Does anyone have photos of the front of the theatre showing the old box office, before the glass doors got put up? I would like to model it and have no idea where to look for shots of it.
Does anyone have photos of the front of the theatre showing the old box office, before the glass doors got put up? I would like to model it and have no idea where to look for shots of it.
A note to jderbish on the California Theatre. I went there as a kid once or twice, but we normally went to the Granada. The California was where the “other” people(read blacks, other minorities, and the gang types) went. There was nothing obvious like signs stating color restrictions, but it was common knowledge, although nobody ever, to my knowledge, enforced it. I remember at the shoeshine booth right next door watching the men polish shoes, snapping out a rhthym with the polishing cloth. I was fascinated, being about five or six at the time.
I do remember looking at the plain ceiling inside the theatre and seeing daylight through the planks. It wasn’t even close to the Granada as far as style went.
It became the RITZ Theatre later on, becoming a porno house. After 15 years or so, it burned down, much to the delight of local business owners and city officials, who had wanted to close it down for years. It is now dirt.
I also used to see movies at the Granada when I was a kid. I used to marvel at the neon lights (now missing) and the chase lights on the marquee, and the art deco ticket booth (anyone know where it is?) was really neat. The interior was, to me at least, rather opulent, with the red carpets, curtains, gold leaf in the lobby, and the paintings on the walls, the balcony and the chandeliers in the main theatre.
I hope there is an organization in the area that oversees restoration/remodels such as this. I’m sure the lobby area is pretty much non-original, but the classic Spanish paintings on the walls inside need to be either uncovered and restored(if they are under all the repaints), or repainted. I believe they hold a lot of significance especially with the hispanic heritage of the area.
Does anyone have photographs of the interior and exterior as it was in the 50’s-early 60’s?
There is too much heritage of the Ontario area being bulldozed in the name of progress!
I don’t mean to restore EVERYTHING back to the “good old days”, but to ignore your heritage is to neglect your future.
Does anyone have photos of the front of the theatre showing the old box office, before the glass doors got put up? I would like to model it and have no idea where to look for shots of it.
Does anyone have photos of the front of the theatre showing the old box office, before the glass doors got put up? I would like to model it and have no idea where to look for shots of it.
A note to jderbish on the California Theatre. I went there as a kid once or twice, but we normally went to the Granada. The California was where the “other” people(read blacks, other minorities, and the gang types) went. There was nothing obvious like signs stating color restrictions, but it was common knowledge, although nobody ever, to my knowledge, enforced it. I remember at the shoeshine booth right next door watching the men polish shoes, snapping out a rhthym with the polishing cloth. I was fascinated, being about five or six at the time.
I do remember looking at the plain ceiling inside the theatre and seeing daylight through the planks. It wasn’t even close to the Granada as far as style went.
It became the RITZ Theatre later on, becoming a porno house. After 15 years or so, it burned down, much to the delight of local business owners and city officials, who had wanted to close it down for years. It is now dirt.
I also used to see movies at the Granada when I was a kid. I used to marvel at the neon lights (now missing) and the chase lights on the marquee, and the art deco ticket booth (anyone know where it is?) was really neat. The interior was, to me at least, rather opulent, with the red carpets, curtains, gold leaf in the lobby, and the paintings on the walls, the balcony and the chandeliers in the main theatre.
I hope there is an organization in the area that oversees restoration/remodels such as this. I’m sure the lobby area is pretty much non-original, but the classic Spanish paintings on the walls inside need to be either uncovered and restored(if they are under all the repaints), or repainted. I believe they hold a lot of significance especially with the hispanic heritage of the area.
Does anyone have photographs of the interior and exterior as it was in the 50’s-early 60’s?
There is too much heritage of the Ontario area being bulldozed in the name of progress!
I don’t mean to restore EVERYTHING back to the “good old days”, but to ignore your heritage is to neglect your future.