Tower Theatre by Angelika

No longer operated by Reading Cinemas, Sacramento’s venerable Tower Theatre is now called the Tower Theatre by Angelika, and is operated by the Angelika Film Center. Here is the current web site.

The Tower Theatre will celebrate its 75th anniversary on Monday, October 11, 2013. Here is the story in today’s Sacramento Bee.

A few 2012 photo can be seen here and here.

The name of the chain is misspelled at top. It is Reading Cinemas.

This is their web site.

The theater’s individual web page is still at the URL Lost Memory posted in the comment above.

I grew up in and around Sac up to the age of 7, then in L.A. until just recently,( I’m 42), when I moved to Truckee, so I really got to experience many classic theaters, north and south. My dad took us kids to all the beautiful and mysterious movie houses on Broadway in L.A., and because we had cousins, aunts, uncles and friends scattered throughout the San Joaquin Valley,(including some “sweaty Armenians”), we got to see alot of the smaller but no less classic small town movie houses, some , I recall, with these cool old neons signs of Polar Bears announcing,“Cool Air Conditioned Air Inside”.
But the one theater that I remember most vividly, and with much affection, is the Tower. One summer that I stayed with some relatives, we visited the Tower almost every weekend. What a superclassic venue. I went by there recently. I hear its being threatened by the encroachment of megaplexes. I hope they save her.

Gosh Ms. actionjacksonsacfilmlady, what a reactionary you are. You have absolutely failed to understand what I was trying to convey in my post as well as demonstrated to all that are reading you possess a total lack of intellect and on top of that be a bit of a bigot yourself by the assumptions you’ve made about me. To set the record straight, I didn’t just come from Des Moines or Middle America or any Red State and I’ve lived in the Oak Park area for a good portion of my life. In my post I never mentioned anything about the ethnicity of the staff at Tower but the inappropriate manner in which some of them conducted themselves. (The “sweaty Armenian” just happened to be sweating profusely wearing a sleeveless half-shirt bearing the slogan “Mer Hayrenik” across the front. My wife is Armenian, thats how I knew what the slogan said. She sweats profusely every night after I’m done with her! LOL!) Movie Theatres are a business and with any other business you want to make sure you have the best possible staff and know how to behave appropriately. I’m sure if you ran a theatre you wouldn’t want your employees showing up to work with a rag and shoe lace on their heads. I’m sure you wouldn’t be happy about the disgusting washrooms or popcorn scattered everywhere while your staff chooses to lounge around screaming, cursing and playing games. And I really doubt you’d be pleased if someone were making advances on your boyfriend or husband right in front of you while he’s just tryng to order you popcorn and soda. You can’t possibly believe that’s a proper way to run a business. And as for the “N” word, even if it’s among African-Americans, it’s not very professional to speak in that kind of language in the work place. Do what you want in your home but the rest of us don’t want to be subjected to that kind of garbage.

loside316, you are a delusional racist. Sweaty Armenian? Gang gear like silk rags? All of the people who work at Tower are movie buffs and most of them are college-educated, bookish nerds. Tattoos and piercings are pretty normal for young people now, and if a black person is wearing a silk rag on his or her head, it’s probably because they’re having a bad hair day. It has nothing to do with gang affliations. The Tower may not be perfect, but it’s impossible that any of the claims you’re making could even remotely be true.

Can anyone tell me did the Tower have the D-150 curved screen at a time?

Recently I went to the Tower Theatre for the first time in a while and was shocked to see how sloppy and disorganized everyone was. I knew I was in trouble when my date and I approached the concession stand and the sweaty Armenian attandant started hitting on her. Totally disrespectful and akward. Then we were given the wrong directions by the ticket ripper (name tag just said “SMOKES!”) who didn’t seem to know which movies were playing where. Later on I witnessed two employees in a waiting area playing video games and fixing each other’s hair. On our way out through the lobby ushers were lounging around talking out loud yelling swear and racial slurs like the “N” word. Also, I noticed the appearance of piercings, tattoos and gang gear like silk rags on their heads. The first time I went to the Tower in 1949, the staff was clean, couteous and knowledgeable. Now it looks as though they’ve recruited the staff from a nearby correctional facility.

Has no one in Sacramento considered the possibility of creating a linkage between the construction of a new multiplex on K Street and the complete restoration of the Tower as a single screen theater which has the ability to also present live shows? Whenever a downtown multiplex is proposed for Sacramento, fans of the Tower always seem to go into automatic opposition mode. It would probably be more productive to try to make the restoration and continued operation of the Tower a pre-condition for the development of a new multiplex theater downtown. K Street, and the growing resident population of downtown and nearby neighborhoods would certainly benefit from the development of a new theater in the neighborhood, and it seems unlikely that the Tower can survive as a three screen house much longer. If all the new multiplexes go into outlying areas, the Tower is just as doomed as it would likely be if a downtown multiplex were built and captured all its trade. As far as I can see, the only way to save the Tower over the long run is to restore it with a single screen, and the opening of a nearby multiplex can be seen as an opportunity to bring that about, if Sacramentans use their imagination and their influence to make the connection between the two.

I grew up a block behind the Tower Theatre. What a great neighborhood. Feels like home when I go to see a movie at the Tower. I remember Irma la Douce, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057187/, played at the Tower for what seemed like 3 months in 1963. Irma was quit controversial, way before they had ratings for movies. I didn’t see it because of the adult situations until many years later when it was on TV. Quit tame by today’s standards. The theatre was so packed that cars would line both sides of Landpark and 14th streets every weekend.

Back then, we also had the Fox theatre on K Street and mom could drop us off for a matinee of Disney flicks.

The Alhambra was by far the most spectacular of any theatre I ever walked into. Truly the saddest day ever as we’ll never bring it’s splendor back. Hoping the Tower will be saved.

I have many fond memories of this theater. When I was growing up, it was close enough that I could walk to it from my home, and I spent many Saturday afternoons there.

There seems to be disagreement on when the single theater was turned into three screens. 1972 sounds too early and 1980s too late. I remember seeing Woody Allen’s ‘Sleeper’ there in 1973 and it was still one screen. Also, I have vivid memories of seeing a fairly forgettable Kirk Douglas picture, ‘Scalawag,’ that same year because it was a matinee hosted by local kid TV host Cap'n Mitch. He signed pictures, gave away some prizes and hundreds of kids caused havoc. Definitely a day to remember.

My guess is that the conversion came around 1974-75. It was, and remains, a botched job. Two of the three theaters are uncomfortable with poor sight lines. You always feel like you’re too close or too far away from the screen. The “main” theater is still somewhat nice but it always makes me sad because I remember what a truly nice theater this was before it was chopped up.