Capitol Theatre
2842 Watt Avenue,
Sacramento,
CA
95821
2842 Watt Avenue,
Sacramento,
CA
95821
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This theatre closed as a 4-plex after business on July 15, 1997.
I remember the Capitol being a decent neighborhood theater. My parents and I went there to see The Last Emperor during New Year’s Eve 1988.
Both screens were upgraded to 70mm, but soon after the left auditorium was cut into 3. I couldn’t believe how small the screens were and the sound was mono, as soon as the movie started I walked out, got my money back and never returned.
Expanded (or subdivided) to 4 screens on September 21st, 1984. No grand opening ad published.
May 24th, 1972 grand opening ad for the Capitol and State in the photo section.
I remember seeing many movies at this theater as a kid/teenager
This was a great neighborhood theater as it was in the neighborhood, not across town in some large, massive super mall/shopping center. It was personal and very well keept. When they opened the super mega monster city wide super sonic mega plex theaters at the major malls in the mid 90’s…this place got even better as it was never crowded!
I miss the Capital a lot. It wasn’t a classic theater like the Crest or the Tower downtown, but it was ours.
The fondest memory about the Capitol was when my dad took the family to see ‘Blazing Saddles’.I was six years old and somewhat understood the movie.I’m now 44,I watched the movie again and again and fully understand the jokes and raunchy gags.I have the 30th anniversary edition on DVD,It’s one of my all time favorite timeless classic movies.I know the entire dialogue by heart as well.
Remember seeing a few films there. The one’s I remember, E.T., The Last Emperor, and some other’s I can’t remember. Funny, but I remember E.T. and Poltergeist were playing in both auditoriums side by side.
this was an Abc theatre then Plitt took it over Plitt was sold to Cineplex, at that time it was sold to Century Theatres
Odd it opened with a double feature,Never heard of that before.
Not a bad place to see a movie. Saw “Young Frankenstein” and “The Great Waldo Pepper” there. Last movie I saw there was “Gettysburg” in the early 90s. Too Bad it’s gone.
I’ve scrolled through the Sacramento theater list, but I don’t see a listing for the Capitol on 615 K Street, aka Fox Capitol, Alisky, T&D, Garrick and Pantages. I will add this theater unless I am wrong about it being unlisted.
Here is a 1940s era photo from the Pomona Public Library which shows a Capitol Theater on K Street, which obviously predates the theater discussed above.
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The Capitol was part of the Syufy/Century chain for most of it’s life. It was originally two screens, virtually identical to the State Theatre in south Sacramento. The Capitol had the left auditorium split into three auditoriums- the main auditorium became “T” shaped and the other two auditoriums were basically closets. The State had both it’s left and right auditoriums triplexed, making it a six-screener. The Capitol’s right auditorium remained untouched until the theatre closed. That auditorium also had an actual silver screen, the older type with embedded silver particles for reflectivity. I was a projectionist with Century when the theater closed in the mid-1990s. It was a first-run theatre through the mid-to-late 1980s. I remember seeing “Superman” there in 1978, and “Full Metal Jacket” in 1987. The Capitol began booking more art-type films during the late 1980s and early 1990s. During the last year or two it became a discount house. I remember training a film operator one day shortly before the theatre closed. She just started Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” in the big auditorium and couldn’t get any sound to play in the auditorium, even though it sounded fine at the monitor. Turns out someone stole the speakers from behind the screen. Boy, that was fun.
I believe Century closed the Capitol shortly before it opened the Folsom and Laguna theatres in May of 1996. There is a Raley’s grocery store on the site now, near the corner of Watt Ave. and Marconi Ave.