Comments from Joe Vogel

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Grand Opera House on Nov 30, 2008 at 12:39 am

The architect for the restoration of the Grand Opera House was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Ritz Theatre on Nov 30, 2008 at 12:36 am

The architect for the restoration of the Ritz Theatre was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Paramount Theatre on Nov 30, 2008 at 12:34 am

The architect for the restoration of the Paramount Theatre was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Fox Theatre on Nov 30, 2008 at 12:33 am

The architect for the restoration of the Fox Theatre was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Palace Theatre on Nov 30, 2008 at 12:31 am

The architect for the restoration of the Palace Theater was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Alameda Theater on Nov 30, 2008 at 12:30 am

The architect for the restoration of the Alameda Theater was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Majestic Theater on Nov 30, 2008 at 12:28 am

The architect for the restoration of the Majestic Theater was Killis Almond, of Killis Almond & Associates, a San Antonio, Texas, based firm specializing in the restoration of historic buildings. Click on their “Projects” link to find a link to a page about this theater, as well as links to pages about some of their other theater projects.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about AmStar Stadium 12 on Nov 29, 2008 at 10:05 pm

The AmStar Stadium 12 is now operated by Southern Theatres.

Here’s Southern Theatres' The Grand Theatre web site, which provides listings for all seven AmStar Theatres locations.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Cinemark Melrose Park on Nov 29, 2008 at 8:09 pm

The architect of the Cinemark Melrose 10 was Kip E. Daniel. Here’s a pdf file about the construction of this theater. It mistakenly adds an “s” to the end of his name. Kip E. Daniel is a principal and a managing director of the Beck Group, a design-build firm headquartered in Dallas, which has built numerous multiplex cinemas for Cinemark and other exhibitors.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Pantages Theatre on Nov 22, 2008 at 8:19 pm

Don’t miss Floyd B. Bariscale’s profusely illustrated page about the Hollywood Pantages, at his Big Orange Landmarks web site.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Raven Performing Arts Center on Nov 22, 2008 at 7:37 pm

Ken: I’ve been trying to discover if the Plaza had formerly been the Fox’s Hall mentioned on this page, and this page at the Healdsburg Museum’s web site. The former page says that Fox’s Hall was built “behind” the Masonic building, suggesting a ground floor site, and the latter page gives the location as the west side of West Street between Plaza and North Streets, which is the block where the Plaza was (it also has a smallphoto of Fox’s Hall in 1904.) Healdsburg has short blocks, and I can’t find any evidence for another theater of the Plaza’s size ever being on that block, but I can’t find the exact address of Fox’s Hall to confirm that they were the same building.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Raven Performing Arts Center on Nov 20, 2008 at 1:56 am

Thanks, Ken. If the Plaza was on West Street, then the Raven must be the 1950 house designed by Gale Santocono. Santocono, like his father, Matteo, was an artist and designer based in San Francisco (he did the decoration the Varsity Theatre in Davis, California, among others), but there are also a couple of cards in the California Index citing 1950 issues of Architect & Engineer saying which refer to him as an architect, specifically of this theater. I’ve been unable to confirm that he was actually a licensed architect, though. He might have been working with an engineer, but doing the actual architectural design himself.

The February 2, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine cites him as the designer of the Seaview Theatre in Pacifica, the Village Theatre in Sacramento, and the Guild Theatre in San Francisco, as well as the Terrace Drive-In (the subject of the article- and yet to be added to Cinema Treasures) in San Francisco.

The February 16, 1952, issue of Boxoffice refers to Santocono as a “theater architect” and says that he is preparing designs for improvements to the Vacaville Theatre in Vacaville.

Also, ken mc unearthed a 1962 L.A. Times article naming Santocono as the architect of the Showcase Theater in Oakland (see Ken’s comment on that page.) And, as robertgippy says in the first comment above, the Raven was a near twin of the Clover Cinema in Cloverdale, before the Clover was remodeled, so that’s probably one of Santocono’s designs as well. The Boxoffice article says, after listing four of Santocono’s theaters, that he designed “many others” as well. I wish there was more about him on the Internet.

By the way, the aka’s listed for this theater should be Avon Theater and Raven Theater. Currently it just says “Aven” Theater.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Journey Downtown on Nov 19, 2008 at 11:28 pm

This theater has not been demolished. It opened in 1926 as the Clark Theater, owned by W.J. Clark. It was purchased by the Redwood Theatres chain in 1937, according to an item in Motion Picture Herald’s April 3 issue that year. A brief item in the February 16, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine mentioned that theater architect Gale (misspelled “Gail” in the magazine) Santocono was preparing plans for improvements to the Vacaville Theater, and the owner at that time was named as Dom Isabells.

In 2005, the theater was owned by an outfit called New Life Production Company, and a woman named Leatha Dillon applied for a permit to convert the balcony of the theater into a living space (I don’t know if the balcony in question is a true balcony or just a stadium seating section.) There was considerable opposition, and the city’s planning commission denied the request. The record of the meeting about Ms. Dillon’s permit application revealed that, at that time, all but about 100 of the theater’s seats had been removed.

The February, 2008 article about possible restoration of the theater, linked above by Lost Memory (and yes, LM, it is the same theater), is now behind the Vacaville Reporter’s pay wall, so I haven’t read it, and I can’t find anything else about such a project on the Internet. Apparently the future of this theater is still undecided.

Google Maps street view of the building shows that it still has its marquee, box office, and attraction poster cases, and the facade bears a sign for the web address moviechurches dot com. This URL currently fetches some unrelated site, in German.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Mann Festival Theater on Nov 19, 2008 at 8:02 pm

I’ve been unable to discover who was the architect for the conversion of this building into a movie theater in 1970, but the building itself was designed by Russell E. Collins, and built for Ralphs Market in 1929. In 1988, the city of Los Angeles declared the building Historic Cultural Monument #360. In 1992, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Corral Theatre on Nov 18, 2008 at 5:16 am

There’s an article in the February 2, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine about a Corral Theatre that was located near the Fort Worth, Texas, suburb of Forest Hills. It says that this open air walk-in theatre had recently been completed by owner J.C. Wilson, to replace his Forest Theatre which had burned the previous year.

A couple of photos show rough plank walls and wooden bench seating, and a “chuck wagon” that served as the concession stand, located near the screen. I can’t find anything else about it on the Internet, but it must have been built in imitation of this theater in Wimberly.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Ridgeway Theatre on Nov 18, 2008 at 4:03 am

The February 2, 1952 issue of Boxoffice Magazine has an ad for Heywood-Wakefield theater seating featuring the Ridgeway, with a couple of interior photos and one of the exterior, all grey scale.

The text says that the theater was both designed and decorated by Alfons Bach. Alfons Bach Associates (the firm he founded in 1932) did design the Ridgway Center, as the shopping mall in which this theater was located was called. There is supposed to be material on this project in the Alfons Bach collection at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum in New York City, but I don’t know if it’s accessible to the public. It’s not online.

Bach was one of the major figures of modern design, and a co-founder of the American Designers Institute. Here’s a brief biography.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Kent Theatre on Nov 18, 2008 at 3:16 am

The Kent Theatre opened earlier than 1955. It had “recently” opened, according to the February 2nd, 1952 issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The owner was J. Harper Kent, and the theatre featured a private lounge for members of the Kent family and their guests. A big fish in a small pond, I suppose. The article gives the seating capacity as only 400.

There is also mention of another theatre in Bathurst, a 350 seat house called the Opera House and then the Capitol, which had been operated by a Mr. Peter Leger “…for about 40 years.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Columbia Theatre on Nov 18, 2008 at 2:59 am

The Columbia was said to be one of the first three nickelodeons in Peoria, according to an article in the February 2, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The article said that the Columbia closed forever after its last show on December 31, 1951. At the time it closed, it had long specialized in “B” movies, and was the longest-running theater in the city at the time, having operated for almost half a century.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Cinema West on Nov 18, 2008 at 2:47 am

Opened on January 24, 1952, according to the February 2nd issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year. It was described as being on the south side of Broadway between 33rd and 34th Streets, but the exact address was not given. Total seating capacity of main floor and balcony was given as “approximately 1750.” The architects were Walter C. Wagner and Joseph H. Potts. The theatre was owned by M. Switow & Sons, described as a company operating “…approximately 24 indoor and outdoor theatres….” in the region.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Ritz Theater on Nov 18, 2008 at 2:26 am

Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of February 2, 1952, announced the opening of this theatre. The owner and manager of the Ritz was named as Jack Guest, and the article said that there were 500 seats on the main floor, and that there was also a small, segregated balcony.

It also described the theater’s unusual snack bar, which included counter seating, plus booth seating for fourteen patrons, and offered a short order menu including waffles, sandwiches, as well as soda fountain concoctions. There’s no mention of whether or not the snack bar was open to patrons seated in the balcony, but I think we can assume that it was not.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Riviera Drive-In on Nov 18, 2008 at 1:50 am

Paragraph 7 of this legal document about a 1955 lawsuit by the owner of this theater, has this information: “…Marlow’s Amusement Corporation, another plaintiff, owns and operates Marlow’s Drive-In Theater, near Herrin, and has so owned and operated it since May 7, 1949; that it is a modern drive-in theater accommodating 1,000 cars, being one of the finest in southern Illinois.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Marlow Theatre on Nov 18, 2008 at 1:42 am

In 1955, the operators of this theater filed a lawsuit against a goatload of movie companies and Fox Midwest Amusement Company (a large theater circuit in the region.) The third paragraph on this web page has this information: “… Grand Opera Company has since 1917 owned and operated Marlow’s Theater in Herrin, Williamson County, Illinois; that Marlow’s is a large modern building with 1,400 seats, equipped to exhibit feature first-run motion pictures, is located in Herrin’s business district, and has a drawing potential from among persons residing within a radius of 25 miles.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Star Theatre on Nov 18, 2008 at 1:04 am

A February 2, 1952, article in Boxoffice Magazine about fire damage to the Capitol Theatre in Benton mentions in passing that, like the Capitol, the Star was at that time run by the Fox Midwest theater circuit.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Capitol Theatre on Nov 18, 2008 at 12:58 am

The February 2, 1952, issue of Boxoffice Magazine reported that the Capitol Theatre in Benton had suffered heavy smoke and water damage during a conflagration which destroyed an adjacent four story building which contained, among other things, the theater manager’s office. The Capitol’s electric sign (whether this was a vertical sign or the name sign on the marquee is not specified) was also destroyed. Flames were prevented from entering the auditorium by what the article calls “a stout firewall.”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Whittier Theatre on Nov 17, 2008 at 11:58 pm

Whittier,Ca1987: Currently, Cinema Treasures doesn’t have the ability to post more photos, and the site’s policy forbids users to post them directly in comments. The best way to share your theater photos with Cinema Treasures users is to get yourself a free account at Flickr or one of the other free image hosting services, upload your photos there, and then put ordinary links to them in comments here.

Lost Memory (belated reply to your comment of Sept 24): Whittier once had its own street numbering system, centered on Greenleaf Avenue and Philadelphia Street, but long ago adopted the county numbering system that starts from 1st and Main Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The address at top should be updated so Google Maps can find the right location.

Also, the theater should have the aka of Bruen’s Whittier Theatre, which was the name on the stage house, and the name under which it was often advertised when Hugh Bruen still operated it.