribution. Thanks Reg.

LuisV on March 31, 2008 at 2:25 pm

The photo provided above by Lost Memory shows a drab, univiting marquee that most people wouldn’t give a second look at. However, when you look at the home page for the Reg Lenna website, the auditorium looks quite handsome and a very pleasant contrast to the outside face to Jamestown. It’s a shmae that the marquee doesn’t appear to equal the quality of the interior.

Patsy on March 31, 2008 at 5:55 pm

LuisV: The citizens of Jamestown are very fortunate to have restored “the Reg” downtown and it would be nice to see “the other” theatre downtown restored….the Winter Garden.

Patsy on March 31, 2008 at 6:14 pm

The first link before is the Winter Garden and the seond link is the Post Journal Winter Garden article.

/theaters/13422/

/theaters/5635_0_2_0_C/

Patsy on March 31, 2008 at 6:17 pm

Correction: The second link should be

View link

lostmemory on April 17, 2009 at 6:47 pm

Here are some photos of the Palace:

1975 Photo

1980 Photo

1983 Photo

1987 Photo

Patsy on June 2, 2011 at 8:11 pm

The historical description for the Reg Lenna is correct, but the photo location is of the nearby Lucille Ball Little Theatre on 2nd. The former Palace Theatre which is now the Reg Lenna Civic Center is on 3rd.

Patsy on June 2, 2011 at 8:14 pm

The Lucille Ball Little Theatre has its own historical story though it isn’t listed on the new CT format. Originally it was an opera house as was the demolished Winter Garden Theatre in Jamestown, NY.