Victory Theatre
910 Pacific Avenue,
Tacoma,
WA
98402
910 Pacific Avenue,
Tacoma,
WA
98402
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According to PSTOS, the building was demolished in 1969.
newspaper listings ended in 1922 for this theatre.
Reopened as Victory on June 9th, 1918. 1st ad was posted.
This opened as the Crystal Theatre on June 20th, 1904 and reopened as Pantages March 23rd, 1908, as Oak on January 7th, 1908. Grand opening ads posted.
Crystal Theater opening 17 Jun 1904, Fri The Tacoma Daily Ledger (Tacoma, Washington) Newspapers.com
Some articles
Oak Theater to Victory 09 Jun 1918, Sun The Tacoma Daily Ledger (Tacoma, Washington) Newspapers.com
and
A bit more digging has unearthed additional information. There’s still no opening date for the Crystal Theatre, but the house was renamed Pantages Theatre in 1908, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Buildings Index at the Tacoma Public Library. The same source reveals that the theater was remodeled by B. Marcus Priteca in 1913. It was renamed the Columbia Theatre in early 1918 and became the Victory late that same year.
In late 1924, the building was converted into a hall for the Tacoma post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In later years it served a variety of purposes, including an athletic club, a night club, and a restaurant.
The building was still standing as late as the mid-1960s, and is depicted along with its next-door neighbor, the Capri Theatre, in this photo dated c.1966 by the Tacoma Public Library. There is also this photo dated only c.1920s, apparently taken after the theater had closed.
The even-numbered side of the 900 block of Pacific Avenue is now occupied by half of a two-block long parking structure. The Victory Theatre has been demolished.
This house was in operation as the Pantages Theatre at least as early as 1908, when it was mentioned in the August 15 issue of The Billboard. I haven’t found the opening year for the first Tacoma Pantages, but according to Robert Grau’s The Stage in the Twentieth Century, this was the second house in the Pantages circuit, and was originally known as the Crystal Theatre:
As Alexander Pantages’s first theatre, in Seattle, opened in 1902, and Pantages built his circuit very rapidly, the first Tacoma house might have opened as early as 1903.Katie, I think you have the wrong Victory Theatre. The Victory you are thinking of, which was located at 910 Pacific Avenue, was strictly a stage theatre. However, at 4801 S. Yakima, there was the Victory Theatre in 1924. This Mission-style theatre (originally called “Mission Theatre” but renamed the Victory six months after it opened) had a capacity of 500. The Architect of the Victory was A.J. Batchelor and it was first operated by F.E. Lions.
Katie, I think you have the wrong Victory Theatre. The Victory you are thinking of, which was located at 910 Pacific Avenue, was strictly a stage theatre. However, at 4801 S. Yakima, there was the Victory Theatre in 1924. This Mission-style theatre (originally called “Mission Theatre” but renamed the Victory six months after it opened) had a capacity of 500. The Architect of the Victory was A.J. Batchelor and it was first operated by F.E. Lions.