Coliseum Theater
500 Pike Street,
Seattle,
WA
98101
500 Pike Street,
Seattle,
WA
98101
17 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 41 comments
Seattle Times article from March 22nd, 2023, “Boarded-up Coliseum Theater to become downtown Seattle art space” with temporary installations by XO Seattle.
Banana Republic closed it’s store in the Coliseum during the pandemic and has announced that the closure is permanent. This theater is vacant, ready and waiting for…? The interior is mostly intact, the conversion to retail was done with the idea that it might someday re-open as a theater.
2017 article about Seattle theatres.
https://typespec.com/mr-montgomery-seattle-theatre-lore/?fbclid=IwAR3q-kOTrBbDdad9NYoEVaZeSZq05qMg2EB5E2I8FK00yp58ntFETUsOSQQ
October 18, 1953 photo added credit Werner Lenggenhager. Courtesy The Seattle Public Library
The Coliseum Theatre still has the whole top half left where the balcony was, intact above the false ceiling of the store below. I took a tour a few years ago, they keep this part of the old theatre closed off to the public. It just sits there year after year gathering dust seats and all. Someone needs to open the top part for shows and events, it is a large space. I remember as a kid going into this theatre, It had one of the steepest aisles going down to the screen. A big slant when walking to your seat in the dark.
Interesting about Jaws. I saw both Conan films there and quite a few horror/action films too. Terminator was one of them. It ran a long time too. It was a first run house until the end. The last film was Tremors. This theatre should be restored to its original interior and given a stage for live action theatre. The balcony is still intact and the original ceiling and back wall in the upper reaches.
As cited in my retrospective article, “The Game Changer”, the Coliseum held the longest-running engagement in a single-screen theater of “Jaws.” (There were a few longer runs of “Jaws,” but they were held in a multiplex.)
Only some of the original remains. The interior has been gutted and the marquee removed. It is now just retail space.
Some newspaper ads uploaded to photos
The Coliseum was known as United Artists Theatre from August 1927 (until some point).
Yes the elaborate and grand original Coliseum Theatre was made a lot less elaborate and unique around 1950. Something very dramatic about viewing a film there though. Great curtain design and art deco proscenium. Big wide screen too. The auditorium was not deep but wide and one felt very close to the big screen. Probably still my favorite theatre in Seattle. Hope it is restored someday and used for stage presentations. Seattle needs another stage theatre. It just needs a stage.
What exactly is that supposed to be a link to?
http://bananarepublic.gap.com/
Banana Republic
The January 6, 1951, issue of Boxofrfice reported that the Coliseum Theatre in Seattle had reopened following a $250,000 remodeling job that had begun the previous August. Much of the theater’s original detailing, designed in 1915 by architect B. Marcus Priteca, had been removed, as had the dome over the theater’s entrance. The architect who was responsible for this desecration of B. Marcus Priteca’s work was… well, B. Marcus Priteca. I guess that’s one of the perils of having a long career as a theater architect.
An early article with photos
An exterior photo c. 1929 can be seen here.
This great theatre was very elegant but was ruined inside about 1950. All the major elaborate trim was removed. Art deco style was installed. Now it is a store. Some of the ceiling and arch still exists above the store ceiling. The elaborate exterior is still the same and was restored. I never saw the orignal interior but went to the second remodel many times. Had lots of style too.
This opened on January 8th, 1916. Grand opening ad in photo section.
We will never see anything quite like this again; a photo taken on opening day in 1915: View link
Did “JIMI HENDRiX” ever play there,he was from there.
Good Site. Great name for a Theatre.
A history of the Coliseum with pictures both of the theater and its architect can be found here:
View link
I will always fondly remember this theater. In fact, it was this theater and the Lyric (VOH) in Vancouver that pique my interest in movie palaces of yesteryear. My first visit was to catch a double feature with Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon along with Steve McQueen’s Bullitt. I sat there admiring the theater’s ornate interior even though it has seen better days. Another gem was the Emerald.
That is a fascinating set of photos. Thank you for sharing. I have been wondering for years what, if anything, was left of the original interior.
Thanks for posting those photos! That really contributes to our understanding of the Coliseum, what it was, and what’s left.