Paramount Theatre
96 E. 4th Street,
Waterloo,
IA
50703
96 E. 4th Street,
Waterloo,
IA
50703
2 people
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And reopened on May 18th, 1929 as Paramount. Both grand opening ads in the photo section.
Theatre opened 29 Dec 1927.
The Riviera (Paramount) theatre had a 3 manual – 10 rank Barton Organ installed when the theatre was built. The organ was removed prior to demolition and still exists today in a private installation in Texas.
The Riviera probably opened in January, 1928. The January 3 issue of The Film Daily said that the house would be ready “…around the first of the year….” However, the announcement that the Riviera had opened did not appear until the issue of February 5.
The Riviera theatre (later the Paramount)was built in 1927 on land that formerly accommodated the buildings of the Waterloo and Cedar Falls Union Mill Company. It was an A.H.Blank – Publix house and Theodore Stark and Co of Cedar Rapids had charge of the construction, while C.M. Fox, art representative of Balaban & Katz of Chicago had charge of furnishings.
I want to make a correction to my post dated Nov 17, 2008. “Beneath the Planet of The Apes” was released in May of 1970 and the fire occurred not to long after I saw this movie. When I was describing admission prices, I meant to post it as 1970 not 1972. They began demolition in 1972.
Here is part of an article dated 10/13/72 from the Waterloo Daily Courier:
A temporary injunction was granted late Thursday afternoon halting demolition at the Paramount Theater building after owners of the adjacent building filed a petition claiming falling mortar and bricks were damaging their building. The injunction was granted on a petition filed Thursday afternoon in District Court, which named R. E. (Hap) Roolf Construction and Demolition, Inc., and the City of Waterloo as defendants.
The owners of all the property from the old theater to East Fifth Street and between Water Street and the Cedar River are Helen Parrish, 824 Edwards St., Cedar Falls, and Margaret Joslyn, Charleston, Mo. They filed the petition. They claim that bricks and mortar fell earlier Thursday on the roof and sidewalk of their property causing damage.
Judge Peter Van Metre issued the temporary injunction Thursday, setting a $100 bond on the plaintiff. Two high walls at the rearmost part of the old theater are all that remain. They are next to the building in question. The temporary injunction specifically restraints the demolition company from “causing brick and debris to fall upon plaintiffs' property and any building thereon.â€
There were many theaters that we attended in downtown Waterloo during the ‘60’s, but none compare to the Paramount theater. My mother would take my sister and I almost every week to a movie and by far the Paramount was our favorite. The theater was located next to the Cedar River and really wasn’t much to look at on the outside, but after paying for your ticket at the box office and stepping into the lobby, it was truly magnificent. I remember the marble flooring and the two marble columns which stood on both sides of the stairs that led up to the balcony. Those stairs were covered with red carpet. Inside the theater the ceiling held little lights that looked like stars. Many of my fondest movie memories stem from this theater. Many of the Disney reissues were played there and I can recall standing in line in the frigid air across the Fourth Street bridge during the Christmas season anxiously waiting with many other children and their parents to see those Disney movies. One of the last memories I have of the Paramount was attending “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” one or two weeks before the fire that closed it down. I was in high school and my friends and I must have sat through the movie two or three times. Back then you paid one admission price and you could sit there all day. By the way admission at the Paramount in 1972 for someone twelve and older was only $1.00. It was truly a sad day when the Waterloo city council decided to demolish the building instead of restoring it as a historical landmark. It gave way for the flood project and all we have standing there now is a park and a few trees. But I’ll always remember the wonderful Saturday afternoons I spent there.
Here is a 1949 ad from the Waterloo Courier:
http://tinyurl.com/2qfqh8
The architects were Peacock and Frank
Between 1932 and 1938 I was a frequent patron of the Paramount Theatre in Waterloo, Iowa. It was a very beautiful theater inside. One weekly matinee I remember was when the Wurlitzer organ ascended up from the orchestra pit, and as words to various songs were flashed on the screen we patrons would participate in a group sing-a-long. It was great fun. I would love to obtain photos of the outside and inside…someone please help!
Robert B. Heer,609 W. Washington St. #11-69, Sequim, WA 98382,Tel#360-460-6883, email
“Whiplash” with Dane Clark and Alexis Smith was playing at the Tri-States Paramount on 5/22/49. Tommy Dorsey and his band was booked for 5/31. Other theaters in Waterloo at the time were the RKO Orpheum, Strand, Warner Brothers' State, Waterloo and Starlite Drive-In Theater.
It opened in 1927 and was demolished in 1972.Does anyone know the exact date it opened and the name of the architect.
atmos.