I have neglected to mention that I have an address rubber stamp for the Starlite. I found it in a desk drawer on the third floor of the office block of Monterey’s Golden State Theatre, when UA was doing a garbage purge of the theatre in about 1992. What the stamp was doing there is anyone’s guess. It dates before the era of ZIP Codes and the current abbreviations of states (Calif., not CA). Occasionally I stamp it on my ink pad and put it on the backsides of envelopes I mail to fellow theatre historians and enthusiasts.
The stamp reads thus:
With Joe Musil at the helm, patrons can count on experiencing first-rate decorative showmanship inside this theatre. In addition to Hollywood’s El Capitan, Joe’s credits include the Crest in Westwood Village, and the Fine Arts on Wilshire Boulevard. In the case of the El Cap and the Fine Arts the original features which have survived are honored, and where blank walls existed before, Joe creates fanciful but historically harmonious and appropriate new design. Westwood’s Crest is nearly all a more recent creation, there having been little to work with at the outset, but what was created is a stunner.
I must disagree with the statement that there are only six Egyptian style theatres left in the country. There are many more. Perhaps there are only six intact and operating, but many more are still standing—oftentimes altered.
Appropriately enough, in the 19th Century, the “old” Egyptian Hall was used to display genuine Egyptian antiquities, among other curiosities. Pioneering Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni mounted a very impressive exhibition following his discovery of the plundered, but still very spectacular and artifact-laden tomb of pharaoh Seti I, the king played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke in DeMille’s 1956 “The Ten Commandments”.
I am now inclined to believe that the Forest Theatre which was listed in the 1941 and 1943 Film Daily Yearbook editions with 150 seats has to be a different, earlier theatre than the Dolan/Burl. The Dolan is a Quonset-built structure, and therefore dates to around 1947 or so. The Quonset was developed for wartime use in 1941, and was utilized often for theatre construction after the war, its peak use seeming to be in 1947-48. Quonset theatres typically had a capacity of between 400 and 700 seats. 150 seats, as the Forest had, is far too small a capacity, let alone the fact that Quonsets hadn’t been put to civilian use in 1941 or ‘43.
I did get the aforementioned look-see of the Avenal last Thursday. My thanks to Terry Headrick and his associates on the site for letting me have a good look at the rebuilding progress. It is truly going to be a class act. The facade tower is essentially done, except for the neon. The marquee is under construction, and will reuse the original metal AVENAL letters. The circular lobby is well underway, with the metal mesh in place for plastering the layered ribbed coves of the ceiling. Removal of fire-damaged surfaces on the auditorium walls revealed remnants of the original 1930s painted decoration, dating from before the more well-known Moderne redo and enlargement of the theatre in the 40s. The auditorium will be triplexed, with a larger theatre for both movies and live events down front in the original stage/screen area, and two small movie theatres to the rear and sides. The original wall and ceiling murals are going to be replicated. Light fixtures are also being replicated. The original blueprints have been carefully consulted on all points. Nearly everything that will greet the public when the theatre reopens will be new—replicated from the old, except the terrazzo sidewalk and the tilework in the Ladies restroom. However, one will truly feel they are seeing the original theatre in its pristine glory. It is going to be amazing. The concrete shell of the auditorium has been retained. Between the side of the auditorium and an alley out back is a little complex of new structures and a courtyard, which will act as an adjunct facility for events held at the theatre.
My wife and I enjoyed the Jimmy Page/The Edge/Jack White documentary, “It Might Get Loud” at the Mayan two weeks ago while visiting family in Denver. This theatre can be described as both grand and charming all at once. It is a rather small movie palace, but has the decor—inside and out—of a theatre four times its size. The triplexing that was done in the 80s is very tasteful, one of the best such jobs I’ve seen. We were allowed to check out the downstairs main auditorium, but the upstairs ones (we were upstairs on the left) are decorated such that you don’t feel you’re missing out on the “historic theatre feel” as is so often the case with old triplexed theatres. Long may the Mayan live.
My wife and I thank Sarah Coffield, Publicity and Promotions for the Boulder Theatre, for her hospitality in letting us see the inside of the theatre when we spent a day in Boulder two weeks ago. It is a truly beautiful theatre, with an auditorium decorative scheme that is largely intact, with original murals and patterns thoughout.
I passed theough Winnemucca on the way back to California from Denver week before last, and spotted the Sage, though I didn’t know its name at the time, as the marquee is gone. The front looks exactly like the photo in American Classic Images, but with the marquee gone and face brick around the entry. Inside the modern glass entrance doors, a ticket window is still to be seen on the right, and a poster case on the left, all surrounded with circa 1960s brown tiles. From what I could see of the interior, it is decorated like a mom and pop Mexican restaurant, with no theatre detail visible, at least from where I was standing. Going around the back, the theatre is long and narrow, and built of reinforced concrete. There may have been a small stage, but there is no fly tower.
As of two weeks ago, the Strand still looks like the photo in the previous post. This was my first time seeing it in person. We stopped on our way back to California from Denver. I peeked in the front windows, and could see copies of the original blueprints tacked to a wall, one of them titled, “LONGITVDINAL SECTION.” It looks like the theatre has been largely gutted. The original blueprints show a rather typical and pleasingly proportioned interior, with traditional arched proscenium, organ fronts, maybe box seats (hard to tell), and assorted Neoclassical detailing.
A woman working at a gas station we stopped at at the far end of town told us that the project to renovate the theatre is still a going concern as far as she knows.
Old painted signs reading STRAND THEATRE are still evident on the sides and rear of the brick building. The stage has a fly tower and there are boarded up dressing room windows and a stage door visible in the alley behind.
Clarification from the article: John Pugh is not doing restoration of the murals inside the theatre, but is designing a new mural to replace the one (from the 70s?) on the exterior rear wall of the theatre.
Being from the San Jose Area, I know muralist John Pugh’s work. His original works are stunning. I don’t know anything about what he does in the realm of restoring historic works, but I know he’s got the paint brush chops to do it. My wife and I used to perform music and hang out a lot at (now defunct)Espresso Garden Cafe in San Jose, and we’re very familiar with his mural there (now in storage), “Life Imitating Art Imitating Life.” Our favorite Chinese restaurant, Mandarin Gourmet, in Cupertino, also has a fine mural by him. Outside examples of his work exist in downtown Los Gatos (one with a Mayan theme), and a street scene in Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. There is also a coffee table book on his murals. Don’t know the title, but it should be easily searched online.
In the American Classic Images vintage photo from 1942 put up by Lost Memory, something very interesting can be seen. This theatre was designed by S. Charles Lee. He remodeled the Coliseum Theatre in San Francisco around the same time, and the marquee he put on it is virtually identical to that of the built-from-scratch Baywood. The Lee-designed marquee remained on the Coliseum until its turn-of-the-millenium conversion to a Walgreens and condos. Over the years, the sunburst element was removed, along with much of the neon, and the reader boards were changed to plastic, but aside from that, the “Col”’s marquee survived the decades remarkably intact.
As for the Baywood’s interior, I have finally seen for myself what’s above the old Thrifty ceiling. Lengthy inspection revealed that there was even a third floor retrofitted into the converted building at one time, as some studs, walls, and outlines of even more walls and the third floor remain throughout. By and large though, it’s a big empty shell. Scraps of theatre structure do still remain, enough to have made the look-see well worthwhile. The steel beams of the balcony structure are mostly extant, sticking out into the space. Two sets of balcony fire escape doors (the lower still functional and the upper converted to windows in the 50s) survive, with indented boxes in the concrete walls where EXIT signs used to be, three porcelain bulb sockets still visible. The proscenium is completely gone, as are all vestiges of the entire auditorium ceiling. The walls are, however, a different story: Much acoustical plaster remains. Depending on whether a particular section of wall was visible to the public when there were businesses in the upper part of the converted space, sections of the walls are either painted over in beige, silvery grey, or…they still have mural painting preserved. Careful examination of the walls revealed that the most visible muralwork—flowers, trees, plants—is the result of a later, perhaps immediate Postwar, redecoration. Through these paintings, the oxidized outlines of the original “High Deco” geometric stripes, waves, sunrays, scrolls, and stylized leaf shapes bleed through. On some of the wall surfaces that were painted out after the theatre closed, oxidized paint patterns from both decorative schemes show though in varying degrees. Among these, three lifesize human figures can be discerned. One seems to be a toga-clad man standing in a boat, another appears to be a woman with one arm outstretched, and a third is so vague that all I could tell was that the figure was standing. There is some ornamental plaster extant. Large stepped ribs which ran along the uppermost areas of the sidewalls survive. Each terminated in a cast plaster Deco scroll, like a giant geometric snail shell. Two remain intact on the South wall of the auditorium, and one remains intact on the North Wall. On the North wall also, a series of stepped, quarter-circle ribs which swooped down to join the now-vanished walls which angled-in toward the proscenium can still be seen.
Back to the ghostly human figures showing through later paint, it was impossible for me to ascertain whether these figures belong to the first Deco scheme or the later, softer “Foliate Moderne” scheme. My hunch would be the latter. However, the fact that I have once seen a photo of the original proscenium, and there were niches with Greco-Deco statues in them might be a clue that the human figures on the walls were there to harmonize with the statues. More research into the UCLA files of S. Charles Lee theatre photos may solve this.
Sounds like a cool project. Out here in CA, there are two movie theatre operations which come to mind that have made use of school auditoriums. The first is the Riviera Theatre in Santa Barbara, which uses (or used, I’m not sure if it’s still open)the beautiful Spanish styled auditorium of the original campus of Santa Barbara State College. I was at a movie there once with my mom in the early 1990s. She went to that campus in 1940, and it was very nostalgic for her to be there again, though she remembered attending stage plays, musicals, and assemblies in that theatre. The wall sconces had been outfitted with script “R” initials, the open beamed ceiling and stucco walls gave it a simple vintage theatre look, and there was a niche over the proscenium.
Another example which operated for a couple of years (ending a couple of years ago) was at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, where their circa 1960s theatre, the Spangenburg Theatre—which has a huge capacity and stage for a high school facility—had a program of almost-firstrun movies of both mainstream and art/foreign genres. We kept trying to see shows there, but other things would intervene, and then the policy ended.
I should mention that the later Soledad, which has been described by myself and others on this page as a Quonset style structure is NOT an actual surplus Quonset, as some postwar theatres were. It is a purpose built barrel-vaulted structure, like others one finds in California and other areas, like the Capitola in Capitola, the Park in Menlo Park, Delta in Brentwood, Cerrito in El Cerrito, and a number designed by S. Charles Lee in the Southern part of the state. Incidentally, I just posted some clarification about the Rio Theatre in Soledad on its page, as there was some confusion by others as to where this was, or if it was misidentified. The Rio and Soledad (#2) were separate theatres, and both buildings still stand. All I know about the original Soledad Theatre is what I’ve read on this page, posted by Tom DeLay. I guess to be truly organized, this Soledad #2 should have its own page. One of the perils of documenting theatres…name changes, and the carrying of names to newer buildings.
Forgot to mention: The theatre in Lost Memory’s above Aug. 4, 2009 post is the Soledad Theatre of which I speak, and not the Rio. The name SOLEDAD did indeed fit on that vertical sign tower. The letters were just rather small. The Soldad is on a side street, about a half block East of the old commercial Route 101 that the Rio is on. If you look quickly and carefully (mind the other drivers!), you can spot the Soledad vertical from the 101 freeway. In fact, that’s how I know the name was on the vertical. At night, into the early 80s, you could read the neon from the freeway. There was neon outlining those squared-off “holes” on the sign tower, as well as other places. It was quite colorful. In the mid-80s, the neon was stripped off and the whole facade painted dark brown (the 70s Earthtone Movement died hard, I guess), and the theatre I seem to recall continued to operate a little longer, but was closed by the end of the 80s.
I admit that I have rather quickly skimmed the above posts, but this I must state clearly to end any confusion. The Rio in the American Classic Images linked in Lost Memory’s post (the first one on this page) IS the Rio in Soledad. I first noticed it a few years later after it had closed. The neon was broken off the RIO sign, but it otherwise looked just as it did in 1980. It is along the old commercial Route 101 at the North end of downtown, and was very easily spotted from the 101 freeway. By the time I got to photographing it in the early 90s, it had all been painted yellow ochre, and was still closed. Not long after, the signs were removed, and the building was converted to a dry cleaner’s. It is now, as I recall, a market and has had a bit of mini mall style prittification on its facade, though some features remain unchanged. The most obvious recent additions are royal blue diamond shapes in a row along the upper half of the facade where the signs used to be. The Soledad Theatre, a completely different building, still stands, and is better preserved, that is, still more recognizeable as a former theatre.
I was just informed today that the rebuilt tower of the Avenal facade is nearing completion. I am scheduled to stop by the theatre in early October to see the progress. I will report more after then.
Nice to hear that Cinelux has the house. I rarely see movies at their theatres—just out of happenstance, not preference—but I have long heard that they’re good folks. Their Almaden in San Jose, and Plaza, in Campbell, were once overseen by Jack Gunsky, a onetime manager for Fox West Coast. Theatres once managed by him include the Fox in Watsonville and the Fox (California) in San Jose. So perhaps a little bit of the old time exhibition know-how has trickled down through the generations. Here’s hoping the 41st Ave. has many more successful years ahead of it.
A comment about “the organ” referred to two posts above by MikeR.: The organ pipes you see in the recent photos of the Majestic and Palace are display pipes, that is, non-functional, put there just for looks, as is actually done in some churches. The real organ pipes were behind them. The organs themselves—pipes and consoles—were removed from both theatres long ago. In 1990, I toured both the Palace and Majestic with the Theatre Historical Society. A few of us climbed the ladder into one of the organ chambers in the Majestic. There were indeed a few organ pipes in the chamber leaning against a wall, but the chests and wind lines were gone. I can’t speak for the Palace—other than being told that the organ was gone—we were not allowed to go backstage at the Palace, as we were told the stage surface was rotted from roof leaks and might not hold our weight. On the same Conclave tour, we also visited the Poli Palace in Waterbury, CN, a very similar Thomas Lamb design to those in Bridgeport. It too, had display pipes intact, though the organ was gone. The Waterbury Palace has since been restored, which makes me especially happy, as my dad went there frequently when it was new, and his memories are one of the ingredients which kindled my own interest in theatres.
The first time I was ever in downtown Stockton I drove by the Ritz. This was in late 1986. It looked the same as in the 1982 and ‘86 photos linked above, and was still showing gran estrenos de peliculas Mexicanas. Minutes later I stopped by the Fox California, just down the street, which was getting ready for a concert by '80s teen pop group The Jets. A man who seemed to be a caretaker of the place let me into the Fox for a brief look, and I have yet to go inside since the restoration. By the time I left Stockton, it was getting dark, and the Ritz was lit up. I seem to remember the dominant color of the neon being pink. In the late 1990s I was back in Stockton, and the marquee was off the Ritz building, but I recognized the facade. The building had been converted to some kind of retail use.
Regarding the whole issue of how lousy the neighborhood is around the Golden Gate: I can’t resist summarizing the reson in a nutshell. The “City That Knows How” has become “The City That Deliberates.” And as for Mayor Christopher and the Fox, well, there hasn’t been a Republican mayor since. ‘Nuff said. (not that Democrats have exactly been the answer to the city’s prayers, either)
The paint job is a product of what was otherwise a fine late 1970s refurbishing and partial restoration. Those were the colors of the times. Before the refurbishing, the vertical signs were painted in aqua, white, and yellow, and perhaps more. There was neon on both them and the marquee. Originally, all that signage was a darker scheme, but I’ve only seen black and white photos, so I don’t know what the original colors were. The 1920s interior colors had long ago been painted over in a flat pastel scheme—I believe in the 50s. I agree that the Golden Gate is long overdue for a fine 1920s repainting throughout, of the sort that a company like Evergreene Decorative Painting does so perfectly. (no, I don’t work for them, but have seen many examples of what they’ve done in theatres)
I saw the exterior of this shuttered theatre in 2002, during the Theatre Historical Society Conclave in New York that year. It was not part of the tour, but on a free night a small group of us took the train out to Coney Island, rode the Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, and one of the carousels, ate at Nathan’s Famous…and looked longingly at the Shore, a theatre which none of us had ever heard about. Here’s hoping it is landmarked and restored. So little remains of the old Coney Island. I hope the vertical sign is kept. It is an old LOEW’S vertical, simply relettered to spell SHORE.
I have neglected to mention that I have an address rubber stamp for the Starlite. I found it in a desk drawer on the third floor of the office block of Monterey’s Golden State Theatre, when UA was doing a garbage purge of the theatre in about 1992. What the stamp was doing there is anyone’s guess. It dates before the era of ZIP Codes and the current abbreviations of states (Calif., not CA). Occasionally I stamp it on my ink pad and put it on the backsides of envelopes I mail to fellow theatre historians and enthusiasts.
The stamp reads thus:
STARLITE DRIVE IN
P.O.BOX 781
WATSONVILLE, CALIF.
With Joe Musil at the helm, patrons can count on experiencing first-rate decorative showmanship inside this theatre. In addition to Hollywood’s El Capitan, Joe’s credits include the Crest in Westwood Village, and the Fine Arts on Wilshire Boulevard. In the case of the El Cap and the Fine Arts the original features which have survived are honored, and where blank walls existed before, Joe creates fanciful but historically harmonious and appropriate new design. Westwood’s Crest is nearly all a more recent creation, there having been little to work with at the outset, but what was created is a stunner.
I must disagree with the statement that there are only six Egyptian style theatres left in the country. There are many more. Perhaps there are only six intact and operating, but many more are still standing—oftentimes altered.
Appropriately enough, in the 19th Century, the “old” Egyptian Hall was used to display genuine Egyptian antiquities, among other curiosities. Pioneering Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni mounted a very impressive exhibition following his discovery of the plundered, but still very spectacular and artifact-laden tomb of pharaoh Seti I, the king played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke in DeMille’s 1956 “The Ten Commandments”.
I am now inclined to believe that the Forest Theatre which was listed in the 1941 and 1943 Film Daily Yearbook editions with 150 seats has to be a different, earlier theatre than the Dolan/Burl. The Dolan is a Quonset-built structure, and therefore dates to around 1947 or so. The Quonset was developed for wartime use in 1941, and was utilized often for theatre construction after the war, its peak use seeming to be in 1947-48. Quonset theatres typically had a capacity of between 400 and 700 seats. 150 seats, as the Forest had, is far too small a capacity, let alone the fact that Quonsets hadn’t been put to civilian use in 1941 or ‘43.
I did get the aforementioned look-see of the Avenal last Thursday. My thanks to Terry Headrick and his associates on the site for letting me have a good look at the rebuilding progress. It is truly going to be a class act. The facade tower is essentially done, except for the neon. The marquee is under construction, and will reuse the original metal AVENAL letters. The circular lobby is well underway, with the metal mesh in place for plastering the layered ribbed coves of the ceiling. Removal of fire-damaged surfaces on the auditorium walls revealed remnants of the original 1930s painted decoration, dating from before the more well-known Moderne redo and enlargement of the theatre in the 40s. The auditorium will be triplexed, with a larger theatre for both movies and live events down front in the original stage/screen area, and two small movie theatres to the rear and sides. The original wall and ceiling murals are going to be replicated. Light fixtures are also being replicated. The original blueprints have been carefully consulted on all points. Nearly everything that will greet the public when the theatre reopens will be new—replicated from the old, except the terrazzo sidewalk and the tilework in the Ladies restroom. However, one will truly feel they are seeing the original theatre in its pristine glory. It is going to be amazing. The concrete shell of the auditorium has been retained. Between the side of the auditorium and an alley out back is a little complex of new structures and a courtyard, which will act as an adjunct facility for events held at the theatre.
My wife and I enjoyed the Jimmy Page/The Edge/Jack White documentary, “It Might Get Loud” at the Mayan two weeks ago while visiting family in Denver. This theatre can be described as both grand and charming all at once. It is a rather small movie palace, but has the decor—inside and out—of a theatre four times its size. The triplexing that was done in the 80s is very tasteful, one of the best such jobs I’ve seen. We were allowed to check out the downstairs main auditorium, but the upstairs ones (we were upstairs on the left) are decorated such that you don’t feel you’re missing out on the “historic theatre feel” as is so often the case with old triplexed theatres. Long may the Mayan live.
My wife and I thank Sarah Coffield, Publicity and Promotions for the Boulder Theatre, for her hospitality in letting us see the inside of the theatre when we spent a day in Boulder two weeks ago. It is a truly beautiful theatre, with an auditorium decorative scheme that is largely intact, with original murals and patterns thoughout.
I passed theough Winnemucca on the way back to California from Denver week before last, and spotted the Sage, though I didn’t know its name at the time, as the marquee is gone. The front looks exactly like the photo in American Classic Images, but with the marquee gone and face brick around the entry. Inside the modern glass entrance doors, a ticket window is still to be seen on the right, and a poster case on the left, all surrounded with circa 1960s brown tiles. From what I could see of the interior, it is decorated like a mom and pop Mexican restaurant, with no theatre detail visible, at least from where I was standing. Going around the back, the theatre is long and narrow, and built of reinforced concrete. There may have been a small stage, but there is no fly tower.
As of two weeks ago, the Strand still looks like the photo in the previous post. This was my first time seeing it in person. We stopped on our way back to California from Denver. I peeked in the front windows, and could see copies of the original blueprints tacked to a wall, one of them titled, “LONGITVDINAL SECTION.” It looks like the theatre has been largely gutted. The original blueprints show a rather typical and pleasingly proportioned interior, with traditional arched proscenium, organ fronts, maybe box seats (hard to tell), and assorted Neoclassical detailing.
A woman working at a gas station we stopped at at the far end of town told us that the project to renovate the theatre is still a going concern as far as she knows.
Old painted signs reading STRAND THEATRE are still evident on the sides and rear of the brick building. The stage has a fly tower and there are boarded up dressing room windows and a stage door visible in the alley behind.
Clarification from the article: John Pugh is not doing restoration of the murals inside the theatre, but is designing a new mural to replace the one (from the 70s?) on the exterior rear wall of the theatre.
Being from the San Jose Area, I know muralist John Pugh’s work. His original works are stunning. I don’t know anything about what he does in the realm of restoring historic works, but I know he’s got the paint brush chops to do it. My wife and I used to perform music and hang out a lot at (now defunct)Espresso Garden Cafe in San Jose, and we’re very familiar with his mural there (now in storage), “Life Imitating Art Imitating Life.” Our favorite Chinese restaurant, Mandarin Gourmet, in Cupertino, also has a fine mural by him. Outside examples of his work exist in downtown Los Gatos (one with a Mayan theme), and a street scene in Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. There is also a coffee table book on his murals. Don’t know the title, but it should be easily searched online.
In the American Classic Images vintage photo from 1942 put up by Lost Memory, something very interesting can be seen. This theatre was designed by S. Charles Lee. He remodeled the Coliseum Theatre in San Francisco around the same time, and the marquee he put on it is virtually identical to that of the built-from-scratch Baywood. The Lee-designed marquee remained on the Coliseum until its turn-of-the-millenium conversion to a Walgreens and condos. Over the years, the sunburst element was removed, along with much of the neon, and the reader boards were changed to plastic, but aside from that, the “Col”’s marquee survived the decades remarkably intact.
As for the Baywood’s interior, I have finally seen for myself what’s above the old Thrifty ceiling. Lengthy inspection revealed that there was even a third floor retrofitted into the converted building at one time, as some studs, walls, and outlines of even more walls and the third floor remain throughout. By and large though, it’s a big empty shell. Scraps of theatre structure do still remain, enough to have made the look-see well worthwhile. The steel beams of the balcony structure are mostly extant, sticking out into the space. Two sets of balcony fire escape doors (the lower still functional and the upper converted to windows in the 50s) survive, with indented boxes in the concrete walls where EXIT signs used to be, three porcelain bulb sockets still visible. The proscenium is completely gone, as are all vestiges of the entire auditorium ceiling. The walls are, however, a different story: Much acoustical plaster remains. Depending on whether a particular section of wall was visible to the public when there were businesses in the upper part of the converted space, sections of the walls are either painted over in beige, silvery grey, or…they still have mural painting preserved. Careful examination of the walls revealed that the most visible muralwork—flowers, trees, plants—is the result of a later, perhaps immediate Postwar, redecoration. Through these paintings, the oxidized outlines of the original “High Deco” geometric stripes, waves, sunrays, scrolls, and stylized leaf shapes bleed through. On some of the wall surfaces that were painted out after the theatre closed, oxidized paint patterns from both decorative schemes show though in varying degrees. Among these, three lifesize human figures can be discerned. One seems to be a toga-clad man standing in a boat, another appears to be a woman with one arm outstretched, and a third is so vague that all I could tell was that the figure was standing. There is some ornamental plaster extant. Large stepped ribs which ran along the uppermost areas of the sidewalls survive. Each terminated in a cast plaster Deco scroll, like a giant geometric snail shell. Two remain intact on the South wall of the auditorium, and one remains intact on the North Wall. On the North wall also, a series of stepped, quarter-circle ribs which swooped down to join the now-vanished walls which angled-in toward the proscenium can still be seen.
Back to the ghostly human figures showing through later paint, it was impossible for me to ascertain whether these figures belong to the first Deco scheme or the later, softer “Foliate Moderne” scheme. My hunch would be the latter. However, the fact that I have once seen a photo of the original proscenium, and there were niches with Greco-Deco statues in them might be a clue that the human figures on the walls were there to harmonize with the statues. More research into the UCLA files of S. Charles Lee theatre photos may solve this.
Sounds like a cool project. Out here in CA, there are two movie theatre operations which come to mind that have made use of school auditoriums. The first is the Riviera Theatre in Santa Barbara, which uses (or used, I’m not sure if it’s still open)the beautiful Spanish styled auditorium of the original campus of Santa Barbara State College. I was at a movie there once with my mom in the early 1990s. She went to that campus in 1940, and it was very nostalgic for her to be there again, though she remembered attending stage plays, musicals, and assemblies in that theatre. The wall sconces had been outfitted with script “R” initials, the open beamed ceiling and stucco walls gave it a simple vintage theatre look, and there was a niche over the proscenium.
Another example which operated for a couple of years (ending a couple of years ago) was at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, where their circa 1960s theatre, the Spangenburg Theatre—which has a huge capacity and stage for a high school facility—had a program of almost-firstrun movies of both mainstream and art/foreign genres. We kept trying to see shows there, but other things would intervene, and then the policy ended.
I should mention that the later Soledad, which has been described by myself and others on this page as a Quonset style structure is NOT an actual surplus Quonset, as some postwar theatres were. It is a purpose built barrel-vaulted structure, like others one finds in California and other areas, like the Capitola in Capitola, the Park in Menlo Park, Delta in Brentwood, Cerrito in El Cerrito, and a number designed by S. Charles Lee in the Southern part of the state. Incidentally, I just posted some clarification about the Rio Theatre in Soledad on its page, as there was some confusion by others as to where this was, or if it was misidentified. The Rio and Soledad (#2) were separate theatres, and both buildings still stand. All I know about the original Soledad Theatre is what I’ve read on this page, posted by Tom DeLay. I guess to be truly organized, this Soledad #2 should have its own page. One of the perils of documenting theatres…name changes, and the carrying of names to newer buildings.
Forgot to mention: The theatre in Lost Memory’s above Aug. 4, 2009 post is the Soledad Theatre of which I speak, and not the Rio. The name SOLEDAD did indeed fit on that vertical sign tower. The letters were just rather small. The Soldad is on a side street, about a half block East of the old commercial Route 101 that the Rio is on. If you look quickly and carefully (mind the other drivers!), you can spot the Soledad vertical from the 101 freeway. In fact, that’s how I know the name was on the vertical. At night, into the early 80s, you could read the neon from the freeway. There was neon outlining those squared-off “holes” on the sign tower, as well as other places. It was quite colorful. In the mid-80s, the neon was stripped off and the whole facade painted dark brown (the 70s Earthtone Movement died hard, I guess), and the theatre I seem to recall continued to operate a little longer, but was closed by the end of the 80s.
I admit that I have rather quickly skimmed the above posts, but this I must state clearly to end any confusion. The Rio in the American Classic Images linked in Lost Memory’s post (the first one on this page) IS the Rio in Soledad. I first noticed it a few years later after it had closed. The neon was broken off the RIO sign, but it otherwise looked just as it did in 1980. It is along the old commercial Route 101 at the North end of downtown, and was very easily spotted from the 101 freeway. By the time I got to photographing it in the early 90s, it had all been painted yellow ochre, and was still closed. Not long after, the signs were removed, and the building was converted to a dry cleaner’s. It is now, as I recall, a market and has had a bit of mini mall style prittification on its facade, though some features remain unchanged. The most obvious recent additions are royal blue diamond shapes in a row along the upper half of the facade where the signs used to be. The Soledad Theatre, a completely different building, still stands, and is better preserved, that is, still more recognizeable as a former theatre.
I was just informed today that the rebuilt tower of the Avenal facade is nearing completion. I am scheduled to stop by the theatre in early October to see the progress. I will report more after then.
Nice to hear that Cinelux has the house. I rarely see movies at their theatres—just out of happenstance, not preference—but I have long heard that they’re good folks. Their Almaden in San Jose, and Plaza, in Campbell, were once overseen by Jack Gunsky, a onetime manager for Fox West Coast. Theatres once managed by him include the Fox in Watsonville and the Fox (California) in San Jose. So perhaps a little bit of the old time exhibition know-how has trickled down through the generations. Here’s hoping the 41st Ave. has many more successful years ahead of it.
A comment about “the organ” referred to two posts above by MikeR.: The organ pipes you see in the recent photos of the Majestic and Palace are display pipes, that is, non-functional, put there just for looks, as is actually done in some churches. The real organ pipes were behind them. The organs themselves—pipes and consoles—were removed from both theatres long ago. In 1990, I toured both the Palace and Majestic with the Theatre Historical Society. A few of us climbed the ladder into one of the organ chambers in the Majestic. There were indeed a few organ pipes in the chamber leaning against a wall, but the chests and wind lines were gone. I can’t speak for the Palace—other than being told that the organ was gone—we were not allowed to go backstage at the Palace, as we were told the stage surface was rotted from roof leaks and might not hold our weight. On the same Conclave tour, we also visited the Poli Palace in Waterbury, CN, a very similar Thomas Lamb design to those in Bridgeport. It too, had display pipes intact, though the organ was gone. The Waterbury Palace has since been restored, which makes me especially happy, as my dad went there frequently when it was new, and his memories are one of the ingredients which kindled my own interest in theatres.
The first time I was ever in downtown Stockton I drove by the Ritz. This was in late 1986. It looked the same as in the 1982 and ‘86 photos linked above, and was still showing gran estrenos de peliculas Mexicanas. Minutes later I stopped by the Fox California, just down the street, which was getting ready for a concert by '80s teen pop group The Jets. A man who seemed to be a caretaker of the place let me into the Fox for a brief look, and I have yet to go inside since the restoration. By the time I left Stockton, it was getting dark, and the Ritz was lit up. I seem to remember the dominant color of the neon being pink. In the late 1990s I was back in Stockton, and the marquee was off the Ritz building, but I recognized the facade. The building had been converted to some kind of retail use.
Regarding the whole issue of how lousy the neighborhood is around the Golden Gate: I can’t resist summarizing the reson in a nutshell. The “City That Knows How” has become “The City That Deliberates.” And as for Mayor Christopher and the Fox, well, there hasn’t been a Republican mayor since. ‘Nuff said. (not that Democrats have exactly been the answer to the city’s prayers, either)
The paint job is a product of what was otherwise a fine late 1970s refurbishing and partial restoration. Those were the colors of the times. Before the refurbishing, the vertical signs were painted in aqua, white, and yellow, and perhaps more. There was neon on both them and the marquee. Originally, all that signage was a darker scheme, but I’ve only seen black and white photos, so I don’t know what the original colors were. The 1920s interior colors had long ago been painted over in a flat pastel scheme—I believe in the 50s. I agree that the Golden Gate is long overdue for a fine 1920s repainting throughout, of the sort that a company like Evergreene Decorative Painting does so perfectly. (no, I don’t work for them, but have seen many examples of what they’ve done in theatres)
Howard: I share your relief!
I saw the exterior of this shuttered theatre in 2002, during the Theatre Historical Society Conclave in New York that year. It was not part of the tour, but on a free night a small group of us took the train out to Coney Island, rode the Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, and one of the carousels, ate at Nathan’s Famous…and looked longingly at the Shore, a theatre which none of us had ever heard about. Here’s hoping it is landmarked and restored. So little remains of the old Coney Island. I hope the vertical sign is kept. It is an old LOEW’S vertical, simply relettered to spell SHORE.