For those who keep track of such things: Over the years I asked various staff and management at the Sash Mill if they knew where the seats and wall sconces came from originally. No one ever seemed to know.
Here is some further commentary on the Sash Mill Cinema which is outside the realm, perhaps, of the basic theater profile above.
I first saw a movie at this theater in 1978, which was a revival of the Egyptian film, “The Night of Counting the Years” (1969), based largely on the late 19th Century discovery of a secret cache of royal mummies and how a member of the local family who was using the illicit sale of items from the tomb as their bank account reveals the secret of the tomb to the Antiquities Service. (An aside: When in Egypt in 2005, I met a member of that family, the Abd-el-Rassouls. He did not want to be photographed)
A few years later, I began attending the Sash Mill fairly often, and by keeping their latest repertory calendar on the refrigerator (as most artistically-minded families in the Santa Cruz area did), I was introduced to many staples in the legacy of classic cinema. Amazingly, I never saw “Rocky Horror” there, although I remember coming out of several Staturday Night shows and seeing the RHPS crowd lined up in their makeup, lace, leather, heels, capes, etc., waiting to go in. Many were people I knew from high school, but I was not part of that crowd, which mostly consisted of kids from the drama and choir department, an insular group which I didn’t feel welcome in at the time, having yet to discover my Inner Thespian/Musician/Performer personality. I wouldn’t see “Rocky” until 2001, at Oakland’s Parkway Theater! Since 1982, I have kept a record of all movies I have seen theatrically, as well as the theater where I saw them and the people I saw them with. Looking over this record, I can see what a truly wonderful education I was getting in cinema during those years, and it shows what a fine venue the Sash Mill was. Most were double features:
1982
“The Philadelphia Story” and “The Mad Miss Manton"
"The Europeans” and “Tess"
"North By Northwest” and “Strangers on a Train"
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
1983
"Auntie Mame” and “A Thousand Clowns"
"Some Like It Hot” and “The Misfits"
"Things to Come” and “Metropolis"
"Stage Door” and “Bringing Up Baby"
"Gone With the Wind"
"The Maltese Falcon” and “Double Indemnity"
"Fiddler on the Roof” and “My Fair Lady"
"Little Women” and “Anna Kerenina"
1984
"2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Forbidden Planet"
"My Favorite Year” and “The Stuntman"
"Strangers on a Train” and “Stage Fright"
"Around the World in 80 Days"
"The Wizard of Oz” and “The Yellow Submarine"
"Gone With the Wind"
1985
(at this point I had moved to Oakland, and only attended the Sash Mill on occasional visits home)
"Rope” and “Frenzy"
"The Golden Age of Looney Tunes” (numerous WB shorts)
“Stormy Weather” and “Let the Good Times Roll"
1986
"The Bitter Tea of General Yen” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
"Aida"
1987-1989
No visits to the Sash Mill
1990
"The Ten Commandments"
1991
No visits
1992
"The Tune"
By this time not only was I no longer living in the area, but the Sash Mill was no longer a repertory cinema. Little did I know that it would soon close.
Thanks to this theater for a large part of my early cinematic education, and wonderful memories of relaxing in those funky old theater seats with family, friends, dates, or classmates.
Recently, the moderne fluted feature added to the facade to support the later vertical sign was removed, and the original facade ornament exposed and nicely painted. Now, aside from the absence of a marquee, the exterior of the State looks almost exactly as it would have looked when first built.
I have met the owner of the Fox, and what he has done with the place is nothing short of amazing. I asked him about the drapes and their removal. He said he would have liked to kave kept them, but they were not only filthy, but so water and nicotine damaged that they crumbled when handled.
The box office was removed circa 1986 by previous owners. It was still extant in 1985 when I first saw the Fox, which was running porn at the time.
Those of us who worked with the developer to urge the retention of as many historic details as possible tried to get the architect to place the stairway to the upper level at the far end of the former auditorium, to preserve a more open feeling. We were told this was impossible, as doing so would have jeopardized the integrity of the new structure inside. One of the conditions for allowing development of the site into a bookstore was that the second level have the ability to be removed without structural harm to the original theater fabric, should revival as a theater (likely live) ever be undertaken. The extended sections of the building running alongside the original sidewalls could be converted into subsidiary rooms to support the performance facility. Whether or not such an undertaking will ever come about is impossible to ascertain. There are no plans at this time to do so.
The Spangenbrg no longer exhibits movies to the general public. It does well as a high school theater, though. My boss’s daughter goes to Gunn High School, where the Spangenberg is located, and was in a musical there. Both the stage, seating capacity, and equipment are extremely well appointed for such a facility. Many colleges would love to have a facility this fine.
The building which housed the Bijou still stands, converted to restaurant and retail use.
I only attended this theater once, in 1986 or 7, for a showing of “‘Round Midnight.” The Bijou closed not long after.
I remember a simple auditorium with raked seating and blue soundfold on the walls. My only other memory is the alluring (to my collegiate-age eyes) Goth/Punk women who worked the box office and concession counter.
To at least in part answer the prior poster’s question as to what sort of facade improvements were being done: All of the neon has been repaired, for one thing. In addition, some of the decorative tubing on the marquee which was previously all white is now green and magenta, which really looks nice. At present, there are no letters placed on the reader boards, though at night the lights are on, posters are in the cases, and people are seen going in and out and hanging out in front or in the lobby.
It was the 1906 earthquake which destroyed this theater. The roof literally caved-in. The only photo I have ever seen of this theater is a shot taken from across the street immediately following the ‘quake, showing the damage. Most of the facade had crumbled forward, and the roof trusses, more or less as a unit, fell-in along one side.
The Ritz was still showing adult movies when I happened upon it in 1981. I was only just starting to get really interested in theaters at the time, and didn’t have a camera with me. When revisiting Tampa in 1999, I did take photos, but by this time it was Masquerade, and looked like it does in photos posted above. A peek through the doors revealed that the lobby still had large,ornate gold framed (pseudo-Skouras) mirrors.
In response to an early post regarding the definition of CATARACT, I have to admit that I half expected this theater to be located in Egypt. The term cataract is used ubiquitously for the several series of rapids that exist along the Nile. They are numbered higher as one goes upriver (South). Only one of them is in what is now modern Egypt—the First Cataract, which is at Aswan, where the Nile has to fight its way through a vast outcropping of granite. It was near here that the ancients procured the red or pink granite used for statues and the interior walls of some of the greatest pyramids, among other things. Certainly the falls of Niagara qualify as a cataract of dramatic magnitude, it’s just that the term these days is rarely found outside of Egyptology and geography. It’s very interesting to find a theater that was so named.
For an instance of the term’s use in a movie taking place in Egypt, one need look no further than “The Ten Commandments,” where Yul Brynner says to Charlton Heston, (I quote as best as I can from memory) “When the waters ran red with blood, I too, was afraid, until word came of a moutain beyond the cataracts which spewed red mud and poisoned the water…. These things were ordered by themselves, not by any god.”
I am delighted to at last see that there is indeed a classic little movie theater in Lincoln. I would have hoped so. Lincoln is the home of Gladding, McBean Terra Cotta. From Lincoln’s clay pits came the raw material from which were shaped the ornamental facades of many grand theatres, including, but not limited to:
WARFIELD, San Francisco
GOLDEN GATE, San Francisco
FOX OAKLAND, Oakland
PARAMOUNT, Oakland
LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles
ORPHEUM, Los Angeles
This theatre was still standing, and in use as a church, in the early 1990s when I took a couple of exterior photos of it. I have not driven past the location since then, so I do not know for certain if it has been demolished.
Wonderful, wonderful account of an era every bit as historical as any of the earlier decades of classic theaters.
Toward the latter part of the story mention is made, and a poster shown, of “Green Slime.” I actually saw this movie in 16mm a couple of years ago at the Psychotronic Film Festival at Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, CA). It was totally hokey and delightfully bad, which is what made it fun!
Hearing about all those posters and press kits in the basement of the Aztec and how they likely were dumped is a tragic thing. A similar loss occurred a good ten years ago at San Francisco’s Cine Latino (ex Wigwam/Rialto/Crown—built 1912). In this case, the trove of posters seemed to go back in time, without interruption, to the TEENS! By the time someone showed up on the scene who actually cared, the loss had occurred, thanks to an aging property owner rushing to sell the building and totally ignorant of what he had. The theater still stands—completely vacant and stripped.
With the recent conversion of the building to lofts and retail, the original ticket lobby ceiling was exposed—damaged, but with cornices, moldings, and a band of scroll brackets alternating with lighbulb sockets still extant. This ceiling and the upper parts of the walls, also original, has been retained, though as of this writing, not restored.
I have since gone into Crazy John’s myself to see if anything was left of the Dimond interior, and indeed, gsmurph is correct. There is nothing to see save steel roof trusses and the wood underside of the roof surface.
To answer a much earlier comment that perhaps something is left of the interior of the Dimond, Oakland: Unfortunately not. It was totally gutted. Nothing but steel trusses and the wooden underside of the roof are visible. Offices fill the stage house. I would imagine that the concrete proscenium opening is still there, but stripped and hidden. The Dimond was originally Egyptian in style, with a pylon gate-like facade, but was completely remodeled Moderne in the late 30s.
I don’t know about the Granada in Oakland, also long since converted to a store. According to Jack Tillmany and Jennifer Dowling’s book, “Theatres of Oakland,” the balcony structure is gone and most other interior features are either removed or hidden.
When I saw the pre-demolition photos of this theater, I realized that this is where I saw “Sleeping Beauty,” in about 1971 or so. This was the only time we attended this theater. We lived in Seal Beach then, and went to South Coast Plaza for shopping, but never for movies, save this one time.
It IS worth seeing this vast epic on the Big Screen, which is how I first saw it during its re-release in 1972, at the Belmont Theatre in Long Beach, CA. Then I saw it several times over the years on TV, and didn’t see it again theatrically until around 1990, when I saw it at the Towne in San Jose, and the Sash Mill Cinema in Santa Cruz.
My father, Ed Parks, was the animator of the Pillar of Fire for the movie. He didn’t get to meet any of the cast, but he did work with Mr. DeMille.
There exists a theater which has interior details influenced by the Metropolitan/Paramount. This is the Parkway in Oakland, designed by Mark T. Jorgensen. This theatre still operates independently as a fulltime movie theater. It was twinned “cross-wise” in the late 60s, but the forward auditorium, with the original proscenium is where the obvious influence of Grauman’s Metropolitan is seen, albeit filtered through and combined with distinct Egyptian detailing.
The proscenium itself is a full arc much like that of the Metropolitan, and although the detailing is different, it has a zig-zag plasterwork “valance” within it that is very obviously copied from the Metropolitan. There are pharaoh-headed sphinxes flanking the proscenium, but instead of having the hindparts of lions, they exhibit the curling tails of the “Snail Deer” creature which was featured in the lobby of the Metropolitan. Flanking all this are a pair of doorways which have plasterwork surrounds copied from the Metropolitan’s doorways which led from the mezzanine to the balcony.
It should also be noted that the Parkway’s organ grille is modeled after the ceiling sunburst of Grauman’s Egyptian (Meyer and Holler), as were similar ceiling features in many other subsequent Egyptian style theaters.
Plainly, the Parkway’s design stands on its own, but the influences on architect Jorgensen from Woolett’s motifs used in the Metropolitan are obvious.
A trip to a movie at the Parkway is worthwhile if one is ever in Oakland. To find out what’s playing:
No, I don’t work for them. The Theatre Historical Society is planning on stopping by the Parkway during our Conclave/Tour in July ‘08. www.historictheatres.org
This property is being developed. I was recently contacted by representatives from the development company who were interested in doing a display on the theatre in the new project.
Just to add to the above post: The Drive-in still in Santa Cruz is the Skyview. As of this writing, I believe it is still operating. I went there a few times in the 70s to see Disney’s “Robin Hood,” and Robert Redford in “The Great Waldo Pepper,” and a couple of others. I will be a bus captain for the THS ‘08 Conclave. I’ll be sure to point out the Skyview as we pass it.
The former Burl Theatre in Boulder Creek still stands, as office and retail space.
The marquee soffit is now restored and operational, with a firmament of yellow, red, and blue bulbs. The effect is spectacular!
For those who keep track of such things: Over the years I asked various staff and management at the Sash Mill if they knew where the seats and wall sconces came from originally. No one ever seemed to know.
Here is some further commentary on the Sash Mill Cinema which is outside the realm, perhaps, of the basic theater profile above.
I first saw a movie at this theater in 1978, which was a revival of the Egyptian film, “The Night of Counting the Years” (1969), based largely on the late 19th Century discovery of a secret cache of royal mummies and how a member of the local family who was using the illicit sale of items from the tomb as their bank account reveals the secret of the tomb to the Antiquities Service. (An aside: When in Egypt in 2005, I met a member of that family, the Abd-el-Rassouls. He did not want to be photographed)
A few years later, I began attending the Sash Mill fairly often, and by keeping their latest repertory calendar on the refrigerator (as most artistically-minded families in the Santa Cruz area did), I was introduced to many staples in the legacy of classic cinema. Amazingly, I never saw “Rocky Horror” there, although I remember coming out of several Staturday Night shows and seeing the RHPS crowd lined up in their makeup, lace, leather, heels, capes, etc., waiting to go in. Many were people I knew from high school, but I was not part of that crowd, which mostly consisted of kids from the drama and choir department, an insular group which I didn’t feel welcome in at the time, having yet to discover my Inner Thespian/Musician/Performer personality. I wouldn’t see “Rocky” until 2001, at Oakland’s Parkway Theater! Since 1982, I have kept a record of all movies I have seen theatrically, as well as the theater where I saw them and the people I saw them with. Looking over this record, I can see what a truly wonderful education I was getting in cinema during those years, and it shows what a fine venue the Sash Mill was. Most were double features:
1982
“The Philadelphia Story” and “The Mad Miss Manton"
"The Europeans” and “Tess"
"North By Northwest” and “Strangers on a Train"
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
1983
"Auntie Mame” and “A Thousand Clowns"
"Some Like It Hot” and “The Misfits"
"Things to Come” and “Metropolis"
"Stage Door” and “Bringing Up Baby"
"Gone With the Wind"
"The Maltese Falcon” and “Double Indemnity"
"Fiddler on the Roof” and “My Fair Lady"
"Little Women” and “Anna Kerenina"
1984
"2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Forbidden Planet"
"My Favorite Year” and “The Stuntman"
"Strangers on a Train” and “Stage Fright"
"Around the World in 80 Days"
"The Wizard of Oz” and “The Yellow Submarine"
"Gone With the Wind"
1985
(at this point I had moved to Oakland, and only attended the Sash Mill on occasional visits home)
"Rope” and “Frenzy"
"The Golden Age of Looney Tunes” (numerous WB shorts)
“Stormy Weather” and “Let the Good Times Roll"
1986
"The Bitter Tea of General Yen” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
"Aida"
1987-1989
No visits to the Sash Mill
1990
"The Ten Commandments"
1991
No visits
1992
"The Tune"
By this time not only was I no longer living in the area, but the Sash Mill was no longer a repertory cinema. Little did I know that it would soon close.
Thanks to this theater for a large part of my early cinematic education, and wonderful memories of relaxing in those funky old theater seats with family, friends, dates, or classmates.
Recently, the moderne fluted feature added to the facade to support the later vertical sign was removed, and the original facade ornament exposed and nicely painted. Now, aside from the absence of a marquee, the exterior of the State looks almost exactly as it would have looked when first built.
I have met the owner of the Fox, and what he has done with the place is nothing short of amazing. I asked him about the drapes and their removal. He said he would have liked to kave kept them, but they were not only filthy, but so water and nicotine damaged that they crumbled when handled.
The box office was removed circa 1986 by previous owners. It was still extant in 1985 when I first saw the Fox, which was running porn at the time.
Those of us who worked with the developer to urge the retention of as many historic details as possible tried to get the architect to place the stairway to the upper level at the far end of the former auditorium, to preserve a more open feeling. We were told this was impossible, as doing so would have jeopardized the integrity of the new structure inside. One of the conditions for allowing development of the site into a bookstore was that the second level have the ability to be removed without structural harm to the original theater fabric, should revival as a theater (likely live) ever be undertaken. The extended sections of the building running alongside the original sidewalls could be converted into subsidiary rooms to support the performance facility. Whether or not such an undertaking will ever come about is impossible to ascertain. There are no plans at this time to do so.
The Spangenbrg no longer exhibits movies to the general public. It does well as a high school theater, though. My boss’s daughter goes to Gunn High School, where the Spangenberg is located, and was in a musical there. Both the stage, seating capacity, and equipment are extremely well appointed for such a facility. Many colleges would love to have a facility this fine.
The building which housed the Bijou still stands, converted to restaurant and retail use.
I only attended this theater once, in 1986 or 7, for a showing of “‘Round Midnight.” The Bijou closed not long after.
I remember a simple auditorium with raked seating and blue soundfold on the walls. My only other memory is the alluring (to my collegiate-age eyes) Goth/Punk women who worked the box office and concession counter.
The screen towers have been torn down.
To at least in part answer the prior poster’s question as to what sort of facade improvements were being done: All of the neon has been repaired, for one thing. In addition, some of the decorative tubing on the marquee which was previously all white is now green and magenta, which really looks nice. At present, there are no letters placed on the reader boards, though at night the lights are on, posters are in the cases, and people are seen going in and out and hanging out in front or in the lobby.
It was the 1906 earthquake which destroyed this theater. The roof literally caved-in. The only photo I have ever seen of this theater is a shot taken from across the street immediately following the ‘quake, showing the damage. Most of the facade had crumbled forward, and the roof trusses, more or less as a unit, fell-in along one side.
The Ritz was still showing adult movies when I happened upon it in 1981. I was only just starting to get really interested in theaters at the time, and didn’t have a camera with me. When revisiting Tampa in 1999, I did take photos, but by this time it was Masquerade, and looked like it does in photos posted above. A peek through the doors revealed that the lobby still had large,ornate gold framed (pseudo-Skouras) mirrors.
In response to an early post regarding the definition of CATARACT, I have to admit that I half expected this theater to be located in Egypt. The term cataract is used ubiquitously for the several series of rapids that exist along the Nile. They are numbered higher as one goes upriver (South). Only one of them is in what is now modern Egypt—the First Cataract, which is at Aswan, where the Nile has to fight its way through a vast outcropping of granite. It was near here that the ancients procured the red or pink granite used for statues and the interior walls of some of the greatest pyramids, among other things. Certainly the falls of Niagara qualify as a cataract of dramatic magnitude, it’s just that the term these days is rarely found outside of Egyptology and geography. It’s very interesting to find a theater that was so named.
For an instance of the term’s use in a movie taking place in Egypt, one need look no further than “The Ten Commandments,” where Yul Brynner says to Charlton Heston, (I quote as best as I can from memory) “When the waters ran red with blood, I too, was afraid, until word came of a moutain beyond the cataracts which spewed red mud and poisoned the water…. These things were ordered by themselves, not by any god.”
I am delighted to at last see that there is indeed a classic little movie theater in Lincoln. I would have hoped so. Lincoln is the home of Gladding, McBean Terra Cotta. From Lincoln’s clay pits came the raw material from which were shaped the ornamental facades of many grand theatres, including, but not limited to:
WARFIELD, San Francisco
GOLDEN GATE, San Francisco
FOX OAKLAND, Oakland
PARAMOUNT, Oakland
LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles
ORPHEUM, Los Angeles
This theatre was still standing, and in use as a church, in the early 1990s when I took a couple of exterior photos of it. I have not driven past the location since then, so I do not know for certain if it has been demolished.
Wonderful, wonderful account of an era every bit as historical as any of the earlier decades of classic theaters.
Toward the latter part of the story mention is made, and a poster shown, of “Green Slime.” I actually saw this movie in 16mm a couple of years ago at the Psychotronic Film Festival at Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, CA). It was totally hokey and delightfully bad, which is what made it fun!
Hearing about all those posters and press kits in the basement of the Aztec and how they likely were dumped is a tragic thing. A similar loss occurred a good ten years ago at San Francisco’s Cine Latino (ex Wigwam/Rialto/Crown—built 1912). In this case, the trove of posters seemed to go back in time, without interruption, to the TEENS! By the time someone showed up on the scene who actually cared, the loss had occurred, thanks to an aging property owner rushing to sell the building and totally ignorant of what he had. The theater still stands—completely vacant and stripped.
With the recent conversion of the building to lofts and retail, the original ticket lobby ceiling was exposed—damaged, but with cornices, moldings, and a band of scroll brackets alternating with lighbulb sockets still extant. This ceiling and the upper parts of the walls, also original, has been retained, though as of this writing, not restored.
I have since gone into Crazy John’s myself to see if anything was left of the Dimond interior, and indeed, gsmurph is correct. There is nothing to see save steel roof trusses and the wood underside of the roof surface.
To answer a much earlier comment that perhaps something is left of the interior of the Dimond, Oakland: Unfortunately not. It was totally gutted. Nothing but steel trusses and the wooden underside of the roof are visible. Offices fill the stage house. I would imagine that the concrete proscenium opening is still there, but stripped and hidden. The Dimond was originally Egyptian in style, with a pylon gate-like facade, but was completely remodeled Moderne in the late 30s.
I don’t know about the Granada in Oakland, also long since converted to a store. According to Jack Tillmany and Jennifer Dowling’s book, “Theatres of Oakland,” the balcony structure is gone and most other interior features are either removed or hidden.
When I saw the pre-demolition photos of this theater, I realized that this is where I saw “Sleeping Beauty,” in about 1971 or so. This was the only time we attended this theater. We lived in Seal Beach then, and went to South Coast Plaza for shopping, but never for movies, save this one time.
It IS worth seeing this vast epic on the Big Screen, which is how I first saw it during its re-release in 1972, at the Belmont Theatre in Long Beach, CA. Then I saw it several times over the years on TV, and didn’t see it again theatrically until around 1990, when I saw it at the Towne in San Jose, and the Sash Mill Cinema in Santa Cruz.
My father, Ed Parks, was the animator of the Pillar of Fire for the movie. He didn’t get to meet any of the cast, but he did work with Mr. DeMille.
There exists a theater which has interior details influenced by the Metropolitan/Paramount. This is the Parkway in Oakland, designed by Mark T. Jorgensen. This theatre still operates independently as a fulltime movie theater. It was twinned “cross-wise” in the late 60s, but the forward auditorium, with the original proscenium is where the obvious influence of Grauman’s Metropolitan is seen, albeit filtered through and combined with distinct Egyptian detailing.
The proscenium itself is a full arc much like that of the Metropolitan, and although the detailing is different, it has a zig-zag plasterwork “valance” within it that is very obviously copied from the Metropolitan. There are pharaoh-headed sphinxes flanking the proscenium, but instead of having the hindparts of lions, they exhibit the curling tails of the “Snail Deer” creature which was featured in the lobby of the Metropolitan. Flanking all this are a pair of doorways which have plasterwork surrounds copied from the Metropolitan’s doorways which led from the mezzanine to the balcony.
It should also be noted that the Parkway’s organ grille is modeled after the ceiling sunburst of Grauman’s Egyptian (Meyer and Holler), as were similar ceiling features in many other subsequent Egyptian style theaters.
Plainly, the Parkway’s design stands on its own, but the influences on architect Jorgensen from Woolett’s motifs used in the Metropolitan are obvious.
A trip to a movie at the Parkway is worthwhile if one is ever in Oakland. To find out what’s playing:
www.speakeasytheaters.com
No, I don’t work for them. The Theatre Historical Society is planning on stopping by the Parkway during our Conclave/Tour in July ‘08.
www.historictheatres.org
The Dallas Palace organ now sounds forth in the restored California Theatre (1927) in San Jose. The console, however, is from the Uptown in Chicago.
This property is being developed. I was recently contacted by representatives from the development company who were interested in doing a display on the theatre in the new project.
Just to add to the above post: The Drive-in still in Santa Cruz is the Skyview. As of this writing, I believe it is still operating. I went there a few times in the 70s to see Disney’s “Robin Hood,” and Robert Redford in “The Great Waldo Pepper,” and a couple of others. I will be a bus captain for the THS ‘08 Conclave. I’ll be sure to point out the Skyview as we pass it.
The former Burl Theatre in Boulder Creek still stands, as office and retail space.