Fairfield Cinema 1
849 Texas Street,
Fairfield,
CA
94533
849 Texas Street,
Fairfield,
CA
94533
1 person
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Solano Theatre, Pepper Belly's Comedy Club
Nearby Theaters
Opened as the Solano Theatre on July 28, 1921 with Charlie Chaplin in “The Kid”. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer organ. By 1941 it was operating as the Solano Theatre with 540 seats. It was remodeled in 1945. It was renamed Fairfield Cinema 1 in late-June 1974 following the opening of Fairfield Cinema II across the street(it has its own page on Cinema Treasures).
After closing as a movie theatre it operated as Pepper Belly’s Comedy Club and was renovated in 2011. The building was destroyed by a fire on January 25, 2013.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Open ~1940-~1967? Can anyone verify the exact dates?
It was the Solano Theatre in 1967.
Owners:
1940 Mann & Walsh Theatres
1967 Homer I.Tegtmeier & Associates of San Francisco, they had 4 theaters in California.
The Website mentions “ALL ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY FREE ENTRY with valid ID”, that’s cause Fairfield is the home of Travis U.S. Air Force Base.
I went by this theater in 2003 and it was a comedy club, the only thing that had changed from when it had been a movie theater was its name.
More info and photos are always welcome.
Here’s a recent photo of the Comedy Club:
http://www.thewholeearthisfilledwithhisglory.com/theaters/150a.html
A six alarm fire, thought to be electrically caused, pretty much totally destroyed Pepper Belly’s (formerly the Solano Theatre) on the night of January 25, 2013. The inside of the structure is totally gutted and the roof is gone. Only the four walls remain and it’s unclear at this point if they are structurally sound.
Went to this walk in theatre with some friends back in the 1988 to watch Dennis Hoopers film ‘Colors’, as I recall it was not a big movie house. The seating were angled in sort of a slope, I remember climbing stairs to get to an open seat. I also went here in the mid 2000s to see a dinner comedy show in one room and remember a dance club with a DJ in another room.
Actually this first opened at the Fairfield theater on July 1921, on the corner of Jackson and North Texas streets. Later named the Solano Theater, the movie house was completely remodeled in 1945. In 1974, the theater changed from Solano Theater to Fairfield Cinema I and across the street was Fairfield Cinema II.
Uploaded photos as the Solano and one from 1977 as the Fairfield I.
Renamed Fairfield Cinema I in late-June 1974 following the opening of the Fairfield Cinema II a few days later.
This opened as the Solano Theatre, opening on July 28, 1921 with Charlie Chaplin in “The Kid” along with a Wurlitzer organ performance. Otherwise, it was unknown if any extras were added. The Fairfield Theatre name came from another early movie theater nearby also in Fairfield that operated during the late-1910s and early-1920s.
It was first owned by Joseph McEniry. As of 1921, the original building measures 40x100ft and housed 500 seats featuring a 18x40ft stage with an opening that measures 20ft wide. The original screen measures 17x19ft. Shortly right after George R. Moore took over as owner in February 1945, the Solano Theatre announced a $30,000 remodel after being announced that July. While the Solano was still remodeling, E.T. Mercer took over as manager in November 1945 after being discharged from the Navy. It was unknown if his discharge was related to the death of the war. The Solano Theatre was then completely remodeled in either late-1945 or early-1946.