Grand Lake Theatre
3200 Grand Avenue,
Oakland,
CA
94610
3200 Grand Avenue,
Oakland,
CA
94610
48 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 86 comments
When Fox West Coast ran it they fooled the people of Oakland thinking they had a road show theatre. All the big 70mm road shows played San Francisco first, later in the run the Grand Lake picked up the prints before they went to the small theatres and booked them like it was the same thing as road show. They didn’t tell the people they only had 35mm. I think later on they did put in 70mm when Allen came on board.
I enjoy films at the Grand Lake, I wish there were better movies available. I don’t come as often as I would like because the movies aren’t very good. I wish you could run some older films like the Paramount did a few years ago. I would attend Grand Lake more if they could run some older films like ‘Gone with the Wind’ or ‘Ben Hur. I don’t have allot of money, but I would do almost any thing to help the Grand Lake to stay open, let me know if there is any way I could help. I could come to more shows, however there aren’t that many good films being made.
Mr. Bari Brown
510-798-8560
Wishing you well in keeping the Grand Lake open.
Awesome photo. You always find all the good photos Lost Memory. Thank you for your hard work and your contributions to this site!
^^ I LOVE IT!
Here is some trivia for you. The Grand Lake at one time, before the balcony was converted, was the showcase for Disney Films. Remember all those early Disney Movies, like Candelshoe, and Escape To Witch Mountain? Well they played there. A disgruntled projectionist, was fired for smoking weed in the the booth. He was also the projectionist at the T&D, and spliced in a porno trailer in the preview trailer. The Grand Lake audience was treated to about 20 seconds of “Memories within miss aggie”. when the new projectionist turned it off and switched to the main feature, the whole floor yelled BOOOOOO and PUT IT BACK ON! I was there when it happened and let me tell you, it was hysterical!!!! Ah, the memories of the grand lake!
I came to this webpage just to see where this theater is located for a March 30, 2006 Lecture: “9/11: The Myth & the Reality” by David Ray Griffin. I enjoyed reading this thread and clicking on the links with photos. I don’t see anyone remarking about attending lectures at this facility, though. Looking forward to it.
Renaissance Rialto leases the Grand Lake Theater – they do not own it. This and many other web sites incorrectly state that the Grand Lake Theater has been bought and sold – but it has been in the same ownership since it was built. Only the lease has been bought and sold. I know this because my family owns 50% of it.
Have great mem’s of this fine Theatre, as a kid, growing up in the 50’s, in the Lakeshore area. A ‘Blockbuster’, like “The Ten Commandments” would run for month’s. “The King and I” packed ‘em in, also. My older sister was an Usher in the Grand Lake, during this time, and loved working there. It is an 'asset’ to Oakland, as is the Paramount and Fox Oakland. Happy to see the Parkway still go'n, also. Sorry to read about the Roxie, tho. Saw a lot of Disney ‘n Elvis’ “GI Blues”, there. Saw the ‘Incredible Shrinking Man’, when it first came out, at the T&D. “Beach Party” at the Paramount. The Globe was good for ‘B’ Horror flicks! Is it true..“Kwik Way”, just down from the Grand Lake, finally closed? Been there a long time!
Another political message on the marquee:
http://www.allhatnocattle.net/marquee3.jpg
I found this site by searching for any web pages containing the words “Grand Lake Theater” and political. I decided to do the search after driving by this magnificent cinema house for the umteenth time and heralding their courageous act of posting political statements and information on their marquee. Just tonight it finally dawned upon me that I have yet to read a single message on their marquee to which I didn’t fully agree and concur. In fact at times, the message was so right on that I felt compelled to demonstrate my accordance and did so by frantically honking my horn and pointing up to the marquee as I drove by in my little convertible. Although that made me feel good I realized that the best thing I could do to insure those messages keep coming, is to simply buy tickets. So that’s what I do whenever I can and encourage all my friends to do likewise. I’m hoping that every person who ceases their patronage because of the messages on the marquee (i.e. APhillips 12/2003), I and my friends will find two more people that will happily bring their families to the great GRAND LAKE THEATER for all their movie enjoyment. And they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on,….
Oakland Artist Miron Murcury ()) has created a wonderful CD Rom of the Grand Lake. It is an inside, outside and backstage tour that is just wonderful. Miron has worked on the Grand Lake as a caregiver and painter. He really knows the Grand Lake well.
I love the political messages on the marquee! I get a chuckle every time I pass by. You know you are definitely not in a Republican area…
For those of you who think Grand Lake Theatre should stop its political statements, get a grip on reality. I applaud Grand Lake for being patriotic. If you don’t like it, then don’t go to the theatre.
Plus Bush DESPERATELY needs to be out of office. He’s putting this country in the worst financial shape in history.
I don’t know how often the sign lights up these days, but I remember when I lived in Oakland 1984-‘86 (and attended the Grand Lake fairly often) the only nights the sign was lit were Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The rest of the week, only the marquee was lit, and on rainy nights, only the reader boards and GRAND LAKE letters were lit. In a perfect world, all signage would be lit every night, all night, but the fact is, maintaining all that wonderful glamour is very expensive.
I agree with the above comments about the roof top sign rarely being lit. I just moved to Oakland, and the first few nights passing by the Grand Lake with the sign lit up was truly magical and amazing! I have only seen it lit once since then! What’s up with that? The owners have no idea how much more business they’d get if they operated the sign nightly. It truely makes the place magical and special. Without it lit, the place looks dead and closed. What a shame…
This theatre was once operated by National General Theatres and later by Mann Theatres. Before being sold to the current owners.
The Grand Lake Theater opened on 6th March 1926.
View link Here’s a shot of the marquee with one of the political messages
Grand Lake is a nice theater but I understand that employees are treated horribly……..You pay 7 dollars to these hard working people and you expect them to fear you….that is distrubing and sickening….get your act together Allen and have a heart….you put up marquees about Bush not treating America fairly…why don’t you treat you employees with a little bit of integrity. Your a rich many allen, but that doesn’t mean you have to be filthy and rich
P.S.-the charm of the rooftop sign is diminished as you are too cheap to ever turn the d*mn thing on.
Hey Michaan,
Why dont you spend some money on your arthouse theatre, the Park? You’ve got a wealthy populus there that would poney up full prices to see the art films you play there. But you’re obsessed with your antique show and your political messages.
I always thought the idea of going to the movies was to be able to for a short time be taken out of the real world. But to walk up and pay modern full prices for the shows and have to listen to your political commentary is sickening. Why don’t you replace the carpets in the lobby? As I recall, they haven’t been touched since Roger Rabbit opened, what was that, 1988? I am very glad that you keep classic houses opened up, but why not spend a little bit on your theatre business and less on the antique shows? YOu’ve spent it all there, and a great theatre there, but you wont on the theatres you still operate. The Grand Lake hsan’t had new carpets in 15 years…nor seats…the Oaks in Berkeley doesn’t even have air conditioning (which you stole the lovely chandeliers from for alameda) and the park theatre you wont even paint. You charge almost $9 for your papark theatre covered in duct tape and cracked paint. You also make enemies with Sony and Paramount so you don’t or can’t play 2 major studios films. Your projection is first rate, good people running your theatres, but why not spend half the time fixing up your places. You ever think that the payroll you’ve spent placing your political messages probably collectively has been enough to paint the park theatre and recarpet the grand lake?
I try not to get invloved, but NO it Should NOT!
I remember seeing “E.T.” here, back in 1982, as one of my earliest movie-going experiences…and what a memorable one it was. The line was around the block, and the theatre inside, crowded! For years, I would come here on weekends to see most of the Disney features. While some of the multiplexes in the area were ok, the Grand Lake was a special place. The mural along the stairwell, and the decorations in the main lobby areas are all ‘grand’. I’ve never been fond of the balcony being used as a second theatre. Having seen some films in the main theatre here recently, I thought the partitioning of the second floor looked particularly tacky. Hopefully that will be restored to its original state someday. The “Egyptian” and “Mayan” theaters on the sides are also very well done, but it’s the main theatre that has the nicest atmosphere, as only an authentic 1920s movie palace could have.
In the 80s, the matinees for the children’s movies used to begin with an amusing film, showing a boy and girl visiting the theatre and a narrator explaining proper audience manners. Is this still shown? It was very funny.
The Grand Lake is HANDS DOWN the best first-run theatre in the Bay Area. As an Oakland native, I’m really happy that the Grand Lake still shines every so gloriously as it’s beautiful marquee and rooftop sign. Every film is receives a top notch presentation, this theatre was also one of the first to implement digital sound when it first surfaced. It doesn’t bother me that the balcony was converted into a second auditorium, growing up I loved how it was the only theatre to have “stadium style” seating. Another bonus of the balcony conversion is that the screen is much closer and looks stunning- they did a really good job. The other two screens that they added on the side are also nice, cute with their own themes. But the experience of the main screen… WOW!
I have lived in the area around the Grand Lake all of my life. I have seen more movies there than I can count. However, I will NEVER see another movie there again as long as they post obsurd political statements on their marquee. They have no business getting involved in politics like that. The marquee is supposed to be to display movies being shown, not to advance their leftist political agenda. Is “BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW” really a movie? I didn’t thinks so. Grand Lake you’re just a movie theater, stop the political statements now!