Casino Theatre architect Benjamin Geer McDougall was a partner in the firm of McDougall Brothers, Architects. Youngest brother George Barnett McDougall became State Architect in 1913, though I don’t know how long he remained in that office. It’s possible that he wasn’t active in the firm at the time the Casino was built. Eldest brother Charles C. McDougall probably was, though.
This house probably had yet another name before becoming the Delmar. Reporting on a major fire at the theater, the March 26, 1915 issue of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said: “The theater was recently purchased by Delmar Nichols, of Rochester, and redecorated.” I suppose it’s possible that Mr. Nichols bought the theater because it already bore his first name, but it doesn’t seem very likely. The Delmar Theatre was mentioned in the November 18, 1914 issue of The Medina Daily Journal, so Nichols probably bought the house sometime in the latter part of 1914.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists three theaters at Medina: The Scenic, the Temple, and the Elco. As the Scenic was still in operation under that name in the early 1920s, and the Elco was at 539 Main Street, the house Delmar Nichols bought must have been either the Temple or a theater that wasn’t listed in that directory.
The March 20, 1909 issue of The Improvement Bulletin had this brief item about the Crystal Theatre:
“Glencoe, Minn.—W. G. Gould & Son have let the contract for remodeling the Gould block on Hennepin av., to be occupied by the Crystal theater to F. W. Keehn. An entire new front will be installed.”
The Ritz was in operation at least as late as March, 1963, when it was still being advertised in the Skiatook Journal (link.)
Skiatook had at least one movie house operating at least as early as 1923, when the March 28 issue of The Film Daily reported that the projectionist in the house had been killed in a fire that destroyed his theater. The replacement for that burned house was probably the New Palace Theatre, the imminent opening of which was noted in the June 16, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review. It’s also possible that the New Palace was the house that later became the Ritz.
Paul Schlossman’s Rialto, Regent, Majestic (1917 rebuild), and Michigan Theatres in Muskegon were all designed by C. Howard Crane. He also designed the Strand in Muskegon Heights.
The July 10, 1915 issue of The American Contractor said that additional contracts had been awarded for B. C. Ohmann’s new theater under construction at Lyons. The project had been designed by Syracuse architects E. A. Howard & Son.
An article in the December 26, 2013 issue of the Anchorage Daily News says of the Center Theatre that today “…extensively remodeled, the building houses the Eagle Hotel, Restaurant and Lounge….” The Eagle Hotel is at 918 S. Colony Way.
It’s impossible to tell from the Google street view exactly which part of the now greatly expanded structure the theater occupied. It has been engulfed. It’s even possible that the theater entrance was around the corner on the Elmwood Avenue side of the building.
This page has been up for about ten years now and it only has two comments. Does nobody go to movies in Alhambra anymore? It hardly seems worth my effort to have submitted it.
In any case, there has been a change at the theater and it is now Edwards Alhambra Renaissance 14 & IMAX. It doesn’t look like there’s been any expansion of the building, so the original interior must have been reconfigured, probably with one of the 400-seat auditoriums converted for IMAX, and maybe another one split to add another screen. Or is the IMAX counted as one of the 14 screens? Since nobody who has been to this theater since 2008 has seen fit to comment, maybe we’ll never know.
The Sultana Theatre is at 305 W. Route 66 (aka Grand Canyon Avenue.) A sign reading “Sultana Theater” is above the entrance, but there is no signage indicating that there is still a steak house in the building. It must have either gone under or moved to another location.
Next door to the east, at 301 Route 66, on the corner of 3rd Street, is the “World Famous Sultana Bar,” and next door to the west, at 309, is a tobacconist’s shop called “Oh Sweetie.” The three occupy a single-story edifice with a unified facade, but satellite view shows that the part with the tobacconist was probably a later addition to the L-shaped corner structure. The theater’s auditorium, which has a gabled roof, looks like it might have also been a later addition.
A TripAdvisor review of the bar dated March 25, 2016, has this somewhat puzzling bit about the theater:
“The Sultana theater is a private type of setting, and does have various activities going on: Sometimes, shopping sprees, memorials, and the like. Sometimes, maybe a wedding or some other activity.”
Whatever the lobby is being used for, it appears that the auditorium has been reconfigured for use as a wedding chapel and associated reception rooms. The entrance to the Guadalupe Wedding Chapel is around the corner on Florence Avenue.
I believe Ivan and Eula Hansen were either the owners or the managers of the Cairo Theatre (see earlier comments.) Mr. Hansen didn’t work for S. Charles Lee, but hired him to prepare the plans for the 1933 remodeling.
Perrien Theatre is indeed the correct spelling. There is a Perrien Park in the neighborhood, in the 4800 block of Chene Street. The theater was listed in the 1914 city directory.
The “New Theatre Projects” column of the July 1, 1933 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this notice about the proposed remodeling of this theater, which might have been occasioned by damage the building sustained in the earthquake that had struck southern California on March 10 that year:
“LOS ANGELES— Mr. Hanson, c/o architect, S. Charles Lee, 2404 W. 7th Street. To remodel theatre at corner of 111th and Main Streets. Cost $7,000”
The Tempest Theatre’s first appearance in the Los Angeles City directory was 1926. The address does not appear earlier, so Tempest was likely the opening name of the house, and the opening was most likely in 1925 or very early 1926, depending on when the directory was compiled.
The “New Theatre Projects” column of Motion Picture Herald, July 1, 1933, had this item about the Capitol Theatre:
“LONG BEACH— Capitol Theatre, 219 E. Seaside Avenue. To re-build theatre demolished by earthquake. Architect, H. Alfred Anderson, 30 Pine Avenue. Mr. Ballinger, owner. General contractor, M. H. Walter, 219 E. Seaside Avenue, Long Beach. Cost $30,000”
As the Tracy’s front clearly dated from well before 1933, the rebuilding must have been confined primarily to the interior and rear of the house. The Capitol was one of four Long Beach theater repair or rebuilding projects listed in the column that week, all of which must have been occasioned by the large earthquake that had struck the city on March 10.
It’s interesting to note that architect H. Alfred Anderson’s address, 30 Pine Avenue, was in the Palace Theatre building, which he had designed in 1916.
The NRHP registration form for the Windsor Village Historic District says that the Strand Theatre was built in 1917 at the rear of an existing two-story brick commercial building which is still standing at 131 Main Street. The theater addition was destroyed by a fire, but the document doesn’t say when.
The Gotham Theatre was built in 1920 and designed by Carlson & Wiseman. A notice that plans for the project had been filed appeared in the September 25, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. This web page has an overview of the theater’s history.
The September 4, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide had a short article saying that the City of New York had granted a twenty year lease on a plot of city-owned land under the Manhattan Bridge to developer Henry E. Jacobs.
Jacobs planned to erect a two-story store and showroom building along the East Broadway frontage, which would include an entrance for a moving picture theater that would occupy the remainder of the plot. The entire project was being designed by architects Gronenberg & Leuchtag. The theater was to be leased to the Florence Theatre Corporation, also for a term of twenty years.
Extensive alterations were made to the Riverhead Theatre in 1931, the house reopening on February 5 as advertised in that day’s issue of The County Review (PDF here.) The architect for the remodeling was Calvin Kiessling, who had offices in New York City and in New Caanan, Connecticut.
The Scenic Theatre was the only theater listed for Keene in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. This PDF file has an extract from a book about Keene which says that the Scenic Theatre was built by Pike & Whipple in 1914, and the building was demolished in 1966. A 2004 article gives the Scenic’s opening date as March 2, and says that it closed in the early 1960s.
Theater industry trade journals indicate that by early 1918 the Scenic was being run by Charles C. Baldwin, who would open the Colonial Theatre in 1924. Keene’s first motion picture house, the Nickel Theatre (aka Majestic) opened on Church Street on January 9, 1905, and by 1913 the town had a house called the Dreamland Theatre.
Larry Harnisch’s “Daily Mirror” weblog has posted an ad for this theater that ran in the July 17, 1947 issue of the Los Angeles Sentinal, the city’s African-American newspaper. The ad promotes the house as the Flo-Mills Theatre.
Casino Theatre architect Benjamin Geer McDougall was a partner in the firm of McDougall Brothers, Architects. Youngest brother George Barnett McDougall became State Architect in 1913, though I don’t know how long he remained in that office. It’s possible that he wasn’t active in the firm at the time the Casino was built. Eldest brother Charles C. McDougall probably was, though.
This house probably had yet another name before becoming the Delmar. Reporting on a major fire at the theater, the March 26, 1915 issue of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said: “The theater was recently purchased by Delmar Nichols, of Rochester, and redecorated.” I suppose it’s possible that Mr. Nichols bought the theater because it already bore his first name, but it doesn’t seem very likely. The Delmar Theatre was mentioned in the November 18, 1914 issue of The Medina Daily Journal, so Nichols probably bought the house sometime in the latter part of 1914.
The 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory lists three theaters at Medina: The Scenic, the Temple, and the Elco. As the Scenic was still in operation under that name in the early 1920s, and the Elco was at 539 Main Street, the house Delmar Nichols bought must have been either the Temple or a theater that wasn’t listed in that directory.
The building most likely occupies a double lot at 1012 and 1014, so either address would be accurate.
It looks like the theater was at the southeast corner of what was then Palmer’s small downtown business district.
The March 20, 1909 issue of The Improvement Bulletin had this brief item about the Crystal Theatre:
The Oriel Theatre is at the right in this 1930 photo.
The Ritz was in operation at least as late as March, 1963, when it was still being advertised in the Skiatook Journal (link.)
Skiatook had at least one movie house operating at least as early as 1923, when the March 28 issue of The Film Daily reported that the projectionist in the house had been killed in a fire that destroyed his theater. The replacement for that burned house was probably the New Palace Theatre, the imminent opening of which was noted in the June 16, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review. It’s also possible that the New Palace was the house that later became the Ritz.
The Strand was one of several Muskegon area theaters designed for Paul Schlossman by Detroit theater architect C. Howard Crane.
Paul Schlossman’s Rialto, Regent, Majestic (1917 rebuild), and Michigan Theatres in Muskegon were all designed by C. Howard Crane. He also designed the Strand in Muskegon Heights.
The July 10, 1915 issue of The American Contractor said that additional contracts had been awarded for B. C. Ohmann’s new theater under construction at Lyons. The project had been designed by Syracuse architects E. A. Howard & Son.
An article in the December 26, 2013 issue of the Anchorage Daily News says of the Center Theatre that today “…extensively remodeled, the building houses the Eagle Hotel, Restaurant and Lounge….” The Eagle Hotel is at 918 S. Colony Way.
It’s impossible to tell from the Google street view exactly which part of the now greatly expanded structure the theater occupied. It has been engulfed. It’s even possible that the theater entrance was around the corner on the Elmwood Avenue side of the building.
This page has been up for about ten years now and it only has two comments. Does nobody go to movies in Alhambra anymore? It hardly seems worth my effort to have submitted it.
In any case, there has been a change at the theater and it is now Edwards Alhambra Renaissance 14 & IMAX. It doesn’t look like there’s been any expansion of the building, so the original interior must have been reconfigured, probably with one of the 400-seat auditoriums converted for IMAX, and maybe another one split to add another screen. Or is the IMAX counted as one of the 14 screens? Since nobody who has been to this theater since 2008 has seen fit to comment, maybe we’ll never know.
The Sultana Theatre is at 305 W. Route 66 (aka Grand Canyon Avenue.) A sign reading “Sultana Theater” is above the entrance, but there is no signage indicating that there is still a steak house in the building. It must have either gone under or moved to another location.
Next door to the east, at 301 Route 66, on the corner of 3rd Street, is the “World Famous Sultana Bar,” and next door to the west, at 309, is a tobacconist’s shop called “Oh Sweetie.” The three occupy a single-story edifice with a unified facade, but satellite view shows that the part with the tobacconist was probably a later addition to the L-shaped corner structure. The theater’s auditorium, which has a gabled roof, looks like it might have also been a later addition.
A TripAdvisor review of the bar dated March 25, 2016, has this somewhat puzzling bit about the theater:
Whatever the lobby is being used for, it appears that the auditorium has been reconfigured for use as a wedding chapel and associated reception rooms. The entrance to the Guadalupe Wedding Chapel is around the corner on Florence Avenue.
I believe Ivan and Eula Hansen were either the owners or the managers of the Cairo Theatre (see earlier comments.) Mr. Hansen didn’t work for S. Charles Lee, but hired him to prepare the plans for the 1933 remodeling.
Perrien Theatre is indeed the correct spelling. There is a Perrien Park in the neighborhood, in the 4800 block of Chene Street. The theater was listed in the 1914 city directory.
The “New Theatre Projects” column of the July 1, 1933 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this notice about the proposed remodeling of this theater, which might have been occasioned by damage the building sustained in the earthquake that had struck southern California on March 10 that year:
The Tempest Theatre’s first appearance in the Los Angeles City directory was 1926. The address does not appear earlier, so Tempest was likely the opening name of the house, and the opening was most likely in 1925 or very early 1926, depending on when the directory was compiled.The “New Theatre Projects” column of Motion Picture Herald, July 1, 1933, had this item about the Capitol Theatre:
As the Tracy’s front clearly dated from well before 1933, the rebuilding must have been confined primarily to the interior and rear of the house. The Capitol was one of four Long Beach theater repair or rebuilding projects listed in the column that week, all of which must have been occasioned by the large earthquake that had struck the city on March 10.It’s interesting to note that architect H. Alfred Anderson’s address, 30 Pine Avenue, was in the Palace Theatre building, which he had designed in 1916.
The NRHP registration form for the Windsor Village Historic District says that the Strand Theatre was built in 1917 at the rear of an existing two-story brick commercial building which is still standing at 131 Main Street. The theater addition was destroyed by a fire, but the document doesn’t say when.
The Gotham Theatre was built in 1920 and designed by Carlson & Wiseman. A notice that plans for the project had been filed appeared in the September 25, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. This web page has an overview of the theater’s history.
The September 4, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide had a short article saying that the City of New York had granted a twenty year lease on a plot of city-owned land under the Manhattan Bridge to developer Henry E. Jacobs.
Jacobs planned to erect a two-story store and showroom building along the East Broadway frontage, which would include an entrance for a moving picture theater that would occupy the remainder of the plot. The entire project was being designed by architects Gronenberg & Leuchtag. The theater was to be leased to the Florence Theatre Corporation, also for a term of twenty years.
Extensive alterations were made to the Riverhead Theatre in 1931, the house reopening on February 5 as advertised in that day’s issue of The County Review (PDF here.) The architect for the remodeling was Calvin Kiessling, who had offices in New York City and in New Caanan, Connecticut.
The Scenic Theatre was the only theater listed for Keene in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. This PDF file has an extract from a book about Keene which says that the Scenic Theatre was built by Pike & Whipple in 1914, and the building was demolished in 1966. A 2004 article gives the Scenic’s opening date as March 2, and says that it closed in the early 1960s.
Theater industry trade journals indicate that by early 1918 the Scenic was being run by Charles C. Baldwin, who would open the Colonial Theatre in 1924. Keene’s first motion picture house, the Nickel Theatre (aka Majestic) opened on Church Street on January 9, 1905, and by 1913 the town had a house called the Dreamland Theatre.
Larry Harnisch’s “Daily Mirror” weblog has posted an ad for this theater that ran in the July 17, 1947 issue of the Los Angeles Sentinal, the city’s African-American newspaper. The ad promotes the house as the Flo-Mills Theatre.
The Liberty Theatre was at 221 E. Main Street, according to this article. The Liberty was in operation from 1929 to 1956.