Ritz Theater
912 W. Britton Road,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73114
912 W. Britton Road,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73114
4 people
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Ritz in 2016
Ritz theatre in 2016 Fri, Jun 17, 2016 – 19 · The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) · Newspapers.com
That’s what I was thinking. The new Ritz Theatre on the south side was bigger than the old Ritz/Britton Theatre on the north side, so the new Ritz must have had the 586 seats.
Joe, yes and no. Here’s how it works: the original theatre was called The Ritz and had 280 seats and was on the north side of Britton. After some time the owners wanted more seating capacity so they closed The Ritz and built a brand new theatre across the street on the south side and it had 586 seats and they kept the name The Ritz, this being the new Ritz with the original closed down. Then after some time the south side Ritz closed. Then someone bought BOTH theaters and reopened them at the same time: the north one they called Britton Theatre and the south one stayed The Ritz. The Britton theatre (the original Ritz) is now Evolution Tattoo. The Ritz on the south side (the new Ritz) is currently for sale.
KenRoe: I think we’ve got the seating capacities reversed. From satellite view it can be seen that the 1954 Ritz on the south side of the street is a much larger building than the first Ritz/Britton on the north side. The Ritz must have been the house with 586 seats and the Britton must have had the 280.
I stopped by Evolution Tattoos at 923 W Britton and spoke with the owner and he confirmed that indeed that building he occupies used to be a movie theatre. So yeah, this entry definitely needs to be renamed The Ritz and there needs to be a new entry for Britton Theatre at 923 W Britton.
I uploaded a satellite photo of the street to this page’s photos. The pin drop in the photo is for the current Ritz theatre on the south side of Britton, 912 W Britton. Across the street is the north side of Britton, in the satellite photo counting from the top left, would the Britton theatre have been the second building from the left? This is currently the location of Evolution Tattoos (12/11/2014), 923 W Britton.
Kewpie raybradley’s Google map link above shows an image date of Nov. 2007, which is the image that I was referring. It shows the marquee but not clearly. Double clicking on the thumbnail will give you a blowup.
She looks so much better with Googles soft focus and lens flare of the street view than the closeups showing the old lady*s blemishes. Soft focus is much kinder to aging stars than the sharp focus of reality.
Fire insurance maps show a theatre at modern day 923 W. Britton Road (203 E. Britton Ave. historically). This would match up perfectly with Roy’s excellent account of Britton theatres. It seems as though this entry needs to be changed to Ritz Theatre.
From google maps comes this modern day view of the Britton Theatre located in the 900 block of Britton Rd., between Francis and Olie.
View link
The “Britton” Theatre was originally named the “Ritz” but following WWII a new theatre was built south of it and slightly to the east and was named the “Ritz”. For a while, the older theatre building became a roller skate rink and a friend of mine (Edwin Butler) became its manager. Then when the Thompson Theatre Corporation leased the buldings and equipment (and temporarily moved their offices into the newer Ritz Theatre building, they restored the older theatre building and renamed it as the “Britton Theatre” which (as the “B” house) was opened on Fridays and Saturdays only, and played double features (a western plus a comedy) and a ‘serial’. As a teenager, I worked at both theatres, first as a concessionist and then as a projectionist (and part-time assistant manager). I also trained both of my brothers as projectionists. My youngest brother was 12 years old at the time and we piled theatre seat cushions on the floor in front of the observation ‘port-holes’ so he could see the screen to make a ‘changeover’ from one projector to the other. He would then open the light ‘dowser’ on the arc lamp and switch the sound from one projector to the next while jumping off the cushions onto the foot operated ‘changeover switch’ to cause relays to open one ‘light gate’ and close the other in order to make an instaneous change from the one projector to the next. In the 1950s, the Britton Theatre was closed and the building converted to offices for a dentist and others. The Ritz (on the south side) was leased for awhile to Roy Avey of Theatre Calender Service and also for awhile to Bob Smith of Theatre Poster Service. Then it was closed for quite some time before it was converted and re-opened as an antique store. I remained in theatre business, owning and managing several small-town movie theatres for more than 30 years. Both of my brothers (and I) also worked as projectionists (for a few years) at the Lakeside Theatre (7518 N. May Avenue in Oklahoma City) and my mom became head cashier there later. Roy Kendrick
Yay! Mystery solved! I’ve taken photos of that side of the road before, but I don’t remember anything that may have once been a theater. I’ll drive by in the next day or two and have a look.
I have heard from 2 people on OKCTalk.com who lived there who state there WERE 2 theaters in 1948, the Britton was on the north side of the street and just west of the Ritz on the south side of Britton road. Add a theater to the list of cinema treasures!
It’s difficult to tell. The top of the theater looks very similar, and, no doubt it has been “remodeled” over the years. The wall on the right of the theater looks much the same in both pics. I have looked thru the Oklahoman and the only business I’ve found at 1001 Britton Rd (in the ‘50’s, none before that) was Long-Bell. There’s a parking lot there now. I did find a “Timetable of City Theaters” from 6/26/1952 Showing a listing for the Britton(Ritz). Other Ritz was on NE 13th in OKC. I think they’re same but it would be nice to get confirmation.. I’ll ask at OKCTalk.com View link
The original, pre-OKC address for the Ritz was 214 E. Britton Rd. After looking at the photo Carl posted of the Britton compared to the vintage photo of the Ritz, I don’t think they’re the same building. The Britton has a rounded ticket booth with an entry to the side, while it looks like the Ritz was more symmetrical. What do you guys think?
I have several phone books from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s and didn’t find the Britton Theater in any of them — must have been pretty short lived.
I have also found a pic, a positive made from a negative, showing the Britton Theatre! Here’s the thing…when Oklahoma City annexed Britton in 1950, all of the addresses were changed slightly, to fit the OKC numbering system with even numbers on the south side of the street. So, either the old Britton Theatre was torn down and a new Ritz built, which I doubt, having been inside the Ritz in the ‘50s, or it was renamed and the address changed due to annexaxtion by OKC, which I think is the case. View link
Oops, was listed as the Britton Theater that year too.
Just to throw some more uncertainty in, the Polk City Directory of 1951 lists it at 1001 NW Britton. I’ll try to drive by today and see if I can narrow it down.
Taken byt the firm of “That Man Stone”, Britton in 1949, showing it as the Ritz.
View link
The address of the Britton “RITZ” Theatre was 912 W Britton Rd. I moved to the area in 1956 when I was 6 years old, and have a photo from the OK Historical Society dated 1949. As far as I know it was always the Ritz. Here’s a pic I took April 2010 View link
Yes, I took some photos there last fall, and this is what I found:
View link
Yeah, Google Maps is way off. The Britton Theater is the second building to the west of the SW corner of Britton Road and Francis Ave. From the Google air photo, it has a black and white roof.
The theater looks as though it was later used under the name “Art Box” as that is what is on a sign over the doors. The locals seem to have renamed the abandoned theater again to “Fart Box.”
Posted address on the Britton Theatre has to be wrong. I looked it up on Google Maps, from the top of this page, and it clearly shows the Britton Bldg. located on the southside of W. Britton Rd., between Francis & Ollie. This would put the Britton in the 1000 block of W. Britton Rd.