Gaslighter Theatre
400 E. Campbell Avenue,
Campbell,
CA
95008
400 E. Campbell Avenue,
Campbell,
CA
95008
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unfortunately, dblinn61’s link doesn’t work. Through independent search I discovered that the May 11, 1939 Los Gatos Times won’t be available to the public on UCR’s web site until 2024. It’s available now on newspapers.com, but I don’t have a subscription to that site.
I just noticed that GaryParks' comment of September 5, 2014 confirms that the Building the Campbell Theatre was in was indeed the bank project designed in 1920 by Wolfe & Higgins. Principal Frank Delos Wolfe had been in partnership with his son Carl J. Wolf since 1912, and William E. Higgins joined the firm in 1918. Wolfe & Wolfe designed the Liberty Theatre in San Jose in 1913-14. So far I haven’t discovered any other theaters designed by the firm.
Campbell’s first movie theater was the IOOF Hall, and in September of 1920, next to the Growers' Bank, the Campbell Theater opened. On Friday, May 12, 1939, the Growers Bank Building had its Grand Opening as the Campbell Theatre, run by A. Blanco, who already had movie houses in Mt. View and Santa Cruz. The feature being shown Opening Night was Darryl F. Zanuck’s “Jesse James” starring Tyrone Powerand Henry Fonda. The opening was front page news on May 11, and a full page ad was taken out later in the paper with all the local Campbell Businesses congratulating Mr. Blanco and wishing the theater success. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CP19390511&e=——-en–20–1–txt-txIN——–
Multiple images added.
Official website & Facebook page below for LVL UP At the Gaslighter, the current arcade & bistro in the space.
https://www.thelvlup.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LvLUpCampbell
Mid `50’s photo as the Campbell added courtesy of Mike Carroll.
There are a couple of books that describe the origins and history of the building. One is “Images of America: Campbell,” a photo-history compiled by the Campbell Historical Museum & Ainsley House, and the other is “Campbell: the Orchard City,” by Jeanette Watson, published in conjunction with the Campbell Museum Foundation. Both are available at the Campbell Historical Museum at 51 N. Central, and at the Carriage House of the historic Ainsley House at 300 Grant Street (on Orchard City Green.)
As originally designed and opened in 1920, the Growers National Bank space was the tallest part of the development, in the center, with identical storefront wings on either side. The bank portion would eventually become the Campbell Theatre, but the ORCHARD CITY THEATRE was located, in 1920, in the left-hand wing of the complex, two doors down from the bank. Accompaniment to the silent movies was at first done with piano, either live or rolls, but in 1924, a Wurlitzer organ was installed. Today, the storefront wings survive, along with the bank/Campbell/Gaslighter Theatre portion. The left wing which once housed the Orchard City Theatre still sports its original white glazed brick facade, but the right wing wears a coat of smooth stucco, applied long ago. the one photo I have of the Orchard City (from the Jack Tillmany Collection) shows no marquee, just an indented ticket lobby, with poster cases and an octagonal box office.
For what it’s worth, the March, 1920, issue of The Architect & Engineer had this item, which might or might not have something to do with the origins of the Gaslighter Theatre’s building:[quote]“Bank to Erect Building
“Messrs. Wolfe and Higgins, Auzerais building, San Jose, are preparing plans for a bank building, stores and moving picture theatre, to be built at Campbell, near San Jose, for the Growers National Bank. Forty thousand dollars will be expended on the improvements.”[/quote]Perhaps only the part of the project that housed the bank was completed, or perhaps the original plans were discarded altogether and a different architect designed the building that was actually built. It’s a mystery someone from the area might be able to unravel.
Here is a 1984 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/deybry
Here is a November 2001 article. Orchard City Theater should be an aka:
http://tinyurl.com/3dm6tc
The Gaslighter has recently closed. I have heard it said that the space is to be turned into some kind of “ultralounge.” Apparently, requisite seismic upgrading is to be undertaken first.
I only went to one show at the Gaslighter, in Fall of 2000. It was my second date with my wife.
The building was first the Grower’s National Bank, built in 1922 and it remained a bank until the stock market crash in 1929. Ten years later in 1939 it opened as the Campbell Theatre, with the movie “Gone With the Wind”. It closed as a movie theatre in 1963.
It re-opened as the Gaslighter Theatre in 1967.