Blues Bouquet
1010 W. Main Street,
Boise,
ID
83702
1010 W. Main Street,
Boise,
ID
83702
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The original Boz Theatre opened in 1909. This house, the New Boz, was built in 1910. W. Fred Bossner’s plans to build the new 600-seat theater were noted in the May 1, 1910 issue of The Nickelodeon.
Closed in 1929 and reopened on January 18th, 1930 as the Granada theatre by Publix theatres.
Reopened as the Strand Theater on August 16th, 1915. Another ad posted.
The Boz theatre opened on February 1st, 1909. Its grand opening ad has been posted.
According to a tourist brochure about downtown Boise (PDF here), the building now housing the Blues Bouquet was built in 1910. The New Boz Theatre was on the ground floor, and the upper floors housed the Manitou Hotel. The Blues Bouquet moved in in 1975.
The brochure doesn’t mention any other names for the theater, but here is a 1937 photo from the Idaho State Historical Society with the name Granada on the marquee.
I agree with Stephen that this house should be listed as the Granada Theatre. If it were still set up as a theater I’d say go ahead and list it under the current name, even if it was strictly a live music venue, but as far as I can tell from the photos on the Internet, it has been completely reconfigured as a bar with no theater seating at all. Even the stage looks like a typical bar stage, not a theater stage.
There was a Boz Theatre in Boise, so the local source saying that this house once had that name could be true. A history of Idaho published in 1914 said that W. Fred Bossner arrived in Boise in 1909 and began operating his first Boz Theatre.
In 1910 he opened the New Boz Theatre, which was exclusively a movie house and considered the leading such enterprise in the state. No address is given, so I can’t be sure it was the same theater that later became the Granada. The only other mention of the New Boz Theatre I’ve found on the Internet is one saying that, in 1911, noted feminist and radical Emma Goldman gave a speech there.
If the theater was also once the Strand then, assuming PSTOS is correct, it was also once called the Majestic.
This is from Boxoffice magazine in December 1951:
BOISE-The Granada Theatre has reopened with a new policy and Roger Mendenhall, owner of the Granada and Pinney theatres, announced the appointment of Jack Rhodes as manager. He will be assisted by Bob Wilson. Rhodes managed the Natatorium last summer with the assistance of Wilson. The Granada was closed during the summer for renovation but is now operating daily.
The club is still going, although the related link no longer works.
http://tinyurl.com/47da3c