Cove Theater
470 Park Blvd.,
Orange Cove,
CA
93646
470 Park Blvd.,
Orange Cove,
CA
93646
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The Cove Theatre was listed for sale in the Clearing House section of Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of June 19, 1978. The scan is bad, but I can make out that the house was then operating on weekends, and I’m pretty sure it says 400 seats (or maybe 490.) The asking price for the building, business and equipment appears to have been $67,000.
Here’s something from the December 14, 1946, issue of Boxoffice: “The opening of the Cove at Orange Cove last month by John L. Terrill came 17 months after he had opened his first house, the Orosi at Orosi….” Orosi is a few miles south of Orange Cove and about an equal distance east of Dinuba.
The June 30, 1945, issue of Boxoffice ran an item saying that John J. Terrill had declared the recent opening of his new Orosi Theatre “a tremendous success.” It added that Terrill, an Air Transport Command veteran, had previously operated a theater in San Andreas, and during the war had operated a military post theater in Long Beach.
Does anybody know anything about the Orosi Theatre? It’s not listed at Cinema Treasures.
As of last week, The Cove is still standing.
I just discovered and photographed this theater last weekend on a little tour of exploring some of the tiny towns North of Visalia. It still looks exactly like what the previous poster describes, though I have insufficient knowledge to confirm the crack house part. Someone attached over-the-counter rope lighting to the metal “COVE” letters on the marquee to outline them. It’s a far cry from neon, but at least someone’s heart was in the right place.
This poor little movie house is still standing.I checked it out last week,and took a couple of pictures of it.It’s been defaced ,and abused,but still has it’s large marquee with “COVE” cut-out style lettering,which is stripped of all neon.The theatre’s bird cage style ticket booth is still there,and entrance doors which lead upstairs to crack house apartments still have their port hole windows.The building also house’s a church,clothing store,and taco stand.I’ll be happy to share my pictures with you via email.