Capitol Theater

August 25th, 1937 grand reopening ad: Capitol theatre reopening 25 Aug 1937, Wed The Olympian (Olympia, Washington) Newspapers.com

A new canopy is being built over the sidewalk in front of the theater. A new framework and drainage is being erected right now. This new canopy will match as closely as possible, the original 1924 canopy.

Boxoffice magazine did a story about the April 24, 1937 fire. It is on this page:

http://www.boxofficemagazine.com/the_vault/issue_page?issue_id=1937-5-8&page_no=50#page_start

Timelines:

Theater opens Tuesday October 7, 1924.

Theater remodeled March 1937.

Major fire damages theater. Balcony, mezzanine, and projection booth destroyed. Roof and ceiling damaged. Fire alarm turned in at 9:28 A.M. of Saturday April 24, 1937. Cause of fire determined to be spontaneous combustion of a single reel of nitrate 35mm film that had just been delivered the night before and was temporarily in the janitor’s closet in the mezzanine awaiting to be taken to the projection booth. Theater will be closed for several months to repair the damage.

Theater reopens after repairing the fire damage on Wednesday August 25, 1937. A brand new Western Electric “Mirrophonic” sound system was installed along with hearing assistance headphones available in selected seats.

Nice shot of the new vertical,looks very much like the old one in the shots.

Interesting. Thanks.

I know that. I was just there, so I was curious about the exact date.

The theater now has a brand new marquee! I would have never believed it would happen with our city sign ordinances being so restrictive.

I am a preservationist and theater buff from the Big Apple, and I am happy that I came across this thread. I consider the removal of the 40s era marquee bittersweet as well. I take pride that the Greek-inspired stained glass has once again been revealed for all to appreciate, but why does the marquee have to be demolished? It can be donated “as is” to the American Sign Museum: http://www.signmuseum.com/
Can someone please convince the owner to donate it (in exchange for a tax write-off) and spare it from demolition?

This is a more direct link for the latest article: http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/341686.html

Please keep me posted. Thanks!

City of Olympia sign ordinances are very restrictive. I’d be very surprised if a vertical sign was allowed.

The marquee of this theater is coming down. Demolition started yesterday (1/28). The good news is that removing the marquee revealed gorgeous stained glass windows. They depict four of the nine muses of Greek mythology.

The marquee being removed has been on the building since 1940, although it hasn’t lit up since the early 1990s. There’s talk of adding a marquee that mimics the 1924 original, which was a vertical sign.

There are photos of the demolition and a story at www.theolympian.com

I took a walk around the building today. There’s a huge graffiti-style mural on the back wall. I couldn’t tell if this was sponsored or just vandalism.