The minutes of a 2010 meeting of the Randolph County Historic Landmark Preservation Commission contains a lengthy report on the Sunset Theatre, which was being considered for landmark designation. The document available as a PDF.
The report says that the Sunset Theatre was designed by architect William C. Holleyman, Jr.. The Commission voted to approve the designation of the Sunset Theatre as an official local landmark.
We currently have the wrong address for the Capitol Theatre. The Architectural History of Randolph County says that the Capitol was one of two buildings flanking a commercial block at 19-23 S. Fayetteville Street (Building B:16 at upper right on this page.) The text doesn’t say which side of the commercial block the theater was on, but old city directories from before the town’s numbering system was changed list the Capitol at 205 S. Fayetteville, which means it must have been south of Building B:16, and the modern address of its lot would probably be 105 S. Fayetteville.
Yes, the Carolina Theatre was in the building that now houses the Asheboro offices of the Christian youth organization Young Life. The awning is probably attached to the old theater marquee.
Thanks for the heads up, Stephen. Looks like something extra got into the URL. Here is a repaired link. Click the + sign in the tool bar at lower right of that web page to enlarge the image.
A January 24, 1904, article from the Springfield Republican (unfortunately behind a paywall) says that Sylvester Poli intended to lease the Grand Opera House at Springfield and rebuild it as a ground-floor theater. The reason I’m not assuming that this theater was the Grand Opera House is because I can find no other references to a theater of that name in Springfield. It isn’t even listed in any of the Cahn guides that are available on the Internet.
It is clear from other sources that Poli’s Theatre in Springfield was an existing house (Poli had not yet built his first theater, having spent the early years of his career adding existing theaters to his circuit), but I’d like to find at least one more source saying that the Grand Opera House was the theater in Springfield that he took over in 1904, or at least confirming the existence of a theater of that name in Springfield.
This web page has considerable information about Biddeford’s Central Theatre. It was opened on September 18, 1916, and was originally operated by Maine Theatres and later by Paramount. There were 1,192 seats at opening, but 42 were in boxes. Boxes were usually closed when theaters converted entirely to movies.
The opening date and the nae of the original operators indicates that this was the house mentioned in the March 11, 1916, issue of The American Contractor:
“Biddeford, Me.—Theater & Store Bldg.: $100,000. 1 sty. & bas. & balconies. 65x168. Biddeford. Archts. Jackson & Solomonson, 36 Bromfield St., Boston, Mass. Owner Maine Theaters, Inc., A. S. Black, pres., Central blk., Rockland, Me. Architects taking bids.”
Jackson & Solomonson also designed other houses for Maine Theatres during this period, including the Star Theatre in Westbrook.
This weblog post (which has a photo) says that the Star Theatre was built in 1912 at the corner of Main and Center Streets. Center Street no longer reaches Main, but there is a pedestrian passage that is probably its remnant.
If you click the photo and enlarge it, you will also see the marquee of the Rialto Theatre, which was located in the Odd Fellows Hall next door to the Star. The local historical society says that the Rialto was a second-floor theater. It was still operating around 1950 under the name Brook Theatre.
The Star Theatre closed in the 1960s and the building partially collapsed in the early 1970s, after which the remainder was demolished.
According to items in the July 1 and September 2, 1916, issues of The Moving Picture World, the Star Theatre at Westbrook was remodeled and expanded that year. New owners, the Maine Amusement Company, of Rockland, increased the seating capacity from 600 to 900, and built a new stage 20x42 feet. The plans for the project were drawn by the Boston architectural firm Jackson & Solomonson.
I just noticed in Street View that the building has “Greens Theater 1914” emblazoned on its parapet. Undoubtedly that was the year of construction. I notice that the decorative frieze seen above the entrance in the 1930 magazine photo I linked to is gone. As there is fenestration on the second floor now, I’m thinking the frieze might have been stained glass.
If Hill Top Road in San Francisco still exists, then its name must have been changed. Google Maps is only finding Hilltop Drive in San Carlos, way down the peninsula.
As there aren’t many places in Hunters Point with a 100 block, my best guess would be that the theater was somewhere in the neighborhood around Innes Avenue and Donahue Street, where it looks like there are a few old housing projects that haven’t been redeveloped yet, and a few that have been.
A photo of Green’s Theatre in Anoka appears in this advertisement for Wright-DeCoster sound equipment in the June 28, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News.
The theater at 331 Virginia must have been the one Sal44 knew as the Rio. Most likely it didn’t make it into the CinemaScope era. Narrow theaters usually weren’t worth the expense of converting unless they were the only show in town.
I’ve found a couple more references to the Crown Theatre, which was probably the final name of the Marval. One mentions the 1958 film Macabre being shown there, and says the name of the Crown’s manager was Mr. Barber. A 2009 Times-Herald article about Vallejo’s downtown urban renewal project says that the Crown Theatre was among the buildings demolished in 1962.
As for the Valmar Theatre, I’ve come across a couple of references to a theater on Georgia Street being destroyed by a fire in the late 1940s. That might have been the fate of the Valmar. But I’ve also seen a few comments from people who say there was a third theater on Georgia Street, so it might have been that one that burned. Some people say it was called the Rita Theatre, and one called it the Ritz. I wonder if there was a predecessor to the Solano Avenue Rita Theatre, and its name was changed to Ritz when the new Rita opened?
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 minutes of a 2010 meeting of the Randolph County Historic Landmark Preservation Commission contains a lengthy report on the Sunset Theatre, which was being considered for landmark designation. The document available as a PDF.
The report says that the Sunset Theatre was designed by architect William C. Holleyman, Jr.. The Commission voted to approve the designation of the Sunset Theatre as an official local landmark.
We currently have the wrong address for the Capitol Theatre. The Architectural History of Randolph County says that the Capitol was one of two buildings flanking a commercial block at 19-23 S. Fayetteville Street (Building B:16 at upper right on this page.) The text doesn’t say which side of the commercial block the theater was on, but old city directories from before the town’s numbering system was changed list the Capitol at 205 S. Fayetteville, which means it must have been south of Building B:16, and the modern address of its lot would probably be 105 S. Fayetteville.
Yes, the Carolina Theatre was in the building that now houses the Asheboro offices of the Christian youth organization Young Life. The awning is probably attached to the old theater marquee.
Thanks for the heads up, Stephen. Looks like something extra got into the URL. Here is a repaired link. Click the + sign in the tool bar at lower right of that web page to enlarge the image.
A January 24, 1904, article from the Springfield Republican (unfortunately behind a paywall) says that Sylvester Poli intended to lease the Grand Opera House at Springfield and rebuild it as a ground-floor theater. The reason I’m not assuming that this theater was the Grand Opera House is because I can find no other references to a theater of that name in Springfield. It isn’t even listed in any of the Cahn guides that are available on the Internet.
It is clear from other sources that Poli’s Theatre in Springfield was an existing house (Poli had not yet built his first theater, having spent the early years of his career adding existing theaters to his circuit), but I’d like to find at least one more source saying that the Grand Opera House was the theater in Springfield that he took over in 1904, or at least confirming the existence of a theater of that name in Springfield.
This web page has considerable information about Biddeford’s Central Theatre. It was opened on September 18, 1916, and was originally operated by Maine Theatres and later by Paramount. There were 1,192 seats at opening, but 42 were in boxes. Boxes were usually closed when theaters converted entirely to movies.
The opening date and the nae of the original operators indicates that this was the house mentioned in the March 11, 1916, issue of The American Contractor:
Jackson & Solomonson also designed other houses for Maine Theatres during this period, including the Star Theatre in Westbrook.This weblog post (which has a photo) says that the Star Theatre was built in 1912 at the corner of Main and Center Streets. Center Street no longer reaches Main, but there is a pedestrian passage that is probably its remnant.
If you click the photo and enlarge it, you will also see the marquee of the Rialto Theatre, which was located in the Odd Fellows Hall next door to the Star. The local historical society says that the Rialto was a second-floor theater. It was still operating around 1950 under the name Brook Theatre.
The Star Theatre closed in the 1960s and the building partially collapsed in the early 1970s, after which the remainder was demolished.
According to items in the July 1 and September 2, 1916, issues of The Moving Picture World, the Star Theatre at Westbrook was remodeled and expanded that year. New owners, the Maine Amusement Company, of Rockland, increased the seating capacity from 600 to 900, and built a new stage 20x42 feet. The plans for the project were drawn by the Boston architectural firm Jackson & Solomonson.
I just noticed in Street View that the building has “Greens Theater 1914” emblazoned on its parapet. Undoubtedly that was the year of construction. I notice that the decorative frieze seen above the entrance in the 1930 magazine photo I linked to is gone. As there is fenestration on the second floor now, I’m thinking the frieze might have been stained glass.
Here is a photo of the Rialto Theatre from ca. 1974.
Sometime around 1940, this photo of Roosevelt Road was made, showing the Rialto on the right with an earlier marquee and vertical sign.
An article about the Rialto appeared in the April 5, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News starting here and concluding on this page.
If Hill Top Road in San Francisco still exists, then its name must have been changed. Google Maps is only finding Hilltop Drive in San Carlos, way down the peninsula.
As there aren’t many places in Hunters Point with a 100 block, my best guess would be that the theater was somewhere in the neighborhood around Innes Avenue and Donahue Street, where it looks like there are a few old housing projects that haven’t been redeveloped yet, and a few that have been.
A photo of Green’s Theatre in Anoka appears in this advertisement for Wright-DeCoster sound equipment in the June 28, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News.
The May 3, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News said that the Seville Theatre was designed by the Boston architectural firm Krokyn, Browne & Rosenstein.
The theater at 331 Virginia must have been the one Sal44 knew as the Rio. Most likely it didn’t make it into the CinemaScope era. Narrow theaters usually weren’t worth the expense of converting unless they were the only show in town.
I’ve found a couple more references to the Crown Theatre, which was probably the final name of the Marval. One mentions the 1958 film Macabre being shown there, and says the name of the Crown’s manager was Mr. Barber. A 2009 Times-Herald article about Vallejo’s downtown urban renewal project says that the Crown Theatre was among the buildings demolished in 1962.
As for the Valmar Theatre, I’ve come across a couple of references to a theater on Georgia Street being destroyed by a fire in the late 1940s. That might have been the fate of the Valmar. But I’ve also seen a few comments from people who say there was a third theater on Georgia Street, so it might have been that one that burned. Some people say it was called the Rita Theatre, and one called it the Ritz. I wonder if there was a predecessor to the Solano Avenue Rita Theatre, and its name was changed to Ritz when the new Rita opened?
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.