Lithia Theatre
243 E. Main Street,
Ashland,
OR
97520
243 E. Main Street,
Ashland,
OR
97520
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As Joe Vogel noted, the Lithia Theatre burned in 1952. But a couple of its employees carried on, sort of.
Boxoffice, July 24, 1954: “ASHLAND, ORE. - Construction on a new drive-in a few miles north of here on highway 99 is under way and should be completed by the end of July according to the owners, Jack Putney and Jim Selleck. The new 400-car airer will be called the Lithia after a local conventional house which burned two years ago. Selleck had served as manager of the former Lithia and Putney was the projectionist.”
The Lithia Theatre was operated by Robert Lippert from 1946 until 1951, when it closed as a movie house. It was then refurbished by Angus Bowmer and reopened as a home for his theater group, the Vining Repertory Company. In November, 1952, the Lithia Theatre was destroyed by a fire, prematurely ending the company’s second season.
Here is a 1914 photo of the Vining Theatre’s auditorium.
Here is a 1951 photo with the posters of the Vining Repertory Company’s four productions for that season.
“CASH NIGHT” on the marquee,Giving out money to see a movie.
A photo postcard view of the Vining Theatre in Ashland before it became the Lithia.
And a JPEGy looking photo from 1935 here.
(http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2Fspecialcol&CISOPTR=1824&DMSCALE=100&DMWIDTH=500&DMHEIGHT=500&DMMODE=viewer&DMFULL=1&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=theatre&DMTHUMB=0&REC=1&DMROTATE=0&x=157&y=263)
You can see a black and white photo of the Lithia back in 1949 here.
(http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf1t1nb0bh/?query=oregon&brand=calisphere)
1946:
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Here are two photos from 1949. One is of the Lithia, and the other is the Varsity, which was another theater in Ashland:
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