Bell Theatre

865 Main Street,
Redwood City, CA 94063

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The information about this theatre is from a "oral interview" of a 70 year old man in 1976:

The first moving picture house in Redwood City was the Bell Theatre on Main Street, near Stambaugh Street. On Saturday afternoons we would watch serials such as “The Clutching Hand”, “The Iron Paw” and “Neil of the Navy”.

The only legitimate theatre in town was the Alhambra Theatre, located on Main Street between Broadway and Stambaugh Street, which is now the Masonic Hall. Besides stage plays and other social functions, the Alhambra Theatre was occasionally used for boxing matches.

Contributed by John O'Connor

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

johnoconnor
johnoconnor on July 6, 2009 at 1:17 am

I have found more info about this theater in “Images of America Redwood City”.On page 15 there is a 1915 photo of the Bell Theater located at 865 Main St. There is a reference to a car dealer moving into the building in 1931 on page 49.

It appears that the building still stands and it is next to the old Holmquist Hardware building at 875 Main St. (at Stambaugh St.).

I was born and raised 4 blocks from this location on Stambaugh. In the late 1940’s the building was a produce stand (open to the weather? with just a metal lattice security barricade across the front. Sometime in the early 1950’s it was remodeled into a “mom and pop” grocery store call the “Sequoia Market"that was there until-who knows.

Somebody local would have to visit to see what is there now. Comparing and old aerial photo with a resent one shows the building to be the same.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on January 1, 2010 at 2:07 am

There is a reference to the Bell in this July 1915 issue of “Moving Picture World”:
http://tinyurl.com/ybyqj9n

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