Hunter Theatre

Roger Katz on December 3, 2019 at 7:37 am

Elko local paper gives address as 339 Railroad Street. It opened November 7, 1926. The Elvada Theatre was built right next door to the Hunter in 1937.

kencmcintyre on December 20, 2006 at 3:38 pm

Here is an account of a fire in the theater on 12/15/51:

Elko’s Theater Badly Damaged

$60,000 Fire Occurs Early in Morning

Early yesterday morning at Elko, damage estimated by the owner at $60,000 was caused when a fire of undetermined origin destroyed the front portion of the Hunter Theater. The fire was discovered
shortly after 3 a.m. and wasn’t fully controlled by firemen working in sub-zero weather for three hours. Two adjacent apartments were damaged by the flames, which destroyed the theater’s projection room. Jack Hunter, Jr., owner of the building, suffered painful burns and other injuries when the projection room floor collapsed while he was trying to save several reels of movie film, later saved by firemen.

Mr. and Mrs. Leo Gibson, occupants of the damaged apartments were trapped for several minutes on the theater marquee before fire men rescued them. Guests in the adjacent Commercial Hotel, separated from the theater by a firewall, were evacuated as a precautionary measure. Nearly 100 of them trooped from their rooms into the sub-zero weather. Occupants of eight apartments in an adjacent building were also evacuated and several business offices had to find other quarters temporarily today.

Hunter said it would be necessary to replace all but the first ten rows of seats in the 800-seat theater, built in 1927. Hunter estimated it would take about four months to rebuild the damaged portion of the theater.