Vaska Theatre
1902 NW Ferris Avenue,
Lawton,
OK
73507
1902 NW Ferris Avenue,
Lawton,
OK
73507
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At various times over its long history, the Vaska Theatre was operated by Video Independent Theatres, Martin Theatres, and Carmike cinemas. It is now independently operated.
Here is the official web site. The “About” section has a few interior photos of the auditoriums.
In 2022, the Vaska added a second screen called the Aux while the original auditorium is the Main.
Official Facebook page for the Vaska Theatre.
https://www.facebook.com/Vaskamovies/?tn-str=k*F&hc_location=group_dialog
1948 opening story image added courtesy Marian Lynne Kirchner-Rohan.
This opened on March 4th, 1948. Grand opening ad in photo section.
Here is a recent view of the Vaska,
View link
A vintage snapshot of the Vaska Theatre can be viewed on this fine web site
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/421
LOL
Only the people that want to get it right.
Did they get the city wrong again?
This is a June 1975 ad from the Lawton Constitution. I thought it was appropriate since we had a pretty good one in LA tonight.
http://tinyurl.com/o533pc
No stadium seating, but the seats are comfy and not ripped up. The front wall used to not have a ticket booth or doors. It used to be a solid wall. The only entrance used to be on the 19th St side. There used to be a ton of bike racks out front back in the day (and they were filled too). The corner where it sits was part of a dairy farm. Location was chosen to take advantage of a new gate the post was going to put up.
A 1990 view of the Vaska Theater here and here in Lawton.
To view a period snapshot of this cinema type in word “theatre”,
View link
There aren’t very many of these independent theaters left. Does this one have stadium seating?
http://boinko.com
God bless your Dad! I remember walking to the Vaska on those hot Oklahoma days and felt right at home there. There was a very nice lady named Louise McCracken that knew my Mom and she would let me in for free. I have the fondist of memories at the Vaska Theatre.
I will say that in the 60’s and 70’s that was the best theatre in Lawton, Oklahoma. Your Dad had a great theatre and my hats off to him as I do remember some of the renovations he had performed. God bless!
My dad owned this theater from 1983-2003 and around 1992 he did major renovations to the interior and exterior- mostly cleaning everything and repairing the screen, installing new seats. There’s a 1991 or 1992 newspaper article about the renovations in the Lawton Constitution, the local paper. There are about 200 seats in the auditorium and is still independently owned. I love that theater and spent a lot of time there when I was a little girl. It’s still in great condition and the original sign-column on the roof is still lit every night.
This is not a second run theatre. As of 8/8/2005, the Vaska was playing “Herbie Fully Loaded”, “Bewitched” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, all movies currently playing all the local monsterplexes. Generally the Vaska shows three movies starting with an early showing at 1:oo followed by screenings at 3:30, 5:30, 7:30 and finishing the day with a 9:30. The Vaska was built in the 1940’s and is in good condition. I have great pictures to post asap.