Hi, I want to apologize for not finding earlier the link to the photo in Lamont that Lost Memory posted last summer. This is NOT the Meta. That was much older. This is the Rollier Theatre. Somewhat ironically, it was torn down about the very time you posted the photo. The decorations in the windows along the street were for the big combination celebration they had in 1993 — Watermelon Days, the 1893 Opening of the Cherokee Strip, and an all-school reunion. (3000 people showed up!)
The names of the two theaters my parents owned were, yes, the Meta, which eventually became the firehouse for Lamont. The other was the Rollier Theatre, opened in 1947, at which time the Meta was closed. The Rollier Theatre was not a Spanish language house and there were NO Hispanics living in Lamont then. Please excuse me for saying so, but it does seem as if some of you assume a lot from a little. The “EL” was probably part of the title of the movie then playing.
I have been trying to respond to the questions regarding the theater in Lamont but my comments were not posted. The theater belonged to my parents, Roy and Alvena Rollier, hence the “R” in the marquee. The tiles were not cheap bathroom tiles and it was not built by Griffith Bros. This was an thoroughly independent house, air-conditioned and ahead of its time. Unfortunately, the economy in and around Lamont declined sharply, the population decreased, my mother was dead by then and my father just couldn’t afford to keep it going. It sat unused for years after my father died and fell into disrepair. It was torn down only this year. My parents owned an older theater on the east side of Main Street but built this one in 1946-47 on the west side of Main.
To answer Lost Memory’s question — Although I never heard of the Meta Theater in Lamont, I did live there from birth though age 19. My parents owned two theaters there. The first was on the east side of Main Street and they bought it in 1937 or so. Then in 1947 we opened the new Lamont Theatre on the west side of Main Street. It closed in the 1970s and was completely torn down in 2007.
Should anyone want more details about it or about Lamont, feel free to write <>
Hi, I want to apologize for not finding earlier the link to the photo in Lamont that Lost Memory posted last summer. This is NOT the Meta. That was much older. This is the Rollier Theatre. Somewhat ironically, it was torn down about the very time you posted the photo. The decorations in the windows along the street were for the big combination celebration they had in 1993 — Watermelon Days, the 1893 Opening of the Cherokee Strip, and an all-school reunion. (3000 people showed up!)
The names of the two theaters my parents owned were, yes, the Meta, which eventually became the firehouse for Lamont. The other was the Rollier Theatre, opened in 1947, at which time the Meta was closed. The Rollier Theatre was not a Spanish language house and there were NO Hispanics living in Lamont then. Please excuse me for saying so, but it does seem as if some of you assume a lot from a little. The “EL” was probably part of the title of the movie then playing.
I have been trying to respond to the questions regarding the theater in Lamont but my comments were not posted. The theater belonged to my parents, Roy and Alvena Rollier, hence the “R” in the marquee. The tiles were not cheap bathroom tiles and it was not built by Griffith Bros. This was an thoroughly independent house, air-conditioned and ahead of its time. Unfortunately, the economy in and around Lamont declined sharply, the population decreased, my mother was dead by then and my father just couldn’t afford to keep it going. It sat unused for years after my father died and fell into disrepair. It was torn down only this year. My parents owned an older theater on the east side of Main Street but built this one in 1946-47 on the west side of Main.
To answer Lost Memory’s question — Although I never heard of the Meta Theater in Lamont, I did live there from birth though age 19. My parents owned two theaters there. The first was on the east side of Main Street and they bought it in 1937 or so. Then in 1947 we opened the new Lamont Theatre on the west side of Main Street. It closed in the 1970s and was completely torn down in 2007.
Should anyone want more details about it or about Lamont, feel free to write <>