Soquel Cinema

MichaelKilgore on March 5, 2024 at 1:59 am

Date of the change:

Boxoffice, June 3, 1963: “Audrey Jacobs has leased her Osecoles (sic) Theatre, Soquel, to John Bowles of San Francisco. The theatre has been redecorated and renamed the Cinema. An art policy, with an eye to the growth of Santa Cruz, and the new University, are the theatre’s current plans.”

GaryParks on May 8, 2011 at 5:39 pm

Having seen several musicals at the West Abbey (ex-Osocales/Soquel) Theatre in the early 80s, I can well confirm the estimate of an original capacity of 500 seats. My memory of the room’s size is certainly consistent with that seating number. At the time I attended the musicals, work had been completed to turn the area in front of the cross aisle into cabaret seating. Original seats still filled the stadium section in the rear—but over the months, that area was also terraced and filled with tables and chairs, although I do remember that a couple of rows of original seats were retained.

The auditorium’s ceiling was covered in perforated acoustical tile, and a large sheet metal five-pointed star was affixed to it in the center, which had lavender neon hidden in it, which up-lit the ceiling. The walls were bare, showing the structural concrete pillars and crosspieces with tan brick infill. I’m sure these must have been covered with acoustical material originally, and may have been removed to better serve live theatre use.

My family attended several of the live productions here. The West Abbey opened with a very successful run of “The 1940s Radio Hour.” We also saw “A Chorus Line,” a very nicely presented revival of “George M!,” and a locally-written, family friendly show called “Jubilee Way Out West,” which was a sendup of “Oklahoma,” and other Western-themed stage productions and movies.

When it was converted to the New Wave nightclub, Dexters, the section forward of the cross aisle was leveled for dancing. The thrust stage that West Abbey had built was mostly removed, and a new stage more appropriate for live bands and DJs and “house dancers” was build, extending just a little beyond the concrete proscenium opening.

Comparatively trivial memories—but they are a part of history: On the hill above the theatre sat Soquel High School. It goes without saying that kids would walk down the hillside paths and try to take a peek inside during the porn days (certainly they did this during the theatre’s mainstream movie days as well). My best friend at the time time went to Soquel High (I went to Aptos High), and he told me that this one acquaintance of his bragged that he was going to go take such a peek. After he and some other guys did so, it was plainly obvious that his young eyes got a bit more than he bargained for.

A family friend—part of our church-affiliated circle—confided in me several years later that he was relieved when the porn policy ended and the West Abbey took over, as he had taken to popping by the theatre on occasion to catch an adult film. As a traditionally religious person, he was wracked with guilt for this. He has been gone for many years now, and will remain anonymous, but his feelings were no doubt typical of many folks who patronized adult theatres in the days before video and the switch to adult entertainment being experienced privately.

kencmcintyre on December 13, 2008 at 6:32 pm

From Boxoffice magazine, May 1950:

One hundred seats were installed in the Osocales Theaters in Soquel, Charles J. and Robert L. Ide, owners, announced.