Titan Theatre

Get it done Chuck1231!

tlsloews, Yes it was Loews Titan Theatre. After Loews sold it’s Southern California operations GCC operated it.

I was a student at Pacific Christian College (Now Hope International University) from 1977 to 1982. I have been inside the Titan many times and used the projection room as a sound booth for many speeches and theater productions. I worked my way through school as a sound and light technician for the school. The projection room had all of the projection equipment in tack when I was there. In fact during the fall of 1977, as a freshman, I attended the last feature film showing at the Titan. Someone at the college had some connections and they advertised to the student bidy that a “First run, major motion picture” would be shown in the theater free of charge on that Thursday night. They could not advertise what movie it was but assured the students it would be worth. The rumor mill started and everyone thought it would be a Disney movie. When the screen went black and then read “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…” The roar from the crowd was incredible. “Star Wars” was the last movie to be shown at the Titan. After that I did sound and lights for live productions of “Fiddler on the Roof”, “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”, the band Hiroshima and others. Reading the comments and seeing pictures has brought back some memories.

I recently posted pictures of Hope International University including the Titan Theater as it looks today (July, 2006) on Webshots. The album is entitled “Googie in Orange County”.

The URL for the album is:

View link

The Titan Theatre only ran two 70MM engagements. In 1967 “Doctor Zhivago” and in 1969 “Funny Girl”. The only Cinerama houses in the Southern California area were the Warner Cinerama (aka Hollywood Pacific) and the Cinerama Dome and the Forum Theatre (Cinerama testing and home office in LA).

The Titan Theatre opened on July 13th. 1966.

Once upon a time, someone posted this: “C_Jepsen > Apr 14, 2003 2:07 AM EDT
Titan Center (of which the theatre is a part), is one of the largest and last extant examples of Googie archtiecture. Beneath the theatre’s cantilevered folded-plate roof, you’ll find all the elements: Flagcrete walls, vast windows facing busy streets, space-age light fixtures and sub-tropical landscaping. Although no longer used as a movie theatre, the Titan retains most of its original features. For example, the box office, concession stand, poster frames and projection room stairs haven’t aged a day. Titan Center originally served the students of California State University Fullerton, which is located directly across Nutwood Avenue. The center included the first CSUF bookstore, (now Hope’s library), which was the largest bookstore in Orange County when it opened. Ronald Pierce of Tustin says, "Their athletic teams are called the Titans. The theatre was called Loew’s Titan when it opened in 1966, and when it closed in 1976, it was being operated by General Cinemas. Today, the theatre is the auditorium for Hope University International, which has taken over the surround shopping center for their campus. The modernistic architecture remains, except for the Titan lettering, which has been removed.”

William,

I live fairly close to this theater and I actually went inside after church services concluded. The theater from the lobby to the auditorium seems intact. The University has kept it in very good condition, which I think is more impressive than how some modern theater chains keep their own properties.

The auditorium is big, but I’m not sure how many people it seats. There are two aisles on the outside of the seating area. Where the screen was, a stage has been set up for sermons and live band performances.

The box office still has the original ticketing machine mechanisms intact. I did not get an opportunity to visit the projection booth, but I’m surprised they still have the 35/70mm projectors there.

Can you please email me @ ? When my old computer crashed, I lost your address. Many thanks. Bill K.

The Titan Theatre opened around 1966 as a Loew’s house. By around 1976 the theatre was operated by GCC and closed the house. Today the theatre is used a the auditorium for the Hope University International campus.