Plumas Theatre
112 Pine Street,
Greenville,
CA
95947
112 Pine Street,
Greenville,
CA
95947
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The entire town of Greenville, California was destroyed by a wildfire on August 4, 2021.
The Plumas Theatre opened August 12, 1949 with the film, “We Were Strangers.” The theatre continues in operation until June 15, 1985 after a showing of “Witness.” A classified appears shortly thereafter seeking new owners to buy the Plumas for $69,000. In 1993, the theatre partially collapses and is torn down in 1996.
The Plumas Theatre replaced the town’s Greenville Theatre which burned down on March 6, 1949. That theatre was celebrating its eighth anniversary having launched March 6, 1941. Harry West had built that theatre in all cedar wood. The Greenville Theatre was the third major theater fire in just a year for the county along with the Chester and Quincy theatres.
The Greenville Theatre had replaced a the town’s previous Greenville Theatre that had operated under that name since at least 1926 in the town’s American Legion Hall. The original Greenville Theatre had converted to sound in September of 1930 after running as a silent film venue prior.
I found more clues online. Indian Valley Record January 1950, mentions that the Greenville Theatre had burnt down “the previous year”. This tidbit was part of an article reporting the Tobin Theatre had burned on the Friday night preceding January 26, 1950. Randal Goldenson is listed as the owner of both properties. In the same edition, the Plumas Theatre of Greenville is advertised and showing “The Big Sombrero”, “Miss Grant Takes Richmond” (Lucille Ball), etc.
I found Plumas Theatre advertised listed in the Indian Valley Record newspaper dated November 1955, published in Greenville. No street address included.
In fact there was a Greenville Theatre in Greenville, but the only mention I can find of it in Boxoffice is from the October 24, 1942, issue. It says: “The schoolchildren of this small town contributed 25,345 pounds of scrap for their admission to the matinee staged by Harry West, manager of the Greenville.”
I wish the photo of the Plumas was a bit clearer so I could make out the movie posters. Knowing what was showing would at least give a clue to the earliest date the photo could have been taken.
Greenville was never much more than a wide spot in the road, though it was a metropolis in comparison with Tobin. Mr. Goldenson must have lived very frugally. The whole region was so thinly populated that I doubt either theater ever had a full house. Still, 25,350 pounds of scrap. People in the region must not have tidied up since the gold rush era.
The September 17, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Plumas Theatre had recently opened. It was owned by Randall Goldenson, who also operated the Tobin Theatre at Tobin, also in Plumas County.