Varsity Theatre

I was an usherette at the Varsity in 1943. My first job. I worked after school till I graduated, then for awhile longer untill moving to SF to go into war work during WWII. I liked working there, it was a neat theater. I’m doing scrapbooking on my life and decided to search the Varsity on the net. Was really surprised at the changes it went through, but was elated at finding so much about it. Its taken me back in time. A truly nostalgic feeling. Ellery

I’ll always remember those wonderful times going to the “New Varsity” as it was known, in the 1970s and 1980s, to see art, foreign, classic and concert films in a real European-style ambience. The “New Varsity” was the only American movie theater I’ve ever been to which had a bar and restaurant inside the lobby, and little railing-tables in the auditorium, where it was all perfectly legal to buy alcoholic beverages and food (mostly sandwiches) to bring inside the theater to eat while you watched the movies. I really enjoyed the freedom of enjoying a beer or a glass of wine while watching Pink Floyd or The Marx Brothers, in the days before David Packard’s new Stanford Theater became a reality down the street on University Avenue in posh Palo Alto.

I was part of a group that, although we lost the battle to keep the Varsity as a theatre, stayed on and fought to have as much of the interior preserved as possible. Some may think that the conversion to a bookstore is awful, but it could have been worse had it not been for our efforts. Originally, the remodeling called for removal of the marquee—to be replaced by a postmodern “shorthand” replica of the original—complete gutting and destruction of the lobby, and destruction of the arched sidewalls of the auditorium, and probably removal of all ceiling ornament. Due to our efforts, all these items were saved and restored.