D & R Theatre
205 South I Street,
Aberdeen,
WA
98520
205 South I Street,
Aberdeen,
WA
98520
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 151 - 164 of 164 comments
Don’t get rid of that boxoffice (a.k.a. ticket booth). It’s easy to refurbish and you’ll need it to sell tickets.
It makes your theater look cheap if you have to go inside the building to buy tickets so please keep the boxoffice in use!
The marquee is coming down. The city wants us to get rid of it, and it’s about ready to fall down anyway. It will get replaced with something similar to the original. The ticket booth is going to have to go as well. It doesn’t fit with the original style of the building. This booth will probably end up in the museum or some similar use.
We have a partial set of original plans for the building, copied from the city’s microfilm archive. We’re going to make it look as much like the original building as possible, given the constraints of use as a modern theater and the requirements of the code. It’s going to take a while to do all this work, so look for changes to start happening in a few months.
A-Men!! And clean up the entrance, along with replacing the glass in the ticket booth. Getting rid of the chicken wire.
First thing to do is get the marquee fixed as it now makes the building look so bad. Please fix the marquee.
Thank goodness someone is willing to do something with the D&R. My best wishes for Harbor Arts. This was always the BEST theater on the harbor. This is just the kind of enterprise that can start a revitalization of the down town that has seen so much of it’s business move out.
We’re glad to see so much excitement for the renovation of the theater and the birth of the program. Harbor Arts is still in a little shock that we were able to acquire the D & R Theater before something bad happened. Knock on wood. Yes, movies will be part of the program. The immediate and main emphasis will be geared towards live plays, concerts and entertainment. Please don’t hesitate to mail or call with your contact information as we will gladly keep you up to date on our progress. The web-site and e-mail address will be posted in the near future. In the meantime, correspondence and donations may be sent to: Harbor Arts Foundation, P O Box 896, Aberdeen, Wa 98520. Our new phone number/message center as of 09/15/2005 is 360-537-1130. Thanking you all in advance for your support.
Will movies be part of the program?
Dave, who do we contact to get involved or to donate? I am excited about the possibilities, and I wish you and your team all the luck in the world. Aberdeen could use something good … Aberdeen’s been in such a depressed state for so long, it could use this kind of positive jolt. My husband lived in Aberdeen and Montesano for a number of years, and we always drove by the D&R hoping something good would happen there before something bad (like fire, demolition, condemnation, etc.). GOOD LUCK and THANK YOU!!!
Great News, The newly formed “Harbor Arts Foundation”, a non- profit organization, has agreed to purchase the D & R Theater and renovate it back to it’s 1920’s style. An aggressive fund raising, grant and sponsorship campaign will begin shortly. Our goal is to make the D & R the gem of Aberdeen as it deserves. The theater and foundation will highlight professional & local talent and encourage private and community events in the harbor. The theater will house the Harbor Arts Academy in the front ten office spaces as well as a coffee house in the lobby area and a theater museum- gift shop to make the D & R a daily experience. Target date to re-open the theater in grand style is mid to late 2007. As this project progresses we will be posting contact information for anybody who would like to be part of this monumental task. Local artists, teachers, business owners, etc. interested in participating in the performing arts academy are encouraged to contact us as well.
I agree, someone should do domething with the D&R. If not a theater maybe some kind of performance space, or restaurant and dance club, or comedy club. Something that is going to showcase the buildings attributes. Many large theater have been re-used for other purposes with-out destroying there interiors.
Everytime I go by this theater I wonder why no one has stepped up to the plate to buy this treasure and fix it up. It’s sad to see this theater neglected!
The D&R Theater was built in 1923/24 by Ed Dolan hence the D in D&R. The original decoration was Adam in style with delicate palster ornamentation and crystal chandaliers. The auditorium held 5 large chandaliers and 8 boxes, 4 on either side of the balcony. The walls were decorated with northwest logging and forest murals. The original seating capacity was 1500. There is a large stage and 2 floors of dressing rooms. There was also a large pipe orgen that accompanied the silent films. Vaudeville was the original main entertainment at the D&R. The lobby had 2 large chandaliers and more murals with wicker furniture on the mezzanine level. The original exterior had a metal cornice on the top of the building, a simpler marquee and a box office built into the lobby between the entrance doors. During the 1930’s the theater was remodeled, all the boxes were removed the plaster ornamentation was reduced and the whole building in and out was painted. The marquee was replaced and the verticle stripes seen on the outside today were added. During the 1940’s the seating was replaced on the main floor, now about 1200. The whole interior and exterior was again re-painted and the marquee was again replaced with the one that appears today. The box office was also replaced with the current free standing one we see today. Nothing much happened with the theater except lobby paint up to the closing in the 1980’s. Today I understand that the seats are gone along with the crystal chandaliers. This was Aberdeens largest and most lavish movie palace and it is to bad that it has been alowed to be gutted and fall into such disrepair. Ron Carlson 12/31/04.
It has been closed for quite a number of years. I am from Aberdeen (live in Seattle now) and my grandmother actually used to run the ticket booth when Aberdeen was in its “booming” phase (late 50’s). It’s sad to see it sit there like it is now (the chicken wire has been there forever). I remember seeing Snow White with my mom when I was about 5 years old. I would have hoped that someone would have bought it and fixed it up, but with the current economy down there I am not surprised nothing has happened.
We were in Aberdeen this weekend and swung by to see the D & R theater. It is no longer for lease. The owner is renting the two small retail spaces in the front. We called him to ask about the condition of the theater itself, and he said that it was empty, the seats had been removed, and it was being used as storage space. The old ticket booth is still there in front of the doors, wrapped in chicken wire, and the general exterior of the building is very run down.