Plaza Theatre
647 E. 12th Street,
Oakland,
CA
94606
647 E. 12th Street,
Oakland,
CA
94606
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This opened as the Ritz theatre in September 1934 and became the Pix theatre on June 13th, 1942. 1942 ad in the photo section.
I went to the Pix a few times, they were showing a movie called “So Young, So Bad” with Anne Francis. The Star Theater was showing the same movie, but promoted Rosarita Moreno (Rita Moreno) instead of Anne, probably because the Star was showing hispanic movies. The Pix was a nice theater. A previous poster said that as the Plaza there were no curtains, they must have removed them because as the Pix there were gold curtains that closed and opened. I mostly remember the Pix because they served cream soda and it was clear in your cup just like water, it was delicious.
heres a link of 2 pictures of the plaza in the 1980s
picture taken in 1980
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picture taken in 1986
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There should be an aka of Pix, as well as Park.
The teatro vertical was not installed until the late 70’s, and which remains to this very day. The interior is gutted. When the Martin family closed the theatre, it was to have been reopened as a asian house to cater with the extremely increasing population of asians to the area. The plan was scrapped due to insurance. At that time, numerous fires destroyed many businesses in the area,fires very close to the Plaza. A fine theatre, had it not been for the insurance, it would probably had remained opened to this very day, as there were several operators willing to use it.
A recent photo of the site…
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I passed the former Plaza over the weekend en route to an event in the area; the interior was in the midst of renovation, presumably for future retail, and the marquee was gone. The “Teatro” vertical was still there, but had been altered and modified (and still saying “Teatro;” possibly this is being incorporated into the new use, albeit in name only).
the old cine plaza i remember this theater like it was yesterday when i was a little boy i used to go with my parents to go see spanish movies all the time this was back in the early 1980s before dvds and vcrs so on weekends latinos from all over oakland and the bay area would come here to watch movies i recently passed this site the other day it,s some sort of asian store but the theatro sighn was still there
I passed by the Plaza the other day. It is sealed with a steel slide down door. marquee is still there with the Teatro vertical. I went there once when The Godfather was playing there, with spanish subtitles. Very plain inside, with no drawings or murals, however the side wall lights were in red white and blue and were pretty. Just a screen, no drapes or anything. The soundproofing of the projection booth was poor, you could hear the projectors run, and the loud ding ding ding of the changeover! The marquee was beautiful lit up with yellow and blue alternating flashing neon PLAZA being in white neon. The vertical teatro sign was yellow, with light bulbs on the outside and flashed like it looked like a bar. You could see it all the way down East 12th Street. Got movies of it lit up really cool.
The organ from this theatre now belongs to a private collector in Salinas, though it is storage, not currently playable.
Methinks this one’s in dire need of an update (the Pix has NOT been demolished, and in fact operated as the PLAZA for a number of years, for example).
An update to my November 20 comment: The Plaza’s marquee has been painted over, though it is still up and intact.
The (still standing) Pix became known as the Plaza about 1962 and eventualy became known for Spanish-language movies, adopting a “Teatro” vertical sign in the late 1960’s, and continuing showing movies until about the late 1980’s-early 1990’s. Though since converted into a thrift store, both the “Plaza” marquee and the “Teatro” vertical sign still stand.