Comments from kencmcintyre

Here is part of an article in the Oakland Tribune dated 11/21/72:

They’re tearing down another part of old Oakland this week. The long-shuttered Broadway Theater at 1121 Broadway will vanish under the wrecker’s ball as part of the clearance of the fourth block of the projected 15-block $150 million City Center downtown regional shopping center. A skyscraper hotel will one day rise on the site.

The Broadway theater was new and modern Aug. 9, 1930 when it opened “for the exclusive presentation of talking motion pictures,” showing “The Texan'‘, an "all-outdoor” production, and a version of O. Henry’s story, “A Double Dyed Deceiver.” An older Broadway theater stood there for 25 years before the 1930 structure was built. Here, the word has it, Al Jolson once sang. Yesterday, renewal officials spoke glowingly of the newer Broadway to come â€" the resurgence of an urban core to draw shoppers from throughout the Eastbay.

These folks had their wedding at the Orpheum:
http://tinyurl.com/cscblq

This photo is supposed to be from 1917, so apparently there were two theaters in Benson at that time. The marquee’s front says Benson Opera House.
http://tinyurl.com/ddjbnv

Here is a 1999 photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics41/00040198.jpg

Here is a 1938 photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015223.jpg

This is from the LA Times in January 1949. The La Tijera ad is at the bottom of the page. Click on the ad for a better view.
http://tinyurl.com/car6j4

Here is a 1949 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c9febh

This is the Lynn circa 1929, from the LAPL:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014829.jpg

Here is a 1930 photo from the LAPL, at the opening of the theater:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028809.jpg

Here is a photo, circa 1950s:
http://tinyurl.com/dksj4q

Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dzc2t4

In the photo on Google, the theater is gone, but you can still see the steps and the handicapped ramp. Too bad.

This is from the Mansfield News-Journal on 3/26/73. Address should be changed to 36 W. Main Street.

SHELBY â€" Purchase of the Castamba Theater, 36 West Main St., by Mr. and Mrs. William Britt and Mr. and Mrs. John Ashton of Carrollton under a partnership agreement to expand the Ben Franklin Store, 42-44 West Main St., was finalized today.

The Castamba Theater was owned by Mrs. Merlin Moore of Tucson, Ariz., Mrs. Ross Purdy of Miami, Fla., and Arthur Shreffler of 12 East Madison Ave. Britt said the theater would add over 5,500 square feet of additional floor space to the store on Main St. downtown. Exact plans for remodeling the building have not been completed, but the store will be combined with the theater as one building and not an annex. The Britts and Ashtons also own the Willard Ben Franklin Store in another partnership.

The Castamba Theater closed its doors last November after 54 years of operation as a moving picture theater under the Shreffler family management. Shreffler, who managed the theater with his wife, Pauline, had to undergo an operation on his eyes. The theater was opened by Shreffler’s father, Hal D., and a partner, Frank Allwein of Shelby, in 1918. Both men are now deceased. The elder Shreffler had associated with Allwein in the theater business in the old Opera House on East Main St. at the intersection of Broadway since 1911.

That theater was turned into a bowling alley which later was destroyed by fire. Shelby’s third theater was the State Theater on West Main St. which also closed and was turned into a poolroom and then used for businesses. The Castamba Theater was the last of this city’s three theaters to close down.

Shreffler joined his father in the theater business in 1930 and has been associated with it for 43 years. The 45 by 120-foot theater building seated up to 735 persons with an addition added to the west in 1937.