nritota: Cinema Treasures' default view now displays only the ten most recent comments in a thread. If additional comments exist for a given theater, they are now displayed on additional pages. To see earlier comments, click on the (view all comments) link just above the first comment displayed on the default page.
I’ve checked the County Assessor’s web site, and it says that the building at this address was built in 1932, with an effectively-built date of 1933. This might be one of the cases in which the early property records have been lost, and the build date given is only the earliest record on file. Several nearby buildings also have effectively-built dates of 1933 or 1934, and I suspect that this reflects repairs that had to be made to the structures following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, which did considerable damage in parts of the San Gabriel Valley, especially in areas such as El Monte, situated on soft alluvial soil near the rivers.
Despite the 1932 build date, I’m still 99% certain that this is the building that once house the Rialto/Valley Theatre, and the current address of the storefront that once served as the theater’s entrance is 10818 Valley Mall.
The University of North Carolina’s “Going to the Show” web feature includes the first known newspaper advertisement for the Ottoway Theatre. The brief three line ad was published in the Charlotte Daily Observer of July 7, 1911.
Wolfgirl: The only source in which I’ve found the Youngstown Orpheum mentioned is Richard Abel’s book Americanizing the Movies and “Movie-Mad” Audiences, 1910-1914, which mentions it briefly a few times. The book indicates that the Orpheum was operating at least as early as 1912.
1535 Market Street is now a Honda dealer’s showroom and garage. The back and side walls of the building look like they could be fairly old construction, but if this is the same structure that once housed the Liberty Theatre it has been drastically altered, and the interior must have been gutted.
It appears that El Monte’s old numbering system began at Tyler Avenue, the main north-south street, and as Sanborn’s El Monte Theatre was at the historic address 110 E. Valley, and it was in the first block east of Tyler, that means the addresses must have started with three digit numbers rather than single digit numbers. That would put the Valley Theatre somewhere about three blocks west of Tyler (the cross streets are spaced irregularly.)
Examining that neighborhood with Google Maps' satellite view reveals that there is a building at 10818 Valley Mall, between Palm Court and Lexington Avenue, which has a rear section that is taller than the rest of the building. This section could have been an auditorium. Street View shows that the building has a three-bay facade, with the center bay somewhat taller than the side bays. The center bay was probably the entrance to the theater. The building was modernized sometime after the photo Ken linked to was taken.
Adjacent buildings as seen in Street View have also been remodeled, but their sizes are perfect matches for the nearby buildings seen in the historic photo. I’m 99% certain that the building at 10818 Valley Mall, with its center bay currently occupied by a clothing store called Eden Fashion, is the former Rialto/Valley Theatre.
The property records section of the L.A. County Assessor’s office web site is currently down, so I can’t check the construction date of the building, but when it comes back I’ll check it again. If the original construction date of this building was 1923, I’d consider that sufficient proof that it was the Rialto.
As for the El Monte Theatre at 331 W. Main, it would have been across the street from the Rialto and a bit west. In the absence of any historic photos of it, it would be hard to determine which building it occupied, what its modern address would be, or if the building is still standing.
The Mayan Palace 14 began as a two-screen house called the Century South Theatre, built in 1968. Later renovations converted it to a four-screen operation, but the major expansion came in 2003, when it was substantially rebuilt as the Mayan Palace. The project was designed by the Dallas architectural firm Hodges & Associates.
Browning Construction Company, contractors for the project, published an article about the Mayan in the first issue of their house organ, currently available as a pdf file from this page at their web site. The article has several photographs of the theater.
The source for the name of the architect currently listed for this theater, Wayne Schoupke, is apparently David Naylor’s 1987 book “Great American Movie Theaters” (at least I’ve been unable to find any other print sources using that name that are cited on the Internet.)
However, a web page from the Marathon County Historical Society about Wausua architect William Oppenhamer attributes the design of the Grand to his firm of Oppenhamer & Obel (Irving Obel.) Historical societies can be wrong, of course, but so can authors of books. (The historical society web site is weird, so I can’t link the page directly. Search Google with these three words, including the quote marks: “Oppenhamer, William” Marathon …his page should be the first result.)
There is an architect named Wayne Schoepke (note different spelling of the surname) currently practicing in Wausau. Perhaps Schoepke was the architect for a renovation of the Grand, and Naylor just got his notes garbled? I’ve been unable to find any period references to an architect named either Schoupke or Schoepke, but there are many old references to the firm of Oppenhamer & Obel (including one, from 1921, about a theater they were designing, to be located in Rhinelander, Wisconsin,) so I’m inclined to think the historical society got this one right, and Naylor got it wrong.
Google Street View is totally screwed up at this location. Their camera truck apparently missed the entire block between Virginia Avenue and Vinedo Avenue. Looking east along the sidewalk from Virginia Avenue, you get a glimpse of the theater’s shadowy marquee.
The Google Street View shows Miller Alley leading south from Union Street. This Flickr photo shows the pedestrian passage leading to the theater from Colorado Boulevard, with the theater’s sign and attraction board suspended above it (the photo is a bit blurry.)
Current Google Street View shows that the building has been remodeled in a retroish style all too characteristic of Pasadena in the early 21st century. I only ever saw the original building during the early stage of construction, but photos of it show that, as originally completed to Daniel Uesugi’s design, this was a Neo-Vintage/Streamline style theater. I think the original design made a better contribution to the streetscape than does the boxy thing the building has become, Tiffany’s or not.
There are four photos at CinemaTour showing the original look. The lobby wasn’t all that impressive, but the facade was nice.
The February 23, 1921, issue of [em]Engineering News-Record[/em] has an item which must be about the American Theatre. Datelined Bonham, Texas, is says that E. H. Hulsey and H. B. Robb, of Dallas, were having plans prepared by Bonham architect A. B. Scarborough for a two-story brick theater building. The project was expected to cost about $75,000.
As CSWalczak’s comment of October 25, 2010, says, and the photo Don Lewis linked to on November 1, 2010, shows, the Royal Theatre on Houston Street was on part of the site now occupied by the much larger Majestic Theatre.
The Royal had to have been demolished by 1929. That means that the theater in the current description, still operating in 1943, must have been one of the two other Royals mentioned in Bob Jensen’s comment of October 31, 2010.
According to the caption of a photo in the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, this multiplex was built shortly before the April, 2000, tornado struck, and had been in operation less than six weeks when it was destroyed. The owners rebuilt on the same site.
According to the same source, the original Parsons Theatre (the one in the 1985 photo Chuck linked to,) which had been rebuilt following one fire in 1943, was destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later, and was subsequently demolished.
The Parsons Theatre was opened no later than 1928, when an organ was installed. According to the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, the Parsons Theatre was partly destroyed by a fire on September 3, 1943, and was rebuilt, but was completely destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later.
This is probably the 1967 photo Chuck’s dead link fetched.
The Ivanhoe Theatre was in operation before 1919. It was included on a list of Toledo movie houses in a book called “Motion Pictures as a Phase of Commercial Amusement in Toledo, Ohio,” by John Joseph Phelan, which was published that year.
Michigan Film Review of June 4, 1918, had this to say about the Strand:
“Lester Matt, of the Strand theatre, Flint, is planning to add a balcony that will increase his capacity 600 seats. The Strand is doing a phenomenal business despite the warm weather.”
The Star Theatre was listed at 1618 N. Saginaw in Polk’s 1915 Flint City Directory. I don’t know if that indicates that the theater was rebuilt or expanded between 1915 and 1922, or if the street numbers were just changed.
The Star was one of the houses mentioned in an item headed “Flint Theatres” in the November 6, 1917, issue of Michigan Film Review:[quote]“There are only thirteen theatres now operating in Flintâ€\"all others being out of business or closed:
“Delia and Strand, operated by Lester Matt; Orpheum, Charles Garfield, manager; Elite, W. DuKarry, manager; L. J. Sumlin, manager; Royal, Rex Minkley, manager; Star, L. Booth, manager; Gem, F. C. Philips, manager: Princess, Reckin and Nickotemus. managers: Fredro, J. Olenski, manager, and Majestic, Palace and Garden theatres, operated by W. S. Butterfield.”[/quote]The item only mentions twelve theaters by name, so one of the thirteen got left out, apparently the one managed by L. J. Sumlin. The August 6 issue of the same journal had said that Sumlin was manager of the Savoy Theatre, so that’s probably the missing name.
The October 6, 1917,issue of The American Contractor had an item saying that contracts had been awarded for construction of a motion picture theater, hall, and office building to be built at Plymouth, Michigan, for Kate E. Allen. The projected cost for the two-story, 100x90-foot building was $30,000. The project had been designed by architect C. Howard Crane.
The Venice Motion Picture Theatre Company was organized at Nephi in June, 1914, according to the Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Utah published in 1915. Given the name of the corporation, I don’t know what to make of the claim at Utah Theatres that the house was originally called the Ermo Theatre. They cite the source for the Ermo aka as an email from someone named Jerry Shepherd. The page also gives the Venice the aka Foote Theatre.
Editions of Julius Cahn’s Guide from 1903-1904 and 1904-1905 list an 800-seat, ground floor theater called the Opera House in Nephi, managed by a Mr. G.W. Toote. I think Toote in the Cahn guides was a typo, as there are many references to a Foote family residing in Nephi, but no other references to anybody named Toote. I’ve found a 1982 reference to a Richard and Shirley Foote, of the Venice Theatre Corporation in Nephi. Perhaps the Venice Moving Picture Theatre Company of 1914 was formed not to build a new theater, but to take over operation of G.W. Foote’s Opera House and convert it to movies?
Utah Theatres has a page for the Nephi Opera House, with little information other than a seating capacity of 500 and an operational period of 1903 to after 1912, which would not conflict with the opening of the Venice in 1915, if they were the same theater.
The September 4, 1918, issue of The Music Trades says that a large American Fotoplayer had been sold in Nephi, but doesn’t name the buyer. It’s possible the instrument was installed in the Venice Theatre, although I’ve come across a single reference to an Arlington Theatre operating at Nephi in 1915, so the Fotoplayer might have gone there.
If anybody wonders what a Fotoplayer is, watch this YouTube video for a sample.
Rereading my comment of Jan 4, 2009, I think the opening date of September, 1947, I cited from Boxoffice must have been a typo. The introduction says that The Show was operating during the depression, and the building in the photo A. Ratcliffe linked to is certainly of a style more characteristic of the 1930s than the late 1940s. Most likely the house opened in 1937, not 1947.
I’ve been unable to discover whether or not the building survived the tornado that struck Joplin last Sunday evening. One map of the tornado’s path shows its northern edge crossing Main Street near 13th Street, a short distance north of the Glen’s location. The former Wasson and Electric theater buildings are within a block of the Glen, so they would also have been in danger, as would the former Royal Theatre’s building, assuming it hadn’t already been demolished.
nritota: Cinema Treasures' default view now displays only the ten most recent comments in a thread. If additional comments exist for a given theater, they are now displayed on additional pages. To see earlier comments, click on the (view all comments) link just above the first comment displayed on the default page.
I’ve checked the County Assessor’s web site, and it says that the building at this address was built in 1932, with an effectively-built date of 1933. This might be one of the cases in which the early property records have been lost, and the build date given is only the earliest record on file. Several nearby buildings also have effectively-built dates of 1933 or 1934, and I suspect that this reflects repairs that had to be made to the structures following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, which did considerable damage in parts of the San Gabriel Valley, especially in areas such as El Monte, situated on soft alluvial soil near the rivers.
Despite the 1932 build date, I’m still 99% certain that this is the building that once house the Rialto/Valley Theatre, and the current address of the storefront that once served as the theater’s entrance is 10818 Valley Mall.
The University of North Carolina’s “Going to the Show” web feature includes the first known newspaper advertisement for the Ottoway Theatre. The brief three line ad was published in the Charlotte Daily Observer of July 7, 1911.
Wolfgirl: The only source in which I’ve found the Youngstown Orpheum mentioned is Richard Abel’s book Americanizing the Movies and “Movie-Mad” Audiences, 1910-1914, which mentions it briefly a few times. The book indicates that the Orpheum was operating at least as early as 1912.
1535 Market Street is now a Honda dealer’s showroom and garage. The back and side walls of the building look like they could be fairly old construction, but if this is the same structure that once housed the Liberty Theatre it has been drastically altered, and the interior must have been gutted.
Google Street View provides only a back view of this multiplex. Here is a photo of the front.
It appears that El Monte’s old numbering system began at Tyler Avenue, the main north-south street, and as Sanborn’s El Monte Theatre was at the historic address 110 E. Valley, and it was in the first block east of Tyler, that means the addresses must have started with three digit numbers rather than single digit numbers. That would put the Valley Theatre somewhere about three blocks west of Tyler (the cross streets are spaced irregularly.)
Examining that neighborhood with Google Maps' satellite view reveals that there is a building at 10818 Valley Mall, between Palm Court and Lexington Avenue, which has a rear section that is taller than the rest of the building. This section could have been an auditorium. Street View shows that the building has a three-bay facade, with the center bay somewhat taller than the side bays. The center bay was probably the entrance to the theater. The building was modernized sometime after the photo Ken linked to was taken.
Adjacent buildings as seen in Street View have also been remodeled, but their sizes are perfect matches for the nearby buildings seen in the historic photo. I’m 99% certain that the building at 10818 Valley Mall, with its center bay currently occupied by a clothing store called Eden Fashion, is the former Rialto/Valley Theatre.
The property records section of the L.A. County Assessor’s office web site is currently down, so I can’t check the construction date of the building, but when it comes back I’ll check it again. If the original construction date of this building was 1923, I’d consider that sufficient proof that it was the Rialto.
As for the El Monte Theatre at 331 W. Main, it would have been across the street from the Rialto and a bit west. In the absence of any historic photos of it, it would be hard to determine which building it occupied, what its modern address would be, or if the building is still standing.
The Mayan Palace 14 began as a two-screen house called the Century South Theatre, built in 1968. Later renovations converted it to a four-screen operation, but the major expansion came in 2003, when it was substantially rebuilt as the Mayan Palace. The project was designed by the Dallas architectural firm Hodges & Associates.
Browning Construction Company, contractors for the project, published an article about the Mayan in the first issue of their house organ, currently available as a pdf file from this page at their web site. The article has several photographs of the theater.
416 E. Commerce Street is now occupied by part of a massive parking structure. The Dreamland Theatre has been demolished.
The source for the name of the architect currently listed for this theater, Wayne Schoupke, is apparently David Naylor’s 1987 book “Great American Movie Theaters” (at least I’ve been unable to find any other print sources using that name that are cited on the Internet.)
However, a web page from the Marathon County Historical Society about Wausua architect William Oppenhamer attributes the design of the Grand to his firm of Oppenhamer & Obel (Irving Obel.) Historical societies can be wrong, of course, but so can authors of books. (The historical society web site is weird, so I can’t link the page directly. Search Google with these three words, including the quote marks: “Oppenhamer, William” Marathon …his page should be the first result.)
There is an architect named Wayne Schoepke (note different spelling of the surname) currently practicing in Wausau. Perhaps Schoepke was the architect for a renovation of the Grand, and Naylor just got his notes garbled? I’ve been unable to find any period references to an architect named either Schoupke or Schoepke, but there are many old references to the firm of Oppenhamer & Obel (including one, from 1921, about a theater they were designing, to be located in Rhinelander, Wisconsin,) so I’m inclined to think the historical society got this one right, and Naylor got it wrong.
Google Street View is totally screwed up at this location. Their camera truck apparently missed the entire block between Virginia Avenue and Vinedo Avenue. Looking east along the sidewalk from Virginia Avenue, you get a glimpse of the theater’s shadowy marquee.
The Google Street View shows Miller Alley leading south from Union Street. This Flickr photo shows the pedestrian passage leading to the theater from Colorado Boulevard, with the theater’s sign and attraction board suspended above it (the photo is a bit blurry.)
Current Google Street View shows that the building has been remodeled in a retroish style all too characteristic of Pasadena in the early 21st century. I only ever saw the original building during the early stage of construction, but photos of it show that, as originally completed to Daniel Uesugi’s design, this was a Neo-Vintage/Streamline style theater. I think the original design made a better contribution to the streetscape than does the boxy thing the building has become, Tiffany’s or not.
There are four photos at CinemaTour showing the original look. The lobby wasn’t all that impressive, but the facade was nice.
The February 23, 1921, issue of [em]Engineering News-Record[/em] has an item which must be about the American Theatre. Datelined Bonham, Texas, is says that E. H. Hulsey and H. B. Robb, of Dallas, were having plans prepared by Bonham architect A. B. Scarborough for a two-story brick theater building. The project was expected to cost about $75,000.
As CSWalczak’s comment of October 25, 2010, says, and the photo Don Lewis linked to on November 1, 2010, shows, the Royal Theatre on Houston Street was on part of the site now occupied by the much larger Majestic Theatre.
The Royal had to have been demolished by 1929. That means that the theater in the current description, still operating in 1943, must have been one of the two other Royals mentioned in Bob Jensen’s comment of October 31, 2010.
According to the caption of a photo in the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, this multiplex was built shortly before the April, 2000, tornado struck, and had been in operation less than six weeks when it was destroyed. The owners rebuilt on the same site.
According to the same source, the original Parsons Theatre (the one in the 1985 photo Chuck linked to,) which had been rebuilt following one fire in 1943, was destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later, and was subsequently demolished.
The Parsons Theatre was opened no later than 1928, when an organ was installed. According to the book “Parsons,” by David Mattox and Mike Brotherton, the Parsons Theatre was partly destroyed by a fire on September 3, 1943, and was rebuilt, but was completely destroyed by another fire more than 50 years later.
Here is an updated link to the 1963 Boxoffice article with pictures of the Belcourt cited in my earlier comment.
This is probably the 1967 photo Chuck’s dead link fetched.
The Ivanhoe Theatre was in operation before 1919. It was included on a list of Toledo movie houses in a book called “Motion Pictures as a Phase of Commercial Amusement in Toledo, Ohio,” by John Joseph Phelan, which was published that year.
Michigan Film Review of June 4, 1918, had this to say about the Strand:
The Star Theatre was listed at 1618 N. Saginaw in Polk’s 1915 Flint City Directory. I don’t know if that indicates that the theater was rebuilt or expanded between 1915 and 1922, or if the street numbers were just changed.
The Star was one of the houses mentioned in an item headed “Flint Theatres” in the November 6, 1917, issue of Michigan Film Review:[quote]“There are only thirteen theatres now operating in Flintâ€\"all others being out of business or closed:
“Delia and Strand, operated by Lester Matt; Orpheum, Charles Garfield, manager; Elite, W. DuKarry, manager; L. J. Sumlin, manager; Royal, Rex Minkley, manager; Star, L. Booth, manager; Gem, F. C. Philips, manager: Princess, Reckin and Nickotemus. managers: Fredro, J. Olenski, manager, and Majestic, Palace and Garden theatres, operated by W. S. Butterfield.”[/quote]The item only mentions twelve theaters by name, so one of the thirteen got left out, apparently the one managed by L. J. Sumlin. The August 6 issue of the same journal had said that Sumlin was manager of the Savoy Theatre, so that’s probably the missing name.
The October 6, 1917,issue of The American Contractor had an item saying that contracts had been awarded for construction of a motion picture theater, hall, and office building to be built at Plymouth, Michigan, for Kate E. Allen. The projected cost for the two-story, 100x90-foot building was $30,000. The project had been designed by architect C. Howard Crane.
The Venice Motion Picture Theatre Company was organized at Nephi in June, 1914, according to the Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Utah published in 1915. Given the name of the corporation, I don’t know what to make of the claim at Utah Theatres that the house was originally called the Ermo Theatre. They cite the source for the Ermo aka as an email from someone named Jerry Shepherd. The page also gives the Venice the aka Foote Theatre.
Editions of Julius Cahn’s Guide from 1903-1904 and 1904-1905 list an 800-seat, ground floor theater called the Opera House in Nephi, managed by a Mr. G.W. Toote. I think Toote in the Cahn guides was a typo, as there are many references to a Foote family residing in Nephi, but no other references to anybody named Toote. I’ve found a 1982 reference to a Richard and Shirley Foote, of the Venice Theatre Corporation in Nephi. Perhaps the Venice Moving Picture Theatre Company of 1914 was formed not to build a new theater, but to take over operation of G.W. Foote’s Opera House and convert it to movies?
Utah Theatres has a page for the Nephi Opera House, with little information other than a seating capacity of 500 and an operational period of 1903 to after 1912, which would not conflict with the opening of the Venice in 1915, if they were the same theater.
The September 4, 1918, issue of The Music Trades says that a large American Fotoplayer had been sold in Nephi, but doesn’t name the buyer. It’s possible the instrument was installed in the Venice Theatre, although I’ve come across a single reference to an Arlington Theatre operating at Nephi in 1915, so the Fotoplayer might have gone there.
If anybody wonders what a Fotoplayer is, watch this YouTube video for a sample.
Here is a recent photo of the former Congress Theatre. It looks as though the street has been recently repaved, but the sidewalk still needs some work.
Rereading my comment of Jan 4, 2009, I think the opening date of September, 1947, I cited from Boxoffice must have been a typo. The introduction says that The Show was operating during the depression, and the building in the photo A. Ratcliffe linked to is certainly of a style more characteristic of the 1930s than the late 1940s. Most likely the house opened in 1937, not 1947.
I’ve been unable to discover whether or not the building survived the tornado that struck Joplin last Sunday evening. One map of the tornado’s path shows its northern edge crossing Main Street near 13th Street, a short distance north of the Glen’s location. The former Wasson and Electric theater buildings are within a block of the Glen, so they would also have been in danger, as would the former Royal Theatre’s building, assuming it hadn’t already been demolished.