Here are excerpts from a 1978 article from the Oakland Tribune about the Vogue and other Oakland theaters:
If New York’s Radio City Music Hall, with its gorgeous Rockettes, cannot make it these days, what can? Maybe the days of the huge, ornate downtown movie theaters are gone. That’s the picture in the Eastbay, in line with the New York trend. The Radio City Music Hall has been the showplace for movie extravaganzas, the Rockettes chorus line, the big bands, and stand-up comedians. Now the owners say the crowds are staying away.
What is happening in New York has already happened to many Eastbay theaters â€" and for much the same reasons: The flight to the suburbs, mushrooming of small neighborhood theaters,
television, the drive-ins, and changes in the way Hollywood merchandises its products. Some Eastbay theater operators today say they are barely making a living. Others say business is great; these are notably the chains which can out-bid small independents for Hollywood’s latest blockbuster. The ones who didn’t adjust their operations to the changing times have sunk into red ink.
The death roll of those that closed is long: The first exclusive cinema palace in Oakland was said to be the T & D (circa 1916) on llth Street between Broadway and Franklin Street. The building
now is deserted. In 1926, an even finer exhibition hall, the Grand Lake Theater, began operating at 3200 Grand Avenue, and it is still open. Also in the mid 20s, the old Orpheum abandoned its first site on 12th Street to take over the original Fox Oakland on Broadway near 19th Street, later naming it the Orpheum. A bank now stands on the site.
In 1928, the new Fox Oakland on Telegraph Avenue at 18th Street, the grandest of them all, seated 3,400 customers in plush and mysterious East Indian surroundings. The decor itself transported audiences even before the movie began. Today the Fox faces a precarious future, shut for several
years. The theater complex was sold recently to Mario and Erma Delucchi of Piedmont, who say they will entertain any ideas for preserving it.
The Paramount opened in 1931 at 2025 Broadway; one of the last great, movie palaces built in the United States. It flourished for four decades, then fell into disuse. It has since been revived and refurbished as the Paramount Theatre of the Arts and the home of the Oakland Symphony. It has also been designated a national historic landmark. Another early landmark, The Esquire Theater, was located at 17th Street and.San Pablo Avenue. Built in 1919 as the American
Theater, it became the Esquire in 1939 with a change of ownership and refurbishing of the 1,500-seat interior. The wrecking ball knocked it down in 1953.
What about the business today? “It’s a strange business and getting stranger,” says Jerry Toler, owner-operator of the Chabot Theater in Castro Valley. Toler admits he is a discouraged
man. “The small independent has low buying power,” he explained, predicting that soon a
lot of them will be forced to close. His theater is called a “sub-run house” and, as such, he
has to wait for others to show the big films first, then he gets them â€" perhaps a month later
or longer. “It puts us at a big disadvantage. The independents are fighting constantly to get pictures,” Toler said. Film companies control all that, he said, and it was one of the reasons his father, who operated the theater before him, sued the film companies. “Things got better for a while after the suit was settled out of court, but it didn’t last,” Toler said.
In Fremont, on the other hand, Doug Krutilak, one-time partner in the Showcase Cinemas I and II, thinks small theaters “can do very well” despite a drop in film audiences. He says there are about the same number of theaters in existence today as there were in the early ‘50s, but they are much smaller. Krutilak, who now manages a night club in Fremont, lost his lease in 1977 when Transcontinental Theaters decided to get out of the business. One of the theaters was converted to an amusement center; the other remains for daily specialty shows as part of the amusement center.
Joe Siino owns the Vogue Theater in Pittsburg. The theater was shut recently after Siino’s son, who helped his father, was injured in an auto accident. “We were doing all right and we plan to reopen,” said Siino. The big Vogue seats 1,061 and Siino says he practically filled the house on weekends.
This is from the 10/23/65 edition of the Hayward Review. Please do not attack the patrons during the show:
Suit Names Theater In Attack Case
FREMONTâ€"A $31,000 damage suit has been filed against the Center Theater in Fremont after employees of the establishment allegedly beat up a 15-year-old Newark boy. The complaint, filed last week by Roger Maddox, of 35637 Burdick St., Newark, names the movie theater, the Centerville Amusement Co., Inc., three John Does and two unknown companions.
The incident happened May 21, and, according to attorney Edward Newman who filed the complaint, the boy was dragged into the cashier’s booth and beat up for no apparent reason, suffering two broken teeth. The theater is at 37411 Fremont Blvd., Fremont.
The complaint asks $10,000 for the assault, the same amount for the battery and for exemplary damages. A thousand dollars is asked for wrongful detention and an unspecified amount in medical costs.
On 3/8/36, the feature at the Fulton was “Star of Midnight”, with William Powell and Ginger Rogers. Admission was 20 cents. Other theaters advertised were the State, Kinema, Warner Brothers, Fox Wilson and Hardy’s. The Wilson was showing a film starring the recently born Dionne Quintuplets called “The Country Doctor”. A theater on F Street called the Rex, apparently a live performance venue, was featuring “Zorima, Queen of the Nudists”, along with fifty more “Real Lovely Nudists in Person”. I’m not sure if they meant they were real lovely or real as in not artificial.
Was the proposed theater in the 400 block of Salina Street ever built? I keep reading articles about the plans in 1967, but nothing about the actual opening of the theater.
Here are excerpts from a 1978 article from the Oakland Tribune about the Vogue and other Oakland theaters:
If New York’s Radio City Music Hall, with its gorgeous Rockettes, cannot make it these days, what can? Maybe the days of the huge, ornate downtown movie theaters are gone. That’s the picture in the Eastbay, in line with the New York trend. The Radio City Music Hall has been the showplace for movie extravaganzas, the Rockettes chorus line, the big bands, and stand-up comedians. Now the owners say the crowds are staying away.
What is happening in New York has already happened to many Eastbay theaters â€" and for much the same reasons: The flight to the suburbs, mushrooming of small neighborhood theaters,
television, the drive-ins, and changes in the way Hollywood merchandises its products. Some Eastbay theater operators today say they are barely making a living. Others say business is great; these are notably the chains which can out-bid small independents for Hollywood’s latest blockbuster. The ones who didn’t adjust their operations to the changing times have sunk into red ink.
The death roll of those that closed is long: The first exclusive cinema palace in Oakland was said to be the T & D (circa 1916) on llth Street between Broadway and Franklin Street. The building
now is deserted. In 1926, an even finer exhibition hall, the Grand Lake Theater, began operating at 3200 Grand Avenue, and it is still open. Also in the mid 20s, the old Orpheum abandoned its first site on 12th Street to take over the original Fox Oakland on Broadway near 19th Street, later naming it the Orpheum. A bank now stands on the site.
In 1928, the new Fox Oakland on Telegraph Avenue at 18th Street, the grandest of them all, seated 3,400 customers in plush and mysterious East Indian surroundings. The decor itself transported audiences even before the movie began. Today the Fox faces a precarious future, shut for several
years. The theater complex was sold recently to Mario and Erma Delucchi of Piedmont, who say they will entertain any ideas for preserving it.
The Paramount opened in 1931 at 2025 Broadway; one of the last great, movie palaces built in the United States. It flourished for four decades, then fell into disuse. It has since been revived and refurbished as the Paramount Theatre of the Arts and the home of the Oakland Symphony. It has also been designated a national historic landmark. Another early landmark, The Esquire Theater, was located at 17th Street and.San Pablo Avenue. Built in 1919 as the American
Theater, it became the Esquire in 1939 with a change of ownership and refurbishing of the 1,500-seat interior. The wrecking ball knocked it down in 1953.
What about the business today? “It’s a strange business and getting stranger,” says Jerry Toler, owner-operator of the Chabot Theater in Castro Valley. Toler admits he is a discouraged
man. “The small independent has low buying power,” he explained, predicting that soon a
lot of them will be forced to close. His theater is called a “sub-run house” and, as such, he
has to wait for others to show the big films first, then he gets them â€" perhaps a month later
or longer. “It puts us at a big disadvantage. The independents are fighting constantly to get pictures,” Toler said. Film companies control all that, he said, and it was one of the reasons his father, who operated the theater before him, sued the film companies. “Things got better for a while after the suit was settled out of court, but it didn’t last,” Toler said.
In Fremont, on the other hand, Doug Krutilak, one-time partner in the Showcase Cinemas I and II, thinks small theaters “can do very well” despite a drop in film audiences. He says there are about the same number of theaters in existence today as there were in the early ‘50s, but they are much smaller. Krutilak, who now manages a night club in Fremont, lost his lease in 1977 when Transcontinental Theaters decided to get out of the business. One of the theaters was converted to an amusement center; the other remains for daily specialty shows as part of the amusement center.
Joe Siino owns the Vogue Theater in Pittsburg. The theater was shut recently after Siino’s son, who helped his father, was injured in an auto accident. “We were doing all right and we plan to reopen,” said Siino. The big Vogue seats 1,061 and Siino says he practically filled the house on weekends.
This page has a July 1988 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yfxl7c
Here is a photo from July 2001:
http://tinyurl.com/yfxl7c
There is a photo of the Tower on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/yb5tnj
I’ve never heard South Jersey referred to as “Southern NJ” before. I grew up in Absecon, which is close to Atlantic City.
There is a 1986 photo on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/ya95xv
There is a pre-renovation photo on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/ya95xv
There is another photo on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/ya95xv
There is a photo of the Royal on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/vlbg9
There is a July 1985 photo on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/vlbg9
There is a photo of the Mission on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/vlbg9
There is a photo of the Rialto on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/vlbg9
Here are some photos from July 2006, as well as an older photo. Notice the typo on the plaque:
http://tinyurl.com/yhxjh2
http://tinyurl.com/yxe57t
http://tinyurl.com/ylqb2r
http://tinyurl.com/vzveq
Here are some items from the museum:
http://tinyurl.com/yb4nkt
http://tinyurl.com/y8bdxn
http://tinyurl.com/yhr4ta
Here is a July 2006 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ssfsl
Here is a photo from July 2006:
http://tinyurl.com/y4rc2a
Here is a photo from July 2006:
http://tinyurl.com/ugzj5
Here are some photos from July 2006:
http://tinyurl.com/y94tgt
http://tinyurl.com/yamggn
Here is a photo from July 2006:
http://tinyurl.com/yj8rwy
Here are some photos from July 2006:
http://tinyurl.com/yewg2n
http://tinyurl.com/y7uw4e
Here are some photos from July 2006:
http://tinyurl.com/ye8tgk
http://tinyurl.com/y6zgd2
http://tinyurl.com/wvu5m
This is from the 10/23/65 edition of the Hayward Review. Please do not attack the patrons during the show:
Suit Names Theater In Attack Case
FREMONTâ€"A $31,000 damage suit has been filed against the Center Theater in Fremont after employees of the establishment allegedly beat up a 15-year-old Newark boy. The complaint, filed last week by Roger Maddox, of 35637 Burdick St., Newark, names the movie theater, the Centerville Amusement Co., Inc., three John Does and two unknown companions.
The incident happened May 21, and, according to attorney Edward Newman who filed the complaint, the boy was dragged into the cashier’s booth and beat up for no apparent reason, suffering two broken teeth. The theater is at 37411 Fremont Blvd., Fremont.
The complaint asks $10,000 for the assault, the same amount for the battery and for exemplary damages. A thousand dollars is asked for wrongful detention and an unspecified amount in medical costs.
On 3/8/36, the feature at the Fulton was “Star of Midnight”, with William Powell and Ginger Rogers. Admission was 20 cents. Other theaters advertised were the State, Kinema, Warner Brothers, Fox Wilson and Hardy’s. The Wilson was showing a film starring the recently born Dionne Quintuplets called “The Country Doctor”. A theater on F Street called the Rex, apparently a live performance venue, was featuring “Zorima, Queen of the Nudists”, along with fifty more “Real Lovely Nudists in Person”. I’m not sure if they meant they were real lovely or real as in not artificial.
Was the proposed theater in the 400 block of Salina Street ever built? I keep reading articles about the plans in 1967, but nothing about the actual opening of the theater.
The picture at the top of the page is the Liberty:
http://tinyurl.com/y5utj4