Uptown Theatre
2316 E. Colorado Boulevard,
Pasadena,
CA
91107
2316 E. Colorado Boulevard,
Pasadena,
CA
91107
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J.H. Woodworth and Son at 200 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena was the firm that Kenneth A. Gordon worked for. As far as I know he was the principle at the office. The home town paper, Eagle Rock Sentinel, dated Friday 4/26/29, has an article about the firm building the Yosmite/Eagle theatre in Eagle Rock. Both gentlemens names are quoted in the article. Copy of the article is located at in the archives of the Eagle Rock Historical Society. Please update your files on the three theatres that were built by Mr. Gordon to reflect that the firm is now know. The Pasadena Museaum of History has not information on this theatre, I have checked. As far as restoration, the theatre has been for sale for a couple of years now and no work has been done on it. If you go by and look in the windows, you can see old movie posters on the side walls.
The Southwest Builder & Contractor magazine, issue of 10/10/1924, includes an item about the comencement of construction on the Warner Egyptian. It was designed by the local Pasadena architect Kenneth A. Gordon, who also designed an Egyptian-style theater for the Bard Circuit in Glendale at about the same time. The Warner Egyptian was built behind a pre-existing commercial building (which was on a very deep lot) and one of the stores was used for the ticket lobby and a long, narrow galleria which extended back to the new theater. The new building was 75' by 125' and was intended to provide 1200 seats.
I first attended a movie at the Uptown in the early 1960s. The auditorium was very much like a slightly smaller version of Alhambra’s Garfield Theatre, but with more of its decoration intact. I couldn’t see the decoration very clearly, though, as the auditorium was kept very dimly lit, even during the intermission. There were no moe than two dozen other patrons that day. Another odd congruity I found was in the intermission music. It was a recording of a theater organ, and was exactly the same recording which I had heard played at the Garfield for many years. I will always associate Lecuona’s Malaguena with those dim, cavernous, nearly-empty theaters.
The Uptown Theater was originally known as the Warner Egyptian Theatre opened May 6, 1925, located at 2316 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, Ca. 91107. Henry Warner, (no relation to the Warner Bros.) was a theatre operator from Indiana. The Egyptian themed Vaudeville and Silent movie theatre was built in 1924. Currently the theatre is undergoing restoration as a stage theatre and movie house known as the Oasis Theatre. Anyone with knowledge or photos should contact James Perry at the above address or call (626) 844-8886. Help is needed by skilled craftsmen to renovate this period theatre back to its original condition.