Alford & Klein were going for a Spanish Renaissance, not Italian, style in the Eastwood Theatre. Several photos of the house illustrate this article from the April 5, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News.
A remodeling of the Strand Theatre in Vallejo was announced in the May 18, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. The May, 1935, issue of Architect & Engineer said that plans for the remodeling of Fox West Coast theaters in Salinas and Vallejo were by architect A. A. Cantin.
Well, duh. I was paying so much attention to Sal44’s comment on the Rita Theatre page that I didn’t notice the subsequent comment by RussellW, which says that the MarVal (as he styles it) Theatre was on Virginia Street with the Hanlon, Crest and Rio. The Marval must have been the house that Sal44 knew as the Crown.
Though I’ve searched every Internet source I can think of, I’ve found no clues to the location of the Marval Theatre. This comment by Sal44 on the Rita Theatre page mentions four theaters in Vallejo that don’t appear to be listed here yet, including the Crown and the Rio, both in the 300 block of Virginia Street. Either of them might have been the Marval under later name, or it might have been one of the two outlying theaters Sal44 doesn’t remember the names of.
There’s also a problem with the Valmar’s address. The photo Bryan Krefft uploaded shows that it was in the block of Georgia Street just east of Santa Clara Street. Vallejo has extended Georgia Street all the way to Mare Island Way, and stretched the numbering to reach it. Google Maps now places its pin icon a block west of, and Street View displays the number 243 Georgia at, the Valmar’s actual location.
A brief article about the Strand Theatre in Vallejo appeared in the January 22, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World (Google Books scan.) As its seating capacity was 585, almost identical to that of the Fox Strand, I now strongly suspect that it was the same Strand Theatre as this one. The article has a photo, but it is a close view so can’t be compared with the photo we currently display. Still, a bit of detail on the building to the left of the entrance does look very much like the surviving detail on the Victorian structure that still stands on the lot next to the Strand’s site.
The article said that the Strand had opened recently, so it probably opened in late 1915 or very early 1916. Peter J. Hanlon was the promoter of the Strand.
Seaman’s Handbook for Shore Leave, published in 1920 by the United States Merchant Marine, lists three theaters in Vallejo: the Vallejo, the Rialto, and the Strand. I’ve been unable to determine if the Strand listed was this Strand or an earlier theater of the same name.
Street View is currently set to the wrong side of the street. The site of the Strand was where the single-floor building in between the three story and five story buildings is now. The building might be the shell of the Strand rather than new construction, but I’m not sure.
A Lowville Opera House was mentioned in the March 18, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World. It was one of several theaters that had been leased or managed by George A. Hickey, recently named manager of the Triangle company’s Buffalo film exchange, so the house must have been showing movies at least part of the time prior to 1916
Plate 5, on page 15 of Maggie Valentine’s The Show Starts on the Sidewalk has a ca. 1900 photo of the Lowville Opera House.
An advertisement for architectural firm Leon H.Lempert & Son in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide lists the “Town Hall (Opera House), Lowville, N.Y.” as one of the firm’s projects.
An item from the Lowville Journal Republican in mid-1899 said that initial bids for construction of the Town Hall had come in over estimates, and that architect Lempert had subsequently altered the plans, scaling back some features, including reducing the size of the stage from 39x64 feet to 26x64 feet.
The theater appears to have been called both Town Hall and Lowville Opera House, or just Opera House, interchangeably for several decades, but the latter appeared in the local newspaper most frequently.
The current street view and the pin icon on the map are too far apart. I think the address should be just 85 Tunnel Road rather than 85 South Tunnel Road. That puts the pin close to street view and apparently right on top of the building. Here’s a corrected map.
I’ve found the Valmar Theatre mentioned as early as 1932, but it was probably older. The caption of a 1935 photo of the house in James E. Kern’s Vallejo (Google Books preview) says that The Valmar was taken over by Fox West Coast Theatres in 1937.
The Valmar was still listed as a Fox house in the 1949 Yearbook of Motion Pictures. In 1949 Fox also operated a Vallejo house called the Marval Theatre. I wonder if the similarity of the names was only coincidence?
The January 11, 1913, issue of Construction News said that the old building at 5960-62 W. Lake Street in Chicago was being demolished to make way for a moving picture theater, 45x126 feet, and seating 586. The owners of the new theater were H.T. and G. Mulligan, and the architect was William C. Miller.
The January 11, 1913, issue of Construction News had an item saying that C.W. and George L. Rapp were drawing plans for a fireproof theater on Schuyler Avenue in Kankakee for Mrs. Julia Remington. It didn’t say anything about the house being a replacement for a burned theater, but I’ve found nothing about Mrs. Remington building any other theaters at that time, so the Rapp & Rapp project was most likely the rebuilding of this theater.
The April 13, 1913, issue of The Construction News announced the plans for the Globe Theatre, to be built at 13th and Walnut Street in Kansas City. The owners were Oppenstein Bros., and the architects were Jackson & McIlvain.
Jackson & McIlvain are supposed to have designed a theater at Parsons, Kansas, around 1913, but I’ve been unable to track down its name or any other information about it.
This web page has information from the Cleveland Theatre Scrapbook held by the Western Reserve Historical Society. Links on the left lead to more details.
The Cleveland Theatre was opened in 1885. It was known as the H.R. Jacobs Theatre from 1886 until the mid-1890s when the original name was restored. It became a vaudeville and movie house in 1910, but closed a few months later. It was converted for use by the Union Paper & Twine Co. in late 1910, and the building was destroyed by fire in 1912.
I don’t recall ever having seen a city directory that listed vacant lots, and I’ve seen a lot of city directories. “Vacant” always meant an unoccupied building, and the street numbers of vacant lots are simply left off the list.
If we had access to more 1930s Reidsville directories than just 1932 and 1935, we might find either the New Gem or the Penn Theatre listed in several of them. I would guess that the name change came when the theater reopened, which could have been as early as 1935, if the reopening took place after that year’s directory went to press. The New Gem must have closed before late 1931, which is when information would have been gathered for the 1932 edition.
A city directory might make a mistake in one edition, but the owner of the business that had been givent he wrong address would be sure to get a correction in the next edition. The Booker T Theatre is listed at 182 N West Market in at least three Reidsville directories (I haven’t checked the ones published after 1955-56.)
I would guess that the theater was probably where the power plant is now. The power plant look and adjacent buildings (which front on Scales Street) look fairly modern to me- probably from the 1960s or 1970s. Judging from the positions of the older buildings to the north and south on West Market Street, it looks like the street’s alignment was shifted forty or fifty feet, too.
I have also come to suspect that the Booker T Theatre could have been the same house that was earlier called the Gem Theatre and then the Penn Theatre. It was listed at 92 N West Market in 1941, but in 1948 it is gone and the Booker T is listed at 182 N West Market. Between 1941 and 1948, Reidsville renumbered its lots, eliminating all one and two-digit addresses. The Penn could have been renamed the Booker T during the same period. Renaming seems more likely than that a new theater would have been built during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the War Production Board.
I suspect that the Gem/Penn Theatre might have been the house that later became the Booker T Theatre. Sometime between 1941 and 1948 Reidsville renumbered its lots, and every lot’s address was increased by approximately 100.
The Penn Theatre is listed at 92 N West Market in the 1941 directory, but the 1948-49 directory has the Booker T Theatre listed at 182 N West Market. A renaming seems more likely than the construction of an entirely new theater, especially during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the dictates of the War Production Board.
Items about a proposed theater at Mannington, West Virginia, appeared in multiple issues of The Film Daily in 1936. All noted that Dr. C. P. Church, operator of the Burt (or Burt’s) Theatre at Mannington was planning to build a new house ranging from 350-450 seats.
The June 5 issue said that construction of Dr. Church’s new theater would get underway the following week. The project had been designed by Pittsburgh architect Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Thursday, November 19, issue of the daily said that Dr. Church’s new house at the corner of Market and Mill Streets (Mill Street is actually an alley) would open on Saturday. The item didn’t say what would become of Burt’s Theatre.
Here’s adamghost’s link. I agree that the theater had to have been at 18 N. Main. It’s impossible to tell from appearance alone if the building now on the site is entirely new construction or an extreme remodeling of the Rialto’s building, but I’m inclined to think it’s new and the theater has been demolished.
According to the 1962 city directory and a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the Gibson Theatre was at 329 S. Main Street. The NCDCR says that it operated there from 1940 through 1978. The Roxy must have been somewhere else, if it was in operation in 1945.
DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” section lists a 250-seat African American theater called the Rex (no address given) in operation at Laurinburg in 1926. It might have been the Roxy under an earlier name.
Alford & Klein were going for a Spanish Renaissance, not Italian, style in the Eastwood Theatre. Several photos of the house illustrate this article from the April 5, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News.
A remodeling of the Strand Theatre in Vallejo was announced in the May 18, 1935, issue of Motion Picture Herald. The May, 1935, issue of Architect & Engineer said that plans for the remodeling of Fox West Coast theaters in Salinas and Vallejo were by architect A. A. Cantin.
Well, duh. I was paying so much attention to Sal44’s comment on the Rita Theatre page that I didn’t notice the subsequent comment by RussellW, which says that the MarVal (as he styles it) Theatre was on Virginia Street with the Hanlon, Crest and Rio. The Marval must have been the house that Sal44 knew as the Crown.
Though I’ve searched every Internet source I can think of, I’ve found no clues to the location of the Marval Theatre. This comment by Sal44 on the Rita Theatre page mentions four theaters in Vallejo that don’t appear to be listed here yet, including the Crown and the Rio, both in the 300 block of Virginia Street. Either of them might have been the Marval under later name, or it might have been one of the two outlying theaters Sal44 doesn’t remember the names of.
There’s also a problem with the Valmar’s address. The photo Bryan Krefft uploaded shows that it was in the block of Georgia Street just east of Santa Clara Street. Vallejo has extended Georgia Street all the way to Mare Island Way, and stretched the numbering to reach it. Google Maps now places its pin icon a block west of, and Street View displays the number 243 Georgia at, the Valmar’s actual location.
A brief article about the Strand Theatre in Vallejo appeared in the January 22, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World (Google Books scan.) As its seating capacity was 585, almost identical to that of the Fox Strand, I now strongly suspect that it was the same Strand Theatre as this one. The article has a photo, but it is a close view so can’t be compared with the photo we currently display. Still, a bit of detail on the building to the left of the entrance does look very much like the surviving detail on the Victorian structure that still stands on the lot next to the Strand’s site.
The article said that the Strand had opened recently, so it probably opened in late 1915 or very early 1916. Peter J. Hanlon was the promoter of the Strand.
Seaman’s Handbook for Shore Leave, published in 1920 by the United States Merchant Marine, lists three theaters in Vallejo: the Vallejo, the Rialto, and the Strand. I’ve been unable to determine if the Strand listed was this Strand or an earlier theater of the same name.
Street View is currently set to the wrong side of the street. The site of the Strand was where the single-floor building in between the three story and five story buildings is now. The building might be the shell of the Strand rather than new construction, but I’m not sure.
Forgot to put a link to the Google Books Preview of Maggie Valentine’s book.
A Lowville Opera House was mentioned in the March 18, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World. It was one of several theaters that had been leased or managed by George A. Hickey, recently named manager of the Triangle company’s Buffalo film exchange, so the house must have been showing movies at least part of the time prior to 1916
Plate 5, on page 15 of Maggie Valentine’s The Show Starts on the Sidewalk has a ca. 1900 photo of the Lowville Opera House.
An advertisement for architectural firm Leon H.Lempert & Son in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide lists the “Town Hall (Opera House), Lowville, N.Y.” as one of the firm’s projects.
An item from the Lowville Journal Republican in mid-1899 said that initial bids for construction of the Town Hall had come in over estimates, and that architect Lempert had subsequently altered the plans, scaling back some features, including reducing the size of the stage from 39x64 feet to 26x64 feet.
The theater appears to have been called both Town Hall and Lowville Opera House, or just Opera House, interchangeably for several decades, but the latter appeared in the local newspaper most frequently.
The current street view and the pin icon on the map are too far apart. I think the address should be just 85 Tunnel Road rather than 85 South Tunnel Road. That puts the pin close to street view and apparently right on top of the building. Here’s a corrected map.
I’ve found the Valmar Theatre mentioned as early as 1932, but it was probably older. The caption of a 1935 photo of the house in James E. Kern’s Vallejo (Google Books preview) says that The Valmar was taken over by Fox West Coast Theatres in 1937.
The Valmar was still listed as a Fox house in the 1949 Yearbook of Motion Pictures. In 1949 Fox also operated a Vallejo house called the Marval Theatre. I wonder if the similarity of the names was only coincidence?
The January 11, 1913, issue of Construction News said that the old building at 5960-62 W. Lake Street in Chicago was being demolished to make way for a moving picture theater, 45x126 feet, and seating 586. The owners of the new theater were H.T. and G. Mulligan, and the architect was William C. Miller.
The January 11, 1913, issue of Construction News had an item saying that C.W. and George L. Rapp were drawing plans for a fireproof theater on Schuyler Avenue in Kankakee for Mrs. Julia Remington. It didn’t say anything about the house being a replacement for a burned theater, but I’ve found nothing about Mrs. Remington building any other theaters at that time, so the Rapp & Rapp project was most likely the rebuilding of this theater.
The April 13, 1913, issue of The Construction News announced the plans for the Globe Theatre, to be built at 13th and Walnut Street in Kansas City. The owners were Oppenstein Bros., and the architects were Jackson & McIlvain.
Jackson & McIlvain are supposed to have designed a theater at Parsons, Kansas, around 1913, but I’ve been unable to track down its name or any other information about it.
This web page has information from the Cleveland Theatre Scrapbook held by the Western Reserve Historical Society. Links on the left lead to more details.
The Cleveland Theatre was opened in 1885. It was known as the H.R. Jacobs Theatre from 1886 until the mid-1890s when the original name was restored. It became a vaudeville and movie house in 1910, but closed a few months later. It was converted for use by the Union Paper & Twine Co. in late 1910, and the building was destroyed by fire in 1912.
I don’t recall ever having seen a city directory that listed vacant lots, and I’ve seen a lot of city directories. “Vacant” always meant an unoccupied building, and the street numbers of vacant lots are simply left off the list.
If we had access to more 1930s Reidsville directories than just 1932 and 1935, we might find either the New Gem or the Penn Theatre listed in several of them. I would guess that the name change came when the theater reopened, which could have been as early as 1935, if the reopening took place after that year’s directory went to press. The New Gem must have closed before late 1931, which is when information would have been gathered for the 1932 edition.
There are more photos of the Lighthouse Cinema here, at the web site of NBDA Architects, the firm that designed the theater.
A city directory might make a mistake in one edition, but the owner of the business that had been givent he wrong address would be sure to get a correction in the next edition. The Booker T Theatre is listed at 182 N West Market in at least three Reidsville directories (I haven’t checked the ones published after 1955-56.)
I would guess that the theater was probably where the power plant is now. The power plant look and adjacent buildings (which front on Scales Street) look fairly modern to me- probably from the 1960s or 1970s. Judging from the positions of the older buildings to the north and south on West Market Street, it looks like the street’s alignment was shifted forty or fifty feet, too.
I have also come to suspect that the Booker T Theatre could have been the same house that was earlier called the Gem Theatre and then the Penn Theatre. It was listed at 92 N West Market in 1941, but in 1948 it is gone and the Booker T is listed at 182 N West Market. Between 1941 and 1948, Reidsville renumbered its lots, eliminating all one and two-digit addresses. The Penn could have been renamed the Booker T during the same period. Renaming seems more likely than that a new theater would have been built during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the War Production Board.
I suspect that the Gem/Penn Theatre might have been the house that later became the Booker T Theatre. Sometime between 1941 and 1948 Reidsville renumbered its lots, and every lot’s address was increased by approximately 100.
The Penn Theatre is listed at 92 N West Market in the 1941 directory, but the 1948-49 directory has the Booker T Theatre listed at 182 N West Market. A renaming seems more likely than the construction of an entirely new theater, especially during a period when theater construction was severely limited by the dictates of the War Production Board.
RK is correct. Reidsville renumbered its lots at some point, and the modern address for the Broadway Theatre’s location is 230 S. Scales Street.
The 1948-49 and 1952-53 Reidsville directories have the Booker T Theatre listed at 182 N West Market Street.
Thomas R. Short was the architect of the Sheepshead Theatre, according to an article in the February 1, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News.
Items about a proposed theater at Mannington, West Virginia, appeared in multiple issues of The Film Daily in 1936. All noted that Dr. C. P. Church, operator of the Burt (or Burt’s) Theatre at Mannington was planning to build a new house ranging from 350-450 seats.
The June 5 issue said that construction of Dr. Church’s new theater would get underway the following week. The project had been designed by Pittsburgh architect Victor A. Rigaumont.
The Thursday, November 19, issue of the daily said that Dr. Church’s new house at the corner of Market and Mill Streets (Mill Street is actually an alley) would open on Saturday. The item didn’t say what would become of Burt’s Theatre.
Here’s adamghost’s link. I agree that the theater had to have been at 18 N. Main. It’s impossible to tell from appearance alone if the building now on the site is entirely new construction or an extreme remodeling of the Rialto’s building, but I’m inclined to think it’s new and the theater has been demolished.
According to the 1962 city directory and a document about Laurinburg from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the Gibson Theatre was at 329 S. Main Street. The NCDCR says that it operated there from 1940 through 1978. The Roxy must have been somewhere else, if it was in operation in 1945.
DocSouth’s “Going to the Show” section lists a 250-seat African American theater called the Rex (no address given) in operation at Laurinburg in 1926. It might have been the Roxy under an earlier name.