I ought to have used the zoom feature on that photo. It does say Civic Theatre above the billboard, and so does a smaller vertical sign over the entrance.
I searched the Allen County photo web site, and can’t find any photos of a Capitol Theatre.
The history section of the web site of the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre says that the company was founded in 1927 as the Fort Wayne Community Theatre Guild, changed its name to Old Fort Players in 1931, moved into the Majestic Theatre that same year, changed its name to Fort Wayne Civic Theatre in 1940, and moved their operations to the Palace Theatre in 1957. The Civic Theatre company mounted 231 productions at the Majestic over the years. The page doesn’t say what became of the Majestic after the Civic Theatre company moved to the Palace.
Assuming that the theater was renamed for the company in 1940, and retained that name until the company moved out in 1957, then it couldn’t have been called the Capitol during the period when our introduction currently says it was.
A list of Indiana’s movie theaters available here in PDF format has a Capitol Theatre in Fort Wayne, with the AKA Little Cinema, but the only additional information is that it has been demolished. The Majestic is also on the list, with no AKA’s.
The correct zip code is 23607. Google’s pin icon and street view are several miles too far north. The actual view of the 2200 block of Jefferson Avenue shows that the Dixie Theatre has been demolished.
Given the size, age, name, and location of the Jamaica Theatre, it must be the theater that the January 15, 1921, issue of The American Contractor said was then under construction:
“Theater (M. P.): 2 sty. 120x83. Hyde Sq. Jamaica Plain. Archt. Wm. Dykeman, 120 Tremont st. Owner Jamaica Amusement Co., Fred'k Greene, 37 Tremont st. Fdn. let to Jos. Imhof, 6 Ashley St., Jamaica Plain. Work started.”
The AKA Tokay Theatre needs to be added, per the article in rivest266’s link in the previous comment. A March 12, 1937, Lodi News-Sentinel article here tells of the purchase of the Tokay Theatre by the T&D Jr. circuit. The house had been closed for several years a that time.
The March 12 article says that the Tokay Theatre began operating in 1908, but a May 8, 1915, article in the Lodi Sentinel said that construction was underway on the Tokay Theatre, and that it would be opened by June 1, so apparently the house was rebuilt that year.
A major remodeling was carried out in 1928, as told in this article from the April 7 issue of the Sentinel. A short time later, the Tokay Theatre was taken over by National Theatres, then also operators of the Lodi Theatre.
In its last days, the State operated as a Spanish language house, but this proved unsuccessful. The State Theatre had ended its run as a movie house by November, 1961, when it was converted into a dance hall.
The Arbor Theatre was opened as a 196-seat, single-screen house in May, 1980, by Jack and Janice Smith. As told in this article from the Lodi News-Sentinel of July 16, 1981, the house opened with standard Hollywood fare, but low attendance led the Smiths to begin programming Spanish language movies in December, 1980. The new policy proved a success.
The Arbor Square Theatre closed in 1995, and was later converted into a church.
Here is an updated link to the 1953 Boxoffice article about the Empress Theatre.
Paul G. Carlson was not the original architect of the 1927 Empress. He was born in 1912, and received his degree in architecture from the University of Washington in 1935. Partners Barney Grevstad and Frederick R. Eley were about the same age.
Carlson was an associate in the office of theater architect Bjarne Moe from 1935 to 1941, and participated in the design of the Liberty Theatre at Ellensburg, Washington and the second Green Lake Theatre in Seattle, both built in 1937.
Frederick R. Eley was the son of Fred H. Eley, a prominent architect in Santa Ana, California, in the early 20th century.
A questionnaire (PDF file here) prepared for the AIA by the office of architect J. Lloyd Conrich in 1946 lists two theaters among the projects for which he was architect or was associated with others: the “Shasta Theater” (the Cascade Theatre) in Redding and the “Theater del Mar” in Santa Cruz. Both houses were built for Golden State Theatres.
A 2001 post by Warren E. Bechtolt on a message board says: “Research from AIA lists over 190 projects designed by Conrich, 31 of which are theatres.” The post doesn’t name any of these theaters other than the Cascade, but now we know there are at least two survivors among them. Farther down the message board thread the architect’s son, Bob Conrich, posted that “…all of his original tracings are archived at the California Historical Society in San Francisco.” If someone in the Bay Area has access to the collection, maybe they could compile a list of Conrich’s theater designs for us.
The entry for Manchester architect Norris W. Corey in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Rex Theatre as one of his projects.
The entry for Cleveland architect Charles C. Colman in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Memphis Drive-In as one of his projects from 1954.
The entry for Cleveland architect Charles C. Colman in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Euclid Avenue Drive-In as one of his projects from 1948.
I didn’t make the connection between the Queen City Drive-In and the project on Sunshine Street because Boxoffice didn’t give the location of the Queen City in the 1969 item about the Holiday, and didn’t give the name Queen City in the 1968 item about the Sunshine Street project; and because Boxoffice said the Queen City was only in the planning stage in the 1969 item when they had said that the Sunshine Street project was already under construction in the 1968 item.
Apparently there was some delay in the construction of the Queen City, as it didn’t open until some time in 1970. I don’t have an opening date for it, but I got the impression from the August 30, 1969, Boxoffice item that the Holiday opened first. The magazine might have just overlooked the opening of the Queen City, though. Not every opening in every city was covered.
The name of the street the Queen City Drive-In was on was Sunshine Street, not Sunrise. The wrong street name has sent Google Maps on a wild goose chase, ending up several miles from where the theater was actually located.
Tinseltoes: The Carlton is not yet listed. CinemaTour gives the address of the Carlton Theatre as 300 S. 4th Street. It is probably the same building that now houses Ady’s Appliance, 302 S. 4th (southwest corner of Pierre Street), though architect Louis Siebers' streamline modern facade has been given a boxy modernization
This comment on a local web page gives the location of the Price Theatre as Myers Avenue, mentions that it was operating during the 1960s, and says that it was converted into a shoe store and later demolished to make way for a Rite-Aid store. Internet says the Rite-Aid in Dunbar is at 1101 Myers Avenue, so that would be the approximate address of the theater.
Cezar Joseph Del Valle’s Brooklyn Theatre Index says that the Oxford Theatre opened on October 9, 1910. The house was designed in the Moorish style by architect William McElfatrick. It was a rather small theater, with only 648 seats.
The April, 1911, issue of Architecture and Building featured two photos, a plan of the orchestra floor, and a cross-section of the Oxford Theatre as part of an article on theaters (Google Books scan). The first photo is on page 350.
The cornice and window trim of the building to the left of the modern building in Street View is recognizable in the 1939 photo of the Chief, so the theater has been demolished.
After the Griffith and Dickinson theater chains merged in 1939, the consolidated firm embarked on a project to renovate its theaters. All the plans were designed by the Dallas architectural firm Corgan & Moore. It was at this time that the Royal Theatre in Hiawatha was renamed the Chief Theatre.
A photo of the Chief, sporting its new marquee, is the second in the column on the right side of this page of Boxoffice, August 19, 1939.
In 1939, the Booth Theatre became part of the Griffith-Dickinson theater chain. The company was in the process of remodeling and renovating many of its theaters, with plans for all the projects being done by the Dallas architectural firm Corgan & Moore. According to the August 19, 1939, issue of Boxoffice, the Booth Theatre was one of the former Dickinson houses that the newly combined circuit was updating.
The new marquee added as part of the project, seen at top right on this page of Boxoffice, appears to be the one still on the building.
A PDF file of the NRHP nomination form for the Booth Theatre can be downloaded from this link. An interesting revelation in the document is that Lee DeCamp was the supervising architect on the Boller Brothers' Booth Theatre project.
DeCamp’s connection with the Bollers apparently went back to at least 1911, when one or both of the Bollers probably supervised the construction of the Empress Theatre in Kansas City that DeCamp designed for the Sullivan & Considine circuit. When Robert Boller went to Los Angeles later that year, it was to work on projects for Sullivan & Considine. It’s possible that Boller and DeCamp were associated on some other projects over the next few years, until the Sullivan & Considine circuit collapsed, and Robert Boller returned to Kansas City by 1915.
In 1939 Dickinson Theatres embarked on a $250,000 project of remodeling and renovating many of the theaters in the circuit. An article about the program appeared in the August 19, 1939, issue of Boxoffice. All the projects were designed by the Dallas architectural firm of Corgan and Moore.
One of the houses that the article listed as part of the project was the Osawa. The theater had been renamed, but the article didn’t say what the previous name had been.
I ought to have used the zoom feature on that photo. It does say Civic Theatre above the billboard, and so does a smaller vertical sign over the entrance.
I searched the Allen County photo web site, and can’t find any photos of a Capitol Theatre.
The history section of the web site of the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre says that the company was founded in 1927 as the Fort Wayne Community Theatre Guild, changed its name to Old Fort Players in 1931, moved into the Majestic Theatre that same year, changed its name to Fort Wayne Civic Theatre in 1940, and moved their operations to the Palace Theatre in 1957. The Civic Theatre company mounted 231 productions at the Majestic over the years. The page doesn’t say what became of the Majestic after the Civic Theatre company moved to the Palace.
Assuming that the theater was renamed for the company in 1940, and retained that name until the company moved out in 1957, then it couldn’t have been called the Capitol during the period when our introduction currently says it was.
A list of Indiana’s movie theaters available here in PDF format has a Capitol Theatre in Fort Wayne, with the AKA Little Cinema, but the only additional information is that it has been demolished. The Majestic is also on the list, with no AKA’s.
The correct zip code is 23607. Google’s pin icon and street view are several miles too far north. The actual view of the 2200 block of Jefferson Avenue shows that the Dixie Theatre has been demolished.
Given the size, age, name, and location of the Jamaica Theatre, it must be the theater that the January 15, 1921, issue of The American Contractor said was then under construction:
Here is The entrance to the former theater, with the box office intact.
The AKA Tokay Theatre needs to be added, per the article in rivest266’s link in the previous comment. A March 12, 1937, Lodi News-Sentinel article here tells of the purchase of the Tokay Theatre by the T&D Jr. circuit. The house had been closed for several years a that time.
The March 12 article says that the Tokay Theatre began operating in 1908, but a May 8, 1915, article in the Lodi Sentinel said that construction was underway on the Tokay Theatre, and that it would be opened by June 1, so apparently the house was rebuilt that year.
A major remodeling was carried out in 1928, as told in this article from the April 7 issue of the Sentinel. A short time later, the Tokay Theatre was taken over by National Theatres, then also operators of the Lodi Theatre.
In its last days, the State operated as a Spanish language house, but this proved unsuccessful. The State Theatre had ended its run as a movie house by November, 1961, when it was converted into a dance hall.
The Arbor Theatre was opened as a 196-seat, single-screen house in May, 1980, by Jack and Janice Smith. As told in this article from the Lodi News-Sentinel of July 16, 1981, the house opened with standard Hollywood fare, but low attendance led the Smiths to begin programming Spanish language movies in December, 1980. The new policy proved a success.
The Arbor Square Theatre closed in 1995, and was later converted into a church.
Here is an updated link to the 1946 Boxoffice article about the Bal Theatre.
Here is an updated link to the 1937 Boxoffice article about The Green Lake Theatre.
Here is an updated link to the 1953 Boxoffice article about the Empress Theatre.
Paul G. Carlson was not the original architect of the 1927 Empress. He was born in 1912, and received his degree in architecture from the University of Washington in 1935. Partners Barney Grevstad and Frederick R. Eley were about the same age.
Carlson was an associate in the office of theater architect Bjarne Moe from 1935 to 1941, and participated in the design of the Liberty Theatre at Ellensburg, Washington and the second Green Lake Theatre in Seattle, both built in 1937.
Frederick R. Eley was the son of Fred H. Eley, a prominent architect in Santa Ana, California, in the early 20th century.
A questionnaire (PDF file here) prepared for the AIA by the office of architect J. Lloyd Conrich in 1946 lists two theaters among the projects for which he was architect or was associated with others: the “Shasta Theater” (the Cascade Theatre) in Redding and the “Theater del Mar” in Santa Cruz. Both houses were built for Golden State Theatres.
A 2001 post by Warren E. Bechtolt on a message board says: “Research from AIA lists over 190 projects designed by Conrich, 31 of which are theatres.” The post doesn’t name any of these theaters other than the Cascade, but now we know there are at least two survivors among them. Farther down the message board thread the architect’s son, Bob Conrich, posted that “…all of his original tracings are archived at the California Historical Society in San Francisco.” If someone in the Bay Area has access to the collection, maybe they could compile a list of Conrich’s theater designs for us.
The entry for Manchester architect Norris W. Corey in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Rex Theatre as one of his projects.
The entry for Cleveland architect Charles C. Colman in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Memphis Drive-In as one of his projects from 1954.
The entry for Cleveland architect Charles C. Colman in the 1956 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists the Euclid Avenue Drive-In as one of his projects from 1948.
The photos of the Vogue in Boxoffice of October 15, 1938, mentioned in my previous comment, are now at this link.
I didn’t make the connection between the Queen City Drive-In and the project on Sunshine Street because Boxoffice didn’t give the location of the Queen City in the 1969 item about the Holiday, and didn’t give the name Queen City in the 1968 item about the Sunshine Street project; and because Boxoffice said the Queen City was only in the planning stage in the 1969 item when they had said that the Sunshine Street project was already under construction in the 1968 item.
Apparently there was some delay in the construction of the Queen City, as it didn’t open until some time in 1970. I don’t have an opening date for it, but I got the impression from the August 30, 1969, Boxoffice item that the Holiday opened first. The magazine might have just overlooked the opening of the Queen City, though. Not every opening in every city was covered.
The name of the street the Queen City Drive-In was on was Sunshine Street, not Sunrise. The wrong street name has sent Google Maps on a wild goose chase, ending up several miles from where the theater was actually located.
Boxoffice of August 19, 1939, calls this house the Dickinson Theatre. It must have been renamed the State sometime between 1939 and 1941.
Tinseltoes: The Carlton is not yet listed. CinemaTour gives the address of the Carlton Theatre as 300 S. 4th Street. It is probably the same building that now houses Ady’s Appliance, 302 S. 4th (southwest corner of Pierre Street), though architect Louis Siebers' streamline modern facade has been given a boxy modernization
This comment on a local web page gives the location of the Price Theatre as Myers Avenue, mentions that it was operating during the 1960s, and says that it was converted into a shoe store and later demolished to make way for a Rite-Aid store. Internet says the Rite-Aid in Dunbar is at 1101 Myers Avenue, so that would be the approximate address of the theater.
Cezar Joseph Del Valle’s Brooklyn Theatre Index says that the Oxford Theatre opened on October 9, 1910. The house was designed in the Moorish style by architect William McElfatrick. It was a rather small theater, with only 648 seats.
The April, 1911, issue of Architecture and Building featured two photos, a plan of the orchestra floor, and a cross-section of the Oxford Theatre as part of an article on theaters (Google Books scan). The first photo is on page 350.
The cornice and window trim of the building to the left of the modern building in Street View is recognizable in the 1939 photo of the Chief, so the theater has been demolished.
After the Griffith and Dickinson theater chains merged in 1939, the consolidated firm embarked on a project to renovate its theaters. All the plans were designed by the Dallas architectural firm Corgan & Moore. It was at this time that the Royal Theatre in Hiawatha was renamed the Chief Theatre.
A photo of the Chief, sporting its new marquee, is the second in the column on the right side of this page of Boxoffice, August 19, 1939.
In 1939, the Booth Theatre became part of the Griffith-Dickinson theater chain. The company was in the process of remodeling and renovating many of its theaters, with plans for all the projects being done by the Dallas architectural firm Corgan & Moore. According to the August 19, 1939, issue of Boxoffice, the Booth Theatre was one of the former Dickinson houses that the newly combined circuit was updating.
The new marquee added as part of the project, seen at top right on this page of Boxoffice, appears to be the one still on the building.
A PDF file of the NRHP nomination form for the Booth Theatre can be downloaded from this link. An interesting revelation in the document is that Lee DeCamp was the supervising architect on the Boller Brothers' Booth Theatre project.
DeCamp’s connection with the Bollers apparently went back to at least 1911, when one or both of the Bollers probably supervised the construction of the Empress Theatre in Kansas City that DeCamp designed for the Sullivan & Considine circuit. When Robert Boller went to Los Angeles later that year, it was to work on projects for Sullivan & Considine. It’s possible that Boller and DeCamp were associated on some other projects over the next few years, until the Sullivan & Considine circuit collapsed, and Robert Boller returned to Kansas City by 1915.
In 1939 Dickinson Theatres embarked on a $250,000 project of remodeling and renovating many of the theaters in the circuit. An article about the program appeared in the August 19, 1939, issue of Boxoffice. All the projects were designed by the Dallas architectural firm of Corgan and Moore.
One of the houses that the article listed as part of the project was the Osawa. The theater had been renamed, but the article didn’t say what the previous name had been.