Aberdeen Theatre
115 W. Wishkah Street,
Aberdeen,
WA
98520
115 W. Wishkah Street,
Aberdeen,
WA
98520
1 person
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Tom Moyer Luxury Theatres, Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.
Functions: Church
Styles: Spanish Moorish
Previous Names: Roxy Theatre, Warner Brothers Theatre, Warners Theatre
Nearby Theaters
This theater, built in 1929, is just two blocks from the D & R Theatre on the main one way street headed toward Hoquiam. It was originally heated by a wood fired boiler.
Now operated as a church, the congregation improved the building by installing a new roof, new plumbing, new electrical wiring, new carpet, and new heating system. Unfortunately, the church removed the beautiful tiled free-standing ticket booth and the theater’s marquee.
Contributed by
Ken Layton
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Recent comments (view all 45 comments)
In the opening description it states that the theater was heated by a wood fired boiler. In fact there has never been a boiler in this theater. The Aberdeen Theater’s furnace is located on the third floor over the stage house. The original stoves are still in use, they are now fired by gas but they were originally fired by black oil. In the 1980’s one of the staff members tried wood but it was difficult to haul it up three floors of narrow stairs. The stoves are like a wood stove used today in many peoples homes only much larger. the heat is dry and behind the fire boxes is the fan and ducting to circulate the hot air into the theater. This works very well. But there has never been steam in the Aberdeen.
Also; when wood was tried it was done because the theater was in financial trouble. The employee who tried the wood could get it for very cheap but because the stoves are so large the theater would burn a cord every other day. So not only was hauling it up to the stoves a problem, storage of a quantity to heat the place for 1 week in the winter required about 4 cord. There was no place to keep that much wood. Also the fire dept. approved the use of wood but only grudgingly. And they did not want it stacked all over the place. The theater was designed for oil or gas and nothing else.
Here is a 1975 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yjnzoor
Great picture, brings back many memories of afternoons at the movies when I was a kid.
There are some great photos of the Aberdeen Theatre on this site: jonesphotocollection.com. Do a site search for the Aberdeen or theaters in general. The photos are amazing!
The marquee when it was called the Warners Theater is absolutely amazing.
In the photo’s it shows some entrance doors for the theatre. These are original but only half the doors are left today. They used to extend all the way across the front of the middle of the building. There was a free standing box office also. The church removed half the doors and the box office and expanded the inside lobby space by enclosing the outside foyer space. They also lowered the outside foyer ceiling and removed the chandeliers. Installing florescent fixtures. But at least it’s still standing.
The interior of the auditorium had all the original paint and decorations up until the church took over. Since then it has been painted yellow and the ceiling black. The original cove lighting is no linger used and florescent lights have been hung in the auditorium. Only the balcony retains it’s original paint scheme. The booth is stripped of all equipment, and the mezzanine space is now a children’s area with the windows painted over. The whole room is blue (if memory serves me). All original drapery is gone except for the stage drapes and they are torn and unusable.
Was once a handsome building. Why do some groups have such bad taste. To ruin the interior of an historic place. Still nice on the exterior. Restore it all. The D and R has been fixed up I hear.
It is a tragedy what these people did to this theater. But I suppose it’s nice it still stands.