Stamm Theatre
912 G Street,
Antioch,
CA
94509
912 G Street,
Antioch,
CA
94509
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It appears that the Stamm Theatre was once closed on March 27, 1994, and sat abandoned for a little more than two years.
The Stamm Theatre briefly reopened back as a first-run movie house on August 30, 1996 under the name “Stamm Spotlight Theatre”, but only lasted four days of operation.
It ended its life as a first-run movie house though, but the Stamm Theatre did had a brief return as a live house several months later. Then it turned into a church after the Stamm family sold the theater to a church group.
dallasmovietheaters: Correction – The Stamm “featured” six luminescent murals, but no longer; all were destroyed when the theater was gutted, and Gary Parks’s reproduction from memory of one of them is apparently all that survives. I hoped to be able to reproduce more at my blog, Jim Lane’s Cinedrome, but I never heard back from deanharris of the Stamm family, or from goodyear4, who mentioned having two pictures of the Stamm’s murals that he or she was reluctant to share.
Many of the image links in the comments here are no longer available, alas. Also, my own comment of 3/3/2011, provides a link to my post about the Stamm from my old Blogspot version of Jim Lane’s Cinedrome. A better version of that post is here at my new, improved Cinedrome site.
If anyone has additional images of the Stamm – or better copies of the one I’ve posted – I’d be grateful for permission to share them. With credit, of course, and gratefully!
Nov. 17, 1948 was the opening date. Vincent Rainey of San Francisco was the architect of the $300,000 theatre built for owners Fred and Ethel Stamm. The theatre features six luminescent murals on its walls and ceiling
JimLane: I am a descendant of the Stamm family, although I was too young to see the Stamm in its former glory, I still loved hearing stories about the beauty of the theater itself. I’m not sure if we have pictures of the interior, but I know we still have some old ads. Once I get a chance to dig through them I will post what I have for you all to enjoy.
goodyear4: I hope you’ll decide to post those pictures of the Stamm murals, and that you’ll kindly allow me to add them to my Stamm post at Cinedrome along with Gary’s rendering. With credit, of course, and gladly!
Joe Vogel: Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you! I’ll post the repaired link in my Cinedrome post on the Stamm without delay.
Linkrot repair: The 1949 Gullistan Carpet ad with the photo of the Stamm Theatre’s lobby is now at this link.
I actually have two pictures of the murals in the Stamm Theatre but I’m not sure if I should post them. They maybe the only pictures of the murals. I have searched the internet and haven’t found any except for Gary Parks rendering of one of the murals. The Theatre opened November 1948
The Laurel Theatre in San Carlos used the same master drawings for some of the human figures in its auditorium murals as were used in the Stamm. A photo which proves this can be found in “Theatres of the San Francisco Peninsula” which theatre historian Jack Tillmany and I co-authored. They are the same figures, but arranged differently.
CORRECTION: The grainy pics on my post are from Motion Picture Herald, not Box Office. Oops!
Those who remember the Stamm Theatre might like to read this post on my Cinedrome blog. I post as many (grainy) images as I could find of the interior from that 1949 Box Office Magazine article. Alas, the link to that ad for Gulistan carpets mentioned by Joe Vogel above has now gone dead, but I do include — with the artist’s permission — Gary Parks’s rendering of one of the Stamm’s auditorium murals. I hope you get as much bittersweet pleasure in reading the post as I did in preparing it.
In the early 1990s, I drove out to Antioch for the sole purpose of attending movies at the Stamm and El Campanil theatres. I saw “The Coneheads” at the Stamm (awful movie), but that wasn’t the point, I got to see the inside of the theatre. As I was not allowed to take photos, I had my Plan B—my sketchbook. I drew a black and white sketch and made color notes of a large section of the center part of the Left sidewall of the auditorium, and as soon as I got home that night, made a color rendering of it. It should be said that all the murals were lit by UV lighting, and glowed in the dark as the movie ran—an eerily beautiful effect.
I still have this color rendering. I really don’t want to open up some kind of account to post photos online—it’s all I can do to keep up with theatre-related matters in Theatre Historical Society and other commitments…BUT…if anyone else would like to post this for me, I would be happy to scan and email an image of this drawing. All I’d ask is that the drawing be credited with my name. This may be the only color record of the muralwork we have.
The only interior shot of the Stamm I’ve been able to find is one of the lobby that appeared in an ad for Gulistan carpets published in Boxoffice of February 5, 1949.
The opening of this 1,100-seat Art Moderne theater was noted in Boxoffice of December 18, 1948. I’ve been unable to discover the name of the architect.
Re: Trainmaster’s comment. My father had certain dealings with George Stamm when our family lived in Antioch during the 1950s; suffice it to say his memories of the man were not fond. The Stamm was my home-away-from-home in those days, and it broke my heart to see it gutted to the bare concrete walls in 1999. If the Stamm family did indeed refuse to allow photos of the interior, then didn’t photograph it themselves, shame on them; it was nothing less than a crime against posterity. If anyone does respond to Trainmaster’s request for interior shots, I’d love to hear about it myself.
Here is a 1986 photo of the Stamm:
http://tinyurl.com/dn5tkb
HELP!
During the early 1990’s when the Stamm was in its last days, I tried to photograph the interior. The owner would NOT give permission, stating they would take pictures before the interior was gutted. I checked back and they never did. Dealing with the Stamm family was the only difficulty I had in photographing theater interior.
Does anyone have an interior shot (NOT exterior – I have plenty of those) of the Stamm? If so, would you kindly reply and post it?
Thanks
Trainmaster
Sorry to say, but the ENTIRE interior was gutted. I know. I visited the Stamm in 2003 (before the church opened, and everything was torn out! There were a rew remanents from the lobby and junk hanging from the balcony, but that has been cleared. It is now painted a light blue on the outside and used as a church. Since the interior was gutted 100%, there are no reminders of the beautiful theater. The owner was nice enough to leave the outside facade including the “Stamm” sign intact. Otherwise, it is junk inside!
Anyone wanting a peek at the “Church of Stamm” can see what the theater looks like today at View link
Trainmaster
Hopefully this church has not done to the Stamm what some useless invent-a-church did in Salinas at the former El Rey Theatre. This wonderful theatre was rented to some home-brew church that decided the one-of-a-kind wall murals were too risque' and painted them all white. Then the stupid church lost the building and it the former El Rey Theatre sits vacant.
Additional Pics;
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For your viewing pleasure;
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