The architect of the Granada was Mark T. Jorgensen. Partway through the theatre’s operating life, it suffered a fire, after which its Twenties Renaissance-eclectic appearance was given a Moderne makeover. The facade still bears this look for the most part.
Architects of the Grand Lake were the Reid Bros. This was the largest theatre they designed, although several of their others came close. Also, there were many other theatres in the Bay Area which once had rooftop signs as the Grand Lake has. The only other surviving rooftop sign is on the Parkway, Oakland. Some others which once had them are the FAIRFAX, Oakland (blown down in a windstorm—Fairfax is now a church), IRVING, San Francisco (demolished), FOX PENINSULA, Burlingame (demolished). There were others as well.
The plush curtain in the main auditorium is originally from the long-ago-lost San Francisco Fox. Actually what you see is about the central one-third and bottom two-thirds of it, the Grand Lake having a much smaller proscenium. The remaining parts of the Fox curtain were carefully de-stitched and now embellish the panels of acoustical fabric between the columns along the auditorium sidewalls.
The Arlington Theatre was never a hotel. It was always built to be a theatre, with retail around it. However, the site was once the location of the earlier (19th Century?) Arlington Hotel.
The present organ in the theatre is originally from Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, a theatre which is itself undergoing restoration, and is utilizing yet another identical organ from Loew’s Paradise, the Bronx.
From what I have been told from several sources in the “old theatre fan” community, United Artists Theatres wanted to build a multiplex with parking garage on the large empty lot and existing parking area behind and to the side of this theatre, as well as in the huge basement beneath the original auditorium. The governing powers of Daly City did not want this for whatever reason, and so UA built a small multiplex across the freeway at Metro Center, Colma, and when this house opened, the Serra was promptly closed.
A coffee shop operated in the Serra lobby for several years in the mid-90s. The tenants respected and preserved the space perfectly, removing only the box office (storing it in the basement), since it attracted vandals.
Before the theatre was demolished, an antique dealer/theatre buff friend of mine purchased both auditorium chandeliers, both drinking fountains, and the chrome handles from the auditorium doors. Someone else purchased the box office, and still another person purchased and removed the huge neon and sheetmetal letter “A” from the vertical sign.
The theatre was demolished, save for its basement, lower wall structures, and lobby floor structure, which were all incorporated into the Mission style Hampton Inn which now occupies the site. A large part of the entry terrazzo sidewalk survives directly beneath the terra cotta tile entry floor surface.
The California (#1) was the second name of the T&D Theatre Deluxe, later known for most of its life as the (Fox) Mission. More info can be found under the listing, “Fox Mission.”
The Jose Theatre, as of last week, is now OPEN as the new Improv Comedy Club for San Jose. The kleig lights were sweeping the sky last Friday night, as Kevin Pollak was onstage for the second night of a four-night run. Appearing next: Paula Poundstone, followed by engagements of Brad Sherwood, D. L. Hughley, and Brett Buttler, into December.
I have not entered the theatre yet since its reopening, but through the new glass doors I could see that the egg-and-dart moldings running around the lobby walls have been beautifully regilded, and both intricate ironwork chandeliers have been restored. The only change to the exterior’s historic look is the substitution of the IMPROV name in neon where JOSE used to be. However, the lettering is done in neon which matches. The vertical sign still reads JOSE, and blinks on letter by letter in both green and magenta in turn, and then flashes in unison. This restored treasure brings a glowingly positive presence to the Downtown streetscape—soon to be joined by the Fox California a couple of blocks away in a little over a year.
Thank you for the comments on the Shore. I saw this theatre last July while making my first ever trip to Coney Island, and there was this huge theatre, across from Nathan’s Famous hot dogs. I was with several theatre buffs at the time, and no one knew anything about it, except one person did mention that it had been a Loew’s house at one time.
Also saved before the theatre was gutted were the two male and female mythological figures, painted on jigsawed masonite, which flanked the screen. A San Francisco antique dealer has them.
This theatre was a real rarity in that its design incorporated many Art Nouveau elements, representing a style that was on its way out by the time the age of the movie palace was beginning.
The T&D (Turner & Dahnken being the chain) featured a large Wurlitzer pipe organ.
When the United Artists Theatre in Berkeley was built and opened in 1932, the T&D Wurlitzer was installed there. The organ is currently in private hands, in storage.
When in college, I knew a woman, Dorothy “Dottie” Parsons, who was an usherette at the T&D in 1926, and she said that they used flashlight wands to aid patrons in reaching their seats, so typical at that time. I now have a photograph given to me by Mrs. Parsons before she died, showing the ushette staff lined up behind the theatre. They wore smock-like dresses with long scarf-like ties, hats, and stockings along with shiny black shoes.
A bit of clarification: The original architects of the Stanford were Charles Peter Weeks and William Day. Other nearby theatres by them include the Fox California, San Jose (undergoing restoration/expansion), the Fox Peninsula, Burlingame (demolished), and the Fox Oakland (extant but closed).
The original painted decorations were by Power Studios, a firm later absorbed by Heinsbergen. Heinsbergen still had the original Power Studios color renderings of the decorative scheme in their files, and thus were brought in to restore the Stanford’s colorful interior in 1989 to as close as possible to what had been there originally. The results are superb.
According to my friend, the late Ruth Moore, a longtime Sacramento resident who remembered the Esquire’s opening circa 1938, her most vivid memory of what was considered an ULTRA modern theatre were the glowing, antiseptic toilet seats! Apparently there was some sort of element running through the seats which was meant to keep them constantly sanitized. A byproduct of this was that the seats themselves lit up.
I was in Buffalo last July and was on the street shown in the photo.
Shea’s Buffalo (shown in the photo as closer to the viewer than the Paramount) is still there and being restored (though that huge neon sign is gone), but there is no sign of a theatre where the Paramount was.
The San Mateo was NOT torn down, though it was lost as a theatre. It still stands, in use as an office and retail building. Most of its Greco-Renaissance hybrid facade was allowed to remain intact, though the central arched pavilion feature and marquee were removed.
The interior was arguably the first, possibly anywhere, to be decorated in what would ultimately be known as Art Deco, the decorative scheme having been changed during construction to reflect the era’s changes in taste.
The architects were Weeks & Day, who also designed the California (Fox California) currently being restored in San Jose.
The Peninsula was ornately Spanish Baroque in style, featuring staircases in the lobby ascending between pillars inset with mosaic-like panels depicting animals. The auditorium featured a massive plasterwork proscenium, and arched organ chamber fronts.
For many years, the theatre’s roof featured a two-sided lightbulb sign, with incandescent fireworks, similar to that which still survives atop Oakland’s Grand Lake theatre.
Just over a month ago (late Aug. ‘02) I drove by the still-empty shell of the Mayfair. Mounted on it was a sign stating that housing was going to be built at the site. The way it was worded, the sign seemed to indicate that this will take place within the shell of the old theatre. Hopefully this will be the case, and not simply demolition. The streamlined exterior and original marquee are worth keeping.
The Diamond was not demolished, but gutted and converted to a supermarket, formerly Lucky, currently Albertsons.
The theatre was originally Egyptian in style. The facade featured faux stone blocks, and a corbelled central window flanked by columns, and a tall vertical sign rising high above the roof.
In later years, the facade and signage were remodeled in Moderne style, with much neon.
The large mass of the auditorium with stage fly tower sporting the Albertsons sign can easily be seen from the 580 freeway, on the East side.
It is tempting to wonder if remnants of the auditorium survive above the market’s dropped ceiling, much as was discovered to be the case with Berkeley’s Rivoli, now Smart & Final.
The theatre building still stands. It has long been an apartment building. The style of the facade—still intact—is a simple blend of Egyptian (papyrus columns flanking the entrance); Greco-Roman (goddess figures holding musical instruments atop the columns); and Art Deco (lightly incised geometric patterns in the stucco pediment between the columns and over adjacent windows). If one looks closely at the incised patterns on the pediment, the words “ALLENDALE THEATRE” can still be seen.
The architect was Frederick Quandt. It was a stadium style auditorium. When the office and condominium complex to replace the theatre was originally designed, the huge three-sided sign tower was intended to be saved and placed on the new building. Indeed, the finished development features a blank niche, where the sign was to have been placed. This never happened.
The UC and the Campus are not the same. The Campus still stands on Durant St. a little south of Telegraph Ave. The former Campus has long been an office and retail building, but the large concrete stage fly tower can still be seen sticking up above the rear of the building.
The State’s orchestra leader in the 1920s was Lloyd Skeels. According to his granddaughter Simone, a friend of mine, Lloyd was somewhat frowned upon locally because he employed non-union musicians for the pit orchestra.
According to my now 92-year-old adopted grandmother Mary Tolson Bruce, who grew up in Long Beach in the 20s, the State, along with the Fox West Coast, were the two most prestigious theatres downtown at that time.
I visited this theatre with the Theatre Historical Society a little over a month ago. It is truly worth seeing. While the modernized (60s?) little lobby isn’t anything, the facade, marquee, and the unrestored but well-preserved auditorium are a delight! The little balconies all along the auditorium sidewalls are rather unusual for a theatre of this era.
Here’s a RARE opportunity to see a first run movie in a SINGLE screen 1920s theatre! If you’re in the area, don’t pass it up!
The architect of the Granada was Mark T. Jorgensen. Partway through the theatre’s operating life, it suffered a fire, after which its Twenties Renaissance-eclectic appearance was given a Moderne makeover. The facade still bears this look for the most part.
Architects of the Grand Lake were the Reid Bros. This was the largest theatre they designed, although several of their others came close. Also, there were many other theatres in the Bay Area which once had rooftop signs as the Grand Lake has. The only other surviving rooftop sign is on the Parkway, Oakland. Some others which once had them are the FAIRFAX, Oakland (blown down in a windstorm—Fairfax is now a church), IRVING, San Francisco (demolished), FOX PENINSULA, Burlingame (demolished). There were others as well.
The plush curtain in the main auditorium is originally from the long-ago-lost San Francisco Fox. Actually what you see is about the central one-third and bottom two-thirds of it, the Grand Lake having a much smaller proscenium. The remaining parts of the Fox curtain were carefully de-stitched and now embellish the panels of acoustical fabric between the columns along the auditorium sidewalls.
The Arlington Theatre was never a hotel. It was always built to be a theatre, with retail around it. However, the site was once the location of the earlier (19th Century?) Arlington Hotel.
The present organ in the theatre is originally from Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, a theatre which is itself undergoing restoration, and is utilizing yet another identical organ from Loew’s Paradise, the Bronx.
From what I have been told from several sources in the “old theatre fan” community, United Artists Theatres wanted to build a multiplex with parking garage on the large empty lot and existing parking area behind and to the side of this theatre, as well as in the huge basement beneath the original auditorium. The governing powers of Daly City did not want this for whatever reason, and so UA built a small multiplex across the freeway at Metro Center, Colma, and when this house opened, the Serra was promptly closed.
A coffee shop operated in the Serra lobby for several years in the mid-90s. The tenants respected and preserved the space perfectly, removing only the box office (storing it in the basement), since it attracted vandals.
Before the theatre was demolished, an antique dealer/theatre buff friend of mine purchased both auditorium chandeliers, both drinking fountains, and the chrome handles from the auditorium doors. Someone else purchased the box office, and still another person purchased and removed the huge neon and sheetmetal letter “A” from the vertical sign.
The theatre was demolished, save for its basement, lower wall structures, and lobby floor structure, which were all incorporated into the Mission style Hampton Inn which now occupies the site. A large part of the entry terrazzo sidewalk survives directly beneath the terra cotta tile entry floor surface.
The California (#1) was the second name of the T&D Theatre Deluxe, later known for most of its life as the (Fox) Mission. More info can be found under the listing, “Fox Mission.”
The Jose Theatre, as of last week, is now OPEN as the new Improv Comedy Club for San Jose. The kleig lights were sweeping the sky last Friday night, as Kevin Pollak was onstage for the second night of a four-night run. Appearing next: Paula Poundstone, followed by engagements of Brad Sherwood, D. L. Hughley, and Brett Buttler, into December.
I have not entered the theatre yet since its reopening, but through the new glass doors I could see that the egg-and-dart moldings running around the lobby walls have been beautifully regilded, and both intricate ironwork chandeliers have been restored. The only change to the exterior’s historic look is the substitution of the IMPROV name in neon where JOSE used to be. However, the lettering is done in neon which matches. The vertical sign still reads JOSE, and blinks on letter by letter in both green and magenta in turn, and then flashes in unison. This restored treasure brings a glowingly positive presence to the Downtown streetscape—soon to be joined by the Fox California a couple of blocks away in a little over a year.
Thank you for the comments on the Shore. I saw this theatre last July while making my first ever trip to Coney Island, and there was this huge theatre, across from Nathan’s Famous hot dogs. I was with several theatre buffs at the time, and no one knew anything about it, except one person did mention that it had been a Loew’s house at one time.
Also saved before the theatre was gutted were the two male and female mythological figures, painted on jigsawed masonite, which flanked the screen. A San Francisco antique dealer has them.
This theatre was a real rarity in that its design incorporated many Art Nouveau elements, representing a style that was on its way out by the time the age of the movie palace was beginning.
The T&D (Turner & Dahnken being the chain) featured a large Wurlitzer pipe organ.
When the United Artists Theatre in Berkeley was built and opened in 1932, the T&D Wurlitzer was installed there. The organ is currently in private hands, in storage.
When in college, I knew a woman, Dorothy “Dottie” Parsons, who was an usherette at the T&D in 1926, and she said that they used flashlight wands to aid patrons in reaching their seats, so typical at that time. I now have a photograph given to me by Mrs. Parsons before she died, showing the ushette staff lined up behind the theatre. They wore smock-like dresses with long scarf-like ties, hats, and stockings along with shiny black shoes.
The T&D was demolished in 1978.
A bit of clarification: The original architects of the Stanford were Charles Peter Weeks and William Day. Other nearby theatres by them include the Fox California, San Jose (undergoing restoration/expansion), the Fox Peninsula, Burlingame (demolished), and the Fox Oakland (extant but closed).
The original painted decorations were by Power Studios, a firm later absorbed by Heinsbergen. Heinsbergen still had the original Power Studios color renderings of the decorative scheme in their files, and thus were brought in to restore the Stanford’s colorful interior in 1989 to as close as possible to what had been there originally. The results are superb.
According to my friend, the late Ruth Moore, a longtime Sacramento resident who remembered the Esquire’s opening circa 1938, her most vivid memory of what was considered an ULTRA modern theatre were the glowing, antiseptic toilet seats! Apparently there was some sort of element running through the seats which was meant to keep them constantly sanitized. A byproduct of this was that the seats themselves lit up.
I was in Buffalo last July and was on the street shown in the photo.
Shea’s Buffalo (shown in the photo as closer to the viewer than the Paramount) is still there and being restored (though that huge neon sign is gone), but there is no sign of a theatre where the Paramount was.
The San Mateo was NOT torn down, though it was lost as a theatre. It still stands, in use as an office and retail building. Most of its Greco-Renaissance hybrid facade was allowed to remain intact, though the central arched pavilion feature and marquee were removed.
The interior was arguably the first, possibly anywhere, to be decorated in what would ultimately be known as Art Deco, the decorative scheme having been changed during construction to reflect the era’s changes in taste.
The architects were Weeks & Day, who also designed the California (Fox California) currently being restored in San Jose.
The Peninsula was ornately Spanish Baroque in style, featuring staircases in the lobby ascending between pillars inset with mosaic-like panels depicting animals. The auditorium featured a massive plasterwork proscenium, and arched organ chamber fronts.
For many years, the theatre’s roof featured a two-sided lightbulb sign, with incandescent fireworks, similar to that which still survives atop Oakland’s Grand Lake theatre.
The Surf was still standing, summer 1986.
By about 1994, when I next visited Huntington Beach, it was gone.
Just over a month ago (late Aug. ‘02) I drove by the still-empty shell of the Mayfair. Mounted on it was a sign stating that housing was going to be built at the site. The way it was worded, the sign seemed to indicate that this will take place within the shell of the old theatre. Hopefully this will be the case, and not simply demolition. The streamlined exterior and original marquee are worth keeping.
The Diamond was not demolished, but gutted and converted to a supermarket, formerly Lucky, currently Albertsons.
The theatre was originally Egyptian in style. The facade featured faux stone blocks, and a corbelled central window flanked by columns, and a tall vertical sign rising high above the roof.
In later years, the facade and signage were remodeled in Moderne style, with much neon.
The large mass of the auditorium with stage fly tower sporting the Albertsons sign can easily be seen from the 580 freeway, on the East side.
It is tempting to wonder if remnants of the auditorium survive above the market’s dropped ceiling, much as was discovered to be the case with Berkeley’s Rivoli, now Smart & Final.
The theatre building still stands. It has long been an apartment building. The style of the facade—still intact—is a simple blend of Egyptian (papyrus columns flanking the entrance); Greco-Roman (goddess figures holding musical instruments atop the columns); and Art Deco (lightly incised geometric patterns in the stucco pediment between the columns and over adjacent windows). If one looks closely at the incised patterns on the pediment, the words “ALLENDALE THEATRE” can still be seen.
The Fox in Napa featured a classic FOX vertical sign similar to many others on California and elsewhere. The theatre has been demolished.
The Broadway continued into the 1980s before its closure and subsequent demolition.
The architect was Frederick Quandt. It was a stadium style auditorium. When the office and condominium complex to replace the theatre was originally designed, the huge three-sided sign tower was intended to be saved and placed on the new building. Indeed, the finished development features a blank niche, where the sign was to have been placed. This never happened.
The UC and the Campus are not the same. The Campus still stands on Durant St. a little south of Telegraph Ave. The former Campus has long been an office and retail building, but the large concrete stage fly tower can still be seen sticking up above the rear of the building.
The State’s orchestra leader in the 1920s was Lloyd Skeels. According to his granddaughter Simone, a friend of mine, Lloyd was somewhat frowned upon locally because he employed non-union musicians for the pit orchestra.
According to my now 92-year-old adopted grandmother Mary Tolson Bruce, who grew up in Long Beach in the 20s, the State, along with the Fox West Coast, were the two most prestigious theatres downtown at that time.
I visited this theatre with the Theatre Historical Society a little over a month ago. It is truly worth seeing. While the modernized (60s?) little lobby isn’t anything, the facade, marquee, and the unrestored but well-preserved auditorium are a delight! The little balconies all along the auditorium sidewalls are rather unusual for a theatre of this era.
Here’s a RARE opportunity to see a first run movie in a SINGLE screen 1920s theatre! If you’re in the area, don’t pass it up!