Grand Theatre

The Placerville Mountain Democrat advertised the Grand Theatre opening September 4, 1948, by E.H. “Hal” Hall with free admission. Regular showing began September 5th with Red Skelton in “Merton of the Movies” and a second attraction, John Hodiak in “The Arnelo Affair”.

The Quonset hut style building that was the Grand Theater can still be seen in Pollock Pines. The 1948 location given was the north side of highway 50 just east of the 50 Grand Market. Equipped with a cry room, the 490-seat theatre had loges costing .70 cents, adults .60 cents, students .50 cents and children .20 cents.

In January 1949 Motion Picture Herald noted owner Tom Graff circulated 4,250 monthly programs and published the shopping News for the mutual benefit of local merchants. From 1950-51 Mr. Graff commented quite frequently in the “What the picture did for me” section of Motion Picture Herald.

Sometimes closed due to heavy snow, an advertisement in the Mountain Democrat announced it was opening for the season on June 20, 1954. Its last known advertisement was on September 23, 1954, with Tempest Storm in “French Peep Show” and “Wolf Bait”, titles more befitting a theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Over the years the building has been used for a variety of retail stores and the location today would be east of the 50 Grand Restaurant & Bar.

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