This is from the Lima News dated 5/29/55. There should be an aka of Orpheum Theater, also an address change to 118 W. Market.
The State Theater, 118 W. Market St., once the Orpheum Theater playing Gus Sun and Keith-Albee vaudeville acts, will close its doors “indefinitely” Thursday night. Stanley Warner Pictures Inc., New York, operator of the State, Sigma and Ohio theaters in Lima, has notified its Lima manager, W. J. (Doc) Elliott to close the State. The lease on the building expires Aug. 31.
Plans for the building, owned by Miss Jessie M. Boone, Lima; William K. Boone, who lives in Mexico, and Mrs. Frances B. Holland, Miami, Fla., are not known. Leases held by three other businesses having space in the building also expire Aug. 31. Mrs. Margaret McBarron, manager of the State, will return to the Ohio as assistant manager, a job she held prior to moving to the State in April 1953. The other Warner theaters in Lima will absorb as many of the other 16 State employes as possible, Elliott added.
Here is an April 3, 1946 item from the San Antonio Express:
The Alamo Drive-In Theater, built at a cost of $100,000 one mile north on Austin Hwy., will be formally opened Thursday at 7 p.m. Arthur Landsman, manager and co-owner, along with C.A. Richter and E.L. Pack, said the screen, employing a new plaster, provides more clearly defined pictures with realistic depth. Five hundred can be accommodated at the theater, he said.
This is from the Abilene Reporter-News on 3/15/52:
COLEMAN. March 14.-The new 400-speaker Cole-Anna Drive-In Theater, in south Coleman, had its formal opening Friday night. Its plant includes a screen 72 feet wide and 52 feet high, of brick construction, 400 in-car speakers and the latest in sound equipment.
An article in the Victoria Advocate gave the opening date as March 8, 1957. Owner was Ruben Frels and general manager was Doyle Oliver. Theater plans and construction took over two years.
This is from the San Antonio Express in April 1950:
San Antonio’s biggest drive-in theater, the new Rigsby, opens Saturday night. This is the fourth theater opened in San Antonio by the Landsman-Richter Enterprises, now incorporated into Statewide Drive-In Theaters.
The screen at the Rigsby towers eight stories high with a 200-ton steel and concrete foundation. Sound for the Rigsby will be furnished by the latest model electronic individual car speakers, fed by six miles of underground cable. Vivian Farold Munson, former R.C.A. sound engineer, supervises their operation.
The snack bar and restrooms are located in the center of the parking area, and have glazed tile walls throughout. Directly in front of the screen is a playground for children, fenced in for their safety. The Rigsby has benches provided in addition to the automobile parking space. This bench seating capacity is equal in size to that of an average neighborhood theater.
The date of the fire was 1/14/39, as reported in the San Antonio Express. Damage was estimated at $50,000. The story noted that the theater was four years old, which would have meant an opening in 1935.
The LA Times reported today that Martin Weil has passed away. He was a past president of the LA Conservancy and a renovation expert. He was involved in the renovation of the El Capitan in the 1990s.
It looks like the marquee message is “Welcome to Medina”, but there are some letters missing. It doesn’t look the building is occupied at the present time.
There was a June 4, 1943 article in the Lubbock Morning Avalanche about a fire that destroyed the Texas Theater in Grand Prairie. Since the post immediately above recalls the theater being open during the war, I think this was a separate theater and not a typo.
Here is part of an article in the El Paso Herald dated 1/3/72:
One of El Paso’s largest drive-in theater complexes, the Cinema Park, 10676 Montana Avenue, today was a rubble of blackened ruins after a fire destroyed it late Saturday doing an estimated $210,000 damage. Firemen were investigating the cause of the blaze.
Theater manager James Harris, said the theater would be reconstructed, but gave no dates as to when building would begin. A fireman, Lt. D.R. Guillen, was trapped inside the blazing structure a short while after he led firemen to fight the flames, then was caught inside by a falling, burning beam. Firefighters chopped an escape passage for him and he got out with burns that did not prevent his remaining to help knock out the blaze.
A janitor said he had left the building to empty some trash and when he returned found the fire already making good progress. It had engulfed most of the structure by the time firemen arrived.
This is from the Lima News dated 5/29/55. There should be an aka of Orpheum Theater, also an address change to 118 W. Market.
The State Theater, 118 W. Market St., once the Orpheum Theater playing Gus Sun and Keith-Albee vaudeville acts, will close its doors “indefinitely” Thursday night. Stanley Warner Pictures Inc., New York, operator of the State, Sigma and Ohio theaters in Lima, has notified its Lima manager, W. J. (Doc) Elliott to close the State. The lease on the building expires Aug. 31.
Plans for the building, owned by Miss Jessie M. Boone, Lima; William K. Boone, who lives in Mexico, and Mrs. Frances B. Holland, Miami, Fla., are not known. Leases held by three other businesses having space in the building also expire Aug. 31. Mrs. Margaret McBarron, manager of the State, will return to the Ohio as assistant manager, a job she held prior to moving to the State in April 1953. The other Warner theaters in Lima will absorb as many of the other 16 State employes as possible, Elliott added.
Here is an April 3, 1946 item from the San Antonio Express:
The Alamo Drive-In Theater, built at a cost of $100,000 one mile north on Austin Hwy., will be formally opened Thursday at 7 p.m. Arthur Landsman, manager and co-owner, along with C.A. Richter and E.L. Pack, said the screen, employing a new plaster, provides more clearly defined pictures with realistic depth. Five hundred can be accommodated at the theater, he said.
This is from the Abilene Reporter-News on 3/15/52:
COLEMAN. March 14.-The new 400-speaker Cole-Anna Drive-In Theater, in south Coleman, had its formal opening Friday night. Its plant includes a screen 72 feet wide and 52 feet high, of brick construction, 400 in-car speakers and the latest in sound equipment.
Architect and contractor was Harvey Jordan, according to the same article.
An article in the Victoria Advocate gave the opening date as March 8, 1957. Owner was Ruben Frels and general manager was Doyle Oliver. Theater plans and construction took over two years.
This is from the San Antonio Express in April 1950:
San Antonio’s biggest drive-in theater, the new Rigsby, opens Saturday night. This is the fourth theater opened in San Antonio by the Landsman-Richter Enterprises, now incorporated into Statewide Drive-In Theaters.
The screen at the Rigsby towers eight stories high with a 200-ton steel and concrete foundation. Sound for the Rigsby will be furnished by the latest model electronic individual car speakers, fed by six miles of underground cable. Vivian Farold Munson, former R.C.A. sound engineer, supervises their operation.
The snack bar and restrooms are located in the center of the parking area, and have glazed tile walls throughout. Directly in front of the screen is a playground for children, fenced in for their safety. The Rigsby has benches provided in addition to the automobile parking space. This bench seating capacity is equal in size to that of an average neighborhood theater.
The date of the fire was 1/14/39, as reported in the San Antonio Express. Damage was estimated at $50,000. The story noted that the theater was four years old, which would have meant an opening in 1935.
Photo here:
http://tinyurl.com/cpwrtv
The LA Times reported today that Martin Weil has passed away. He was a past president of the LA Conservancy and a renovation expert. He was involved in the renovation of the El Capitan in the 1990s.
Right. I didn’t ask for it to be changed. I pointed out that the theater building was originally a church and was converted to a theater.
Current function is unknown.
It’s not a church now. It was converted to a theater from a church building in 1909.
According to this site, the Tourney Theater was already open as of July 4, 1917:
http://tinyurl.com/ce6ov5
This item states that the Colonial was converted from a church in 1909:
http://tinyurl.com/djfypj
It looks like the marquee message is “Welcome to Medina”, but there are some letters missing. It doesn’t look the building is occupied at the present time.
This is from today’s Ventura County Star:
http://tinyurl.com/bxbk6c
Here is some information about the theater:
http://www.njskylands.com/cltheattristate.htm
This January 2009 blog discusses the Forum’s current status:
http://tinyurl.com/cbcusv
Here is a 2008 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dkdsku
Here is a February 17 article from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:
http://tinyurl.com/ahfrcb
Great news. Hopefully I can get out there to see what they’ve done.
There was a June 4, 1943 article in the Lubbock Morning Avalanche about a fire that destroyed the Texas Theater in Grand Prairie. Since the post immediately above recalls the theater being open during the war, I think this was a separate theater and not a typo.
On the website they are still soliciting donations, but I didn’t find any news about what they are actually doing to renovate the theater.
The San Antonio Light reported that the Peoples Theater was destroyed in a fire on November 5, 1945. It was apparently rebuilt.
Here is part of an article in the El Paso Herald dated 1/3/72:
One of El Paso’s largest drive-in theater complexes, the Cinema Park, 10676 Montana Avenue, today was a rubble of blackened ruins after a fire destroyed it late Saturday doing an estimated $210,000 damage. Firemen were investigating the cause of the blaze.
Theater manager James Harris, said the theater would be reconstructed, but gave no dates as to when building would begin. A fireman, Lt. D.R. Guillen, was trapped inside the blazing structure a short while after he led firemen to fight the flames, then was caught inside by a falling, burning beam. Firefighters chopped an escape passage for him and he got out with burns that did not prevent his remaining to help knock out the blaze.
A janitor said he had left the building to empty some trash and when he returned found the fire already making good progress. It had engulfed most of the structure by the time firemen arrived.