This theatre is not demolished. It currently operates as the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church; it was the Mayfair from the 1930s through at least the 1950s. It’s also the theatre furthest south of all the houses along Broadway.
The City of Fillmore blurb outside the theatre reads: “The Towne Theatre was constructed of reinforced brick in 1918 (sic). The single-screen theatre was used to show silent movies and the stage area was used for vaudeville. Mary Pickford performed here. The theatre was closed due to extensive damage from the 1994 earthquake. The city purchased the theatre and obtained grants from the State Historical Preservation Office to rebuild the historic structure. The Save the Towne Theatre Committee has worked very hard to raise funds for the building’s restoration, which cost nearly $1 million to complete. Now showing GREAT movies nightly, the plan is to not only show films, but to have plays, musicals and lectures upon the stage, as the theatre once did (during) its earlier days.”
Additionally, there are 45 seats in the balcony, and 280 seats on the main floor. Went to see “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” the other night and it was packed. Very encouraging.
So much for the bargain matinee! Coming soon – $3 matinees (instead of 50 cents) and $5 general admission. A well-kept theatre, with auditoriums that tend on the cold side…
This was never a Fox theatre – that would’ve been the Fox Ventura on Mills. It appeared in the city directories in 1934 and was earlier located at 28 South Chestnut. It hasn’t shown films since 1985 or so; recently some large forceful object backed up and dented their marquee, which is depressing.
Opened in 1966, the Magic Lantern Theatre (at 960 Embarcadero del Norte, Isla Vista), operated as such through 1985, at which point Metropolitan sold it to UCSB, who renamed it the Isla Vista Theatre. It’s very much open these days, as the Magic Lantern:
Opened in 1966, the Cinema Theatre sits beside the remains of the
Airport Drive-In Theatre (first listed at 6201 Hollister Avenue, an address that was changed later to 400 Frederick Lopez Road), founded in 1954 and operating through 1990. The lot is used now for airport parking, but the ticketbooth / gateway still remains, and just outside the far fences can be seen the mounts for the drive-in screen, lingering in the dust and weeds.
City directory lists it first in 1942, at 1219 State Street (but you know how malleable these street addresses were over time). It closed around 1981. The Rose Theatre was at 904 State Street and was last listed in 1931.
Built in either 1912 or 1913, the Mission Theatre lasted as such until 1988. The following year, it became the Metro 4, having previously been operated by Mission Theatre Enterprises as a Spanish-speaking picture house (from at least 1967, through 1983).
Oh, and the last film shown here (for the time being) was “Cold Mountain” in March 2004. The balcony was “officially” closed but that didn’t mean you couldn’t sneak under the velvet ropes…the house is mooted to become the Santa Barbara Performing Arts Centre in 2006.
The Rose opened on 904 State Street in 1911 or 1912 as Tally’s Theatre, changed its name to the Palace Theatre (running as such from 1912 through 1924), and then transmogrified into the Rose Theatre in 1925, operating through 1931. No mention in the city directories of it (or the Mission, actually) being a Warner house.
Last year or so, there were due to be a series of events put on by UCLA in the Los Angeles, the Orpheum and the Palace. The Orpheum was just fine, Gilmore shut the Palace down, and the Los Angeles was revealed not to have had a fire curtain(!), which led the fire marshals to shut it down indefinitely. Just watching “Charlie’s Angels II: Full Throttle”, it’s very funny at the end to see the characters hop in a sportscar directly outside of Grauman’s Chinese, and in the next scene magically appear just outside the Orpheum, drive past the Tower (heading south, of course), back past the Orpheum repeatedly, and then crash into the main stage of the Los Angeles! At least they made Broadway at night look dishy and cosmopolitan; would’ve been funny to see this scene set in the other Broadway theatre district (nearer South Central, comprising the theatres Aloha, Kiva, etc.).
I appreciate the quick response in updating this listing, but does this mean that someone can excise the now-extraneous information in my original post?
During the early- to mid-1980s, this house screened Spanish-language pornography. The realtor alleged that, in its heyday, the neon marquee could be seen from higher elevations in Ventura, the next city to the north of the theatre. The facade is still intact and, theoretically, the marquee could be lit again.
The Cinema Twin is indeed a second-run theatre now; three auditoriums and tickets for $3. A modest little crackerbox directly in front of an old drive-in theatre now closed. The address is 6050 Hollister Avenue, Goleta, CA 93117.
Always fun to wander into this theatre during the Los Angeles Conservancy’s “Last Remaining Seats” Broadway tour on Sundays, but they’ll chase you out right quick if you let slip that you aren’t really there because of the Jesus. It’s in beautiful shape on the inside, though…this may also be the same Iglesia Universal outfit that runs the old Granada Theatre on Avalon Boulevard.
The seats have all been removed from this theatre. The fellow who owns it now is very nice (works in sound design for films), and occasionally hosts events for non-profits and the like. Haven’t been seen anything happening here for quite some time, though.
The letters spelling out “Globe” have been removed from the marquee out front but the globe itself remains. Possibly the current club owners had something to do with this. Conversely, the removal of the letters makes it much easier to see “Morosco Theater” printed on the masonry directly above the marquee.
I’m more than willing to check various libraries to plumb their city directories and find out exact addresses for these Southern California theatres. In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing recently – there are so many more theatres in that area that haven’t been put into this site. For example, the theatres in the Broadway area of Los Angeles (nearer to South Central) have been mostly converted to various houses of worship. At least the buildings themselves haven’t been torn down…
This theatre is not demolished. It currently operates as the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church; it was the Mayfair from the 1930s through at least the 1950s. It’s also the theatre furthest south of all the houses along Broadway.
The City of Fillmore blurb outside the theatre reads: “The Towne Theatre was constructed of reinforced brick in 1918 (sic). The single-screen theatre was used to show silent movies and the stage area was used for vaudeville. Mary Pickford performed here. The theatre was closed due to extensive damage from the 1994 earthquake. The city purchased the theatre and obtained grants from the State Historical Preservation Office to rebuild the historic structure. The Save the Towne Theatre Committee has worked very hard to raise funds for the building’s restoration, which cost nearly $1 million to complete. Now showing GREAT movies nightly, the plan is to not only show films, but to have plays, musicals and lectures upon the stage, as the theatre once did (during) its earlier days.”
For a more comprehensive history of the Towne, see:
http://www.fillmoreca.com/theatre.htm
Additionally, there are 45 seats in the balcony, and 280 seats on the main floor. Went to see “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” the other night and it was packed. Very encouraging.
You might want to exchange notes with the person heading up the restoration effort at the Westlake Theatre in Los Angeles.
/theaters/497/
So much for the bargain matinee! Coming soon – $3 matinees (instead of 50 cents) and $5 general admission. A well-kept theatre, with auditoriums that tend on the cold side…
This was never a Fox theatre – that would’ve been the Fox Ventura on Mills. It appeared in the city directories in 1934 and was earlier located at 28 South Chestnut. It hasn’t shown films since 1985 or so; recently some large forceful object backed up and dented their marquee, which is depressing.
Opened in 1966, the Magic Lantern Theatre (at 960 Embarcadero del Norte, Isla Vista), operated as such through 1985, at which point Metropolitan sold it to UCSB, who renamed it the Isla Vista Theatre. It’s very much open these days, as the Magic Lantern:
http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/Display.aspx?PKey=1120
Opened in 1966, the Cinema Theatre sits beside the remains of the
Airport Drive-In Theatre (first listed at 6201 Hollister Avenue, an address that was changed later to 400 Frederick Lopez Road), founded in 1954 and operating through 1990. The lot is used now for airport parking, but the ticketbooth / gateway still remains, and just outside the far fences can be seen the mounts for the drive-in screen, lingering in the dust and weeds.
City directory lists it first in 1942, at 1219 State Street (but you know how malleable these street addresses were over time). It closed around 1981. The Rose Theatre was at 904 State Street and was last listed in 1931.
Built in either 1912 or 1913, the Mission Theatre lasted as such until 1988. The following year, it became the Metro 4, having previously been operated by Mission Theatre Enterprises as a Spanish-speaking picture house (from at least 1967, through 1983).
Oh, and the last film shown here (for the time being) was “Cold Mountain” in March 2004. The balcony was “officially” closed but that didn’t mean you couldn’t sneak under the velvet ropes…the house is mooted to become the Santa Barbara Performing Arts Centre in 2006.
The Rose opened on 904 State Street in 1911 or 1912 as Tally’s Theatre, changed its name to the Palace Theatre (running as such from 1912 through 1924), and then transmogrified into the Rose Theatre in 1925, operating through 1931. No mention in the city directories of it (or the Mission, actually) being a Warner house.
Not listed in city directories until 1932, the Fox Arlington Theatre became the Arlington Theatre in 1961.
Opened in 1920, the California Theatre (listed as the Warner Brothers California Theatre in 1931) closed in 1962.
It was used as a concert hall as recently as 2002. Huge mural on the side of the building – photo can be found here:
View link
Last year or so, there were due to be a series of events put on by UCLA in the Los Angeles, the Orpheum and the Palace. The Orpheum was just fine, Gilmore shut the Palace down, and the Los Angeles was revealed not to have had a fire curtain(!), which led the fire marshals to shut it down indefinitely. Just watching “Charlie’s Angels II: Full Throttle”, it’s very funny at the end to see the characters hop in a sportscar directly outside of Grauman’s Chinese, and in the next scene magically appear just outside the Orpheum, drive past the Tower (heading south, of course), back past the Orpheum repeatedly, and then crash into the main stage of the Los Angeles! At least they made Broadway at night look dishy and cosmopolitan; would’ve been funny to see this scene set in the other Broadway theatre district (nearer South Central, comprising the theatres Aloha, Kiva, etc.).
I appreciate the quick response in updating this listing, but does this mean that someone can excise the now-extraneous information in my original post?
During the early- to mid-1980s, this house screened Spanish-language pornography. The realtor alleged that, in its heyday, the neon marquee could be seen from higher elevations in Ventura, the next city to the north of the theatre. The facade is still intact and, theoretically, the marquee could be lit again.
The Cinema Twin is indeed a second-run theatre now; three auditoriums and tickets for $3. A modest little crackerbox directly in front of an old drive-in theatre now closed. The address is 6050 Hollister Avenue, Goleta, CA 93117.
Always fun to wander into this theatre during the Los Angeles Conservancy’s “Last Remaining Seats” Broadway tour on Sundays, but they’ll chase you out right quick if you let slip that you aren’t really there because of the Jesus. It’s in beautiful shape on the inside, though…this may also be the same Iglesia Universal outfit that runs the old Granada Theatre on Avalon Boulevard.
The seats have all been removed from this theatre. The fellow who owns it now is very nice (works in sound design for films), and occasionally hosts events for non-profits and the like. Haven’t been seen anything happening here for quite some time, though.
Every time I drive by, it seems to be some kind of daycare(!) situation in the lobby. Shall investigate further.
It’s great that the theatre remains there, but the screening rooms are truly tiny – almost uncomfortably so.
The letters spelling out “Globe” have been removed from the marquee out front but the globe itself remains. Possibly the current club owners had something to do with this. Conversely, the removal of the letters makes it much easier to see “Morosco Theater” printed on the masonry directly above the marquee.
I’m more than willing to check various libraries to plumb their city directories and find out exact addresses for these Southern California theatres. In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing recently – there are so many more theatres in that area that haven’t been put into this site. For example, the theatres in the Broadway area of Los Angeles (nearer to South Central) have been mostly converted to various houses of worship. At least the buildings themselves haven’t been torn down…
The marquee of this theatre can be seen in the early half of “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”, with the program “Cartoon Cavalcade” showing.