Avon Theatre
17910 NE Bothell Way,
Bothell,
WA
98011
17910 NE Bothell Way,
Bothell,
WA
98011
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Per Ron Green: It was completed in 1948 as a theater, then moved in 1962 to the south side of Bothell Way, just across from Brooks Biddle. The lobby part and the quonset hut were eventually both used for a used car dealer and a repair garage. Before that, there was a feed store in the new location for a while. There was also a time in the 1970s when it was a consignment shop. I’ve scanned page 115 of the 2009 book Bothell Then and Now which showed the building(s) shortly before they were torn down. The next year, 2010, was the end of it, with all the demolition that took place as Bothell Way moved half-a-block closer to the Sammamish.
Image as Bothell Auto Sales referred to above added to Photos Section.
My family moved from Seattle to Bothell in 1958 where I started 7th grade at Anderson Junior High School that fall, and I have lived in the Bothell area ever since; except for 4 years in the Marine Corps from 1964 to 1968.
As expected the Bothell area has changed tremendously over the years. It’s fun to look back sometimes and remember how the changes came about. For some reason I remember the Avon Theater very clearly, I think because the first movie I saw there was Thunder Road with Robert Mitchum. It had plenty of action for that time period and it was just when guys my age were getting seriously interested in cars.
I remember when the theater moved across the street and the Safeway came in. There was also a lot of controversy when the Safeway opened, because they wanted a bakery in the store but the Bothell City Councel wouldn’t let them, because they wanted to protect the Hilcreast Bakery, the one and only bakery in Bothell.
That Safeway store was wear I got one of my very first jobs, after having a Seattle Times paper route first. It’s too bad that the city of Bothell wasn’t interested in saving the Avon building, but I guess that’s progress.
Sadly, The Bothell Avon Theatre has been demolished. The City chose to destroy this landmark building instead of moving it to a new location.
This theater was built in 1947 where the Safeway is and it was moved down the street (Bothell Way) in 1962. Not sure when it closed but it’s now a Used auto dealership
Here is a re-post of the 1949 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2xz6na
Yep, that’s the photo. I hadn’t noticed the quonset part. Just the interesting shape of the marquee and lobby.