Rivoli Theatre
2nd Street,
Colver,
PA
15927
2nd Street,
Colver,
PA
15927
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The Colver Theatre was renamed the Rivoli Theatre on June 23, 1932 after a short closure for improvements. This also replaced ANOTHER Rivoli Theatre which closed on May 21, 1932.
The fire at the Rivoli Theatre happened on the early morning of February 7, 1940 causing an estimate $55,000 in damage alongside its Ebensburg Municipal Building and the city’s fire hall. The smoke was discovered around 2:30 AM by a jailkeeper who also gave the alarm to the fire department. The Ebensburg FD alongside other units from six other neighboring towns were the ones to fight the blaze.
An article from the December 4, 2007 edition of The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, said that the building which had once housed the Rivoli Theatre in Colver was to be demolished the next week. The building, which was located on Reese Avenue, had been built in 1911 and had been vacant for fourteen years.
At one time the Rivoli had been operated by an Altoona-based chain called Rivoli & Hollywood Theatres, which ran houses called the Rivoli in Altoona, Beaverdale, Colver, Cresson, Ebensburg, and Portage, and houses called the Hollywood Theatre in Hastings and Johnstown.
The July 12, 1931 issue of Film Daily said that the Colver Theatre in Colver would be open only two days a week. The Colver first appears in the FDY in 1929. No theaters are listed for Colver in 1930. The Colver Theatre returns in 1931 and 1932 with 400 seats. It was listed as closed in 1933, and listed in 1934 with 348 seats. In 1935 it is gone and the Rivoli appears, with 350 seats. It seems most likely that the Colver and Rivoli were the same house, bought by Rivoli & Hollywood Theatres sometime in 1934 and re-branded with the chain’s favorite name.
From 1926 through 1928 the FDY lists a Strand Theatre at Colver, but gives no seating capacity. Still, it seems likely that this, too, was just an earlier name for the Rivoli.