Aberdeen Theatre
115 W. Wishkah Street,
Aberdeen,
WA
98520
115 W. Wishkah Street,
Aberdeen,
WA
98520
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Showing 1 - 25 of 45 comments
It is a tragedy what these people did to this theater. But I suppose it’s nice it still stands.
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.
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.
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 marquee when it was called the Warners Theater is absolutely amazing.
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!
Great picture, brings back many memories of afternoons at the movies when I was a kid.
Here is a 1975 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yjnzoor
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.
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.
Scott, what make of equipment was removed? When I left in the 1980’s the projectors were Simplex 35’s with RCA Photophone sound heads, Simplex bases and Brenkert EnArc lamps with a generator and voltage regulating equipment. Also the sound system was an Eprad stereo setup with 1 back stage speaker and surounds in the auditorium. Not a very good system. (a poor man’s dolby) That is what Grays Harbor Theatres installed and sold out to Tom Moyer who I believe then sold to Act 111.
I was employed by ACT III theatres to remove the projection equipment from the aberdeen theatre in the early 90’s. The projectors were rebuilt and installed in the Newport, OR tri-plex shortly there after. The Newport theatre is expanding, and I am getting the projectors back. It would be cool to see them returned, should the theatre reopen.
This is from the Centralia Daily Chronicle dated 4/10/30:
ABERDEEN, April 10.â€"The new Roxy Theater, just completed and opened by D. Constanti, Tacoma theater man, has been sold to the Warner Brothers Picture Corporation for a sum reported in excess of $250,000. The Roxy is the first theater Warner Brothers have purchased in the state, but it is intimated they have further purchases pending. The Roxy is one of the largest and finest show houses in Southwest Washington, with a seating capacity of 1,100 persons. Ii was formally opened April 1.
Yeh, I’m curious too. Is he still going to buy and reopen this theater?
What’s going on? Is Yonich still buying this theatre???
Also they have repaired the outside stucco and had the building painted. They are also going to have the brick work re-pointed, so the exterior is now going to be weather tight again.
Just had the pleasure to tour the theater today and I must say that it is in very good shape. While the interior has been painted by the first church to occupy the space the current owners are very careful that they only do things that can be easily undone. While it would take a lot of work to put the place back into original condition it is mostly paint and removal of some of the churches remodeling. With a little luck, this would make a very nice movie house again some day.
Yep, that’s the box from the Aberdeen (Warner) Theatre. My understanding is that the church has kept the original lighting fixtures and they can be re-installed once the front is restored.
ken mc:
That’s a copyrighted photograph from page 67 of the book, “Movie Palaces: Survivors of An Elegant Era” by Ave Pildas (ISBN 0-517-53857-1
The top right photo shows the theater box office, circa mid 70s:
http://tinyurl.com/2rp4wl
John Yonich is doing a magnificent job with the D&R, one can only hope that he can come to an agreement with the church to purchase and save the Aberdeen (Warner) theatre. A restored Aberdeen theatre along with the D&R and the Morck Hotel will jewels in the crown for Aberdeen’s rebirth.
From The Daily World, the newspaper in Aberdeen, on Wednesday, Jan. 23:
John Yonich “is also buying the former Aberdeen Theater (now a church). The plan is to show first-run movies and special cinematic events for about $10 per ticket, as well as house retail space.”
Yonich is the guy who bought the D&R in Aberdeen and is restoring it for live shows.
Recieved an e-mail from a gentleman who toured the Aberdeen last week and he states that the place is relatively intact. From the sound of his description the chruch has painted over all the decoration except in the balcony so a full restoration would be needed. Not to mention putting the lobby back into the original configuration. There is a screen but all sound and projection equip. has been removed. Seats would have to be replaced also. Thankfully there is a very extensive photo record of how the place once looked and most of the changed are painted decor. So it shouldn’t be to expensive or hard to replicate. The biggest challange is going to be the lobby, outer foyer, and a marquee.
It’s true the Aberdeen theater is going to be re-opened as a movie house. The format has'nt been decided yet and there are some restoration issues to be taken care of. I just found out that this theater opened as the “Roxy” then it became the “Warner Bros.” then “Warners” and finaly the “Aberdeen”. The “Roxy” moved over next to the Finch bldg on Heron st. sometime in the early 1930’s. If my memory serves me correctly the theater opened in October 1929 a couple of weeks before the stock market crash. All the news paper articles state it opened in 1930. There used to be the exact date written on the wall in the projection booth by the first projectionists. Also I have been told that the place is in really good condition so a lot of money won’t have to be invested to get the place running again. John Yonich said he would like to remove the churches remodel in the front and restore the entrance with the box office and of course erect a marquee. This was such a pretty theater that any restoration work will only enhance a building that was a vital part of the harbors entertainment history.
According to this weeks Daily World, both theatres are coming back.
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