Tower Theatre by Angelika
2508 Land Park Drive,
Sacramento,
CA
95818
2508 Land Park Drive,
Sacramento,
CA
95818
14 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Angelika Film Center (Official)
Additional Info
Operated by: Angelika Film Centers
Previously operated by: Blumenfeld Theater Circuit, Landmark Theatres (USA), Reading Cinemas
Architects: William Bernard David
Functions: Movies (First Run), Movies (Independent)
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Tower Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
916.442.0985
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Nov 10, 2013 — Tower celebrates 75 years
- Dec 14, 2009 — Remembering Cinerama (Part 44: Sacramento)
- Oct 30, 2009 — Happy 50th, "Sleeping Beauty"
- Mar 29, 2004 — Sacramento's Tower Theatre at Risk?
Built in 1938, the Tower Theatre is a Sacramento landmark.
In 1974 the single screen auditorium was divided into three smaller ones. The final movie to be screened in the original auditorium was “Uptown Saturday Night” starring Sidney Poitier. The exterior, however, has remained in its original form, including still-working multi-colored neon lights. It was taken over by the Angelika Film Center in December 2023.
Tower Drugs, located next door, is where retail giant Tower Records was born.
Contributed by
Jeremy Sanford
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Recent comments (view all 36 comments)
I grew up in and around Sac up to the age of 7, then in L.A. until just recently,( I’m 42), when I moved to Truckee, so I really got to experience many classic theaters, north and south. My dad took us kids to all the beautiful and mysterious movie houses on Broadway in L.A., and because we had cousins, aunts, uncles and friends scattered throughout the San Joaquin Valley,(including some “sweaty Armenians”), we got to see alot of the smaller but no less classic small town movie houses, some , I recall, with these cool old neons signs of Polar Bears announcing,“Cool Air Conditioned Air Inside”.
But the one theater that I remember most vividly, and with much affection, is the Tower. One summer that I stayed with some relatives, we visited the Tower almost every weekend. What a superclassic venue. I went by there recently. I hear its being threatened by the encroachment of megaplexes. I hope they save her.
My husband told me the bathrooms were better last year, then they got worse and they’ve brought back the ice in the stalls. I thought the smell returned because Tower Records went under but it turns out, Tower Records doesn’t own Tower Theater.
There should be a law about treating a theater like this.
The name of the chain is misspelled at top. It is Reading Cinemas.
This is their web site.
The theater’s individual web page is still at the URL Lost Memory posted in the comment above.
I grew up in the suburbs and only enjoyed watching movies in the megaplex’s. Now that I’m a little older and have moved into midtown Sac, I have found a deep place in my heart for theaters like the Tower, Crest and Guild. If there is a movie out and I want to see it. The first place I look is at the Tower. Yes it’s old and run down and most of the employee’s there have no appreciation for what the theater is to this town but It’s a theater with history.
Maybe one day I will have the funds to purchase this theater and restore it to it’s former beauty. Until then, I will enjoy it for what it is and give it as much business as possible.
A few 2012 photo can be seen here and here.
I first moved to Sacramento in 1962 and have many fond memories of the single screen Tower where I enjoyed such first run attractions as “Charade”, “Lilies of the Field”, “The Great Escape” and “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Like so many other once grand theatres, separating it into 3 theatres pretty much destroyed the interior charm of the Tower but at least it still stands and looks pretty much the same from the outside. The dreary interior could use a major overhaul but I don’t expect to see that anytime soon. Since the Crest stopped regular film programming it’s the only place in town to see indie and foreign films nowadays which is pretty pathetic for such a big metropolitan area as Sacramento.
The Tower Theatre will celebrate its 75th anniversary on Monday, October 11, 2013. Here is the story in today’s Sacramento Bee.
The theater was triplexed in 1974- Uptown Saturday Night was the last movie to play in the full auditorium.
I ran film here briefly in 1993 mainly as a favor to someone, but felt bad doing it. The two lower theaters didn’t even have stereo, yet they were showing movies that weren’t played elsewhere. I’ve heard that recently they’ve had shows sell out, so they really ought to restore it back and add on more screens externally if needed. I won’t see movies here until that happens. It’s likely protected from being demolished in any case, but its current state is the next-worst thing.
No longer operated by Reading Cinemas, Sacramento’s venerable Tower Theatre is now called the Tower Theatre by Angelika, and is operated by the Angelika Film Center. Here is the current web site.
Reading Cinemas owns Angelika. Essentially, same operator.