South Berkeley Photo Theatre
3192 Adeline Street,
Berkeley,
CA
94703
3192 Adeline Street,
Berkeley,
CA
94703
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previous Names: Luke's Nickelodeon, Pastime Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Opened in 1909 as Luke’s Nickelodeon.
Contributed by
Margot Lind
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This is also listed as the Pastime in an old city directory.
This long-closed single-screen was most recently used as a spoken-word venue, but is now vacant.
It was located in a building whose historic name is Luke’s Nickelodeon Building, and, according to a Berkeley Daily Planet article (January 4-6, 2005), is among several being considered for the National Register.
It was built in 1909 as Luke’s Nickelodeon. It supposedly contains the original fully functional stage. The city of Berkeley wants to tear it down to provide parking for the police parking enforcement office next door.
I would like to purchase the theater
cleo smith consider saling it
I updated the street view to show the building. It’s the one with the light brown double doors. The parking enforcement office has moved, so I doubt the city wants to tear it down.
I live a few blocks from this building and recently took the photo that I’m posting. Today I drove past and noticed a painter scraping loose paint off the upper part of the front. I stopped and and he let me take a peek inside, I had my ipad handy so I took a shot of the interior, which I am also posting and which also seems to be getting some work, perhaps it will be opening as some sort of venue again. The painter had no idea what was up. There was no stage, but the wood floor almost certainly dates from 1909. Alan Cohen writes in his “A History of Berkeley, From the Ground Up”, that this was the first movie theatre to open in town, followed shortly by the “It Theater” a short distance away.