Mecca Theatre

Here is a May 2008 article that discusses the renovation:
http://tinyurl.com/cdaohc

The Bonnell Building by J.E. Bonnell was built in 1908 and would be a mixed use retail hotel property for many years first containing the Hotel Winthrop and later the Hotel Stothart. The flight of retail and hotels from Tacoma’s central business districts to suburban motels, malls and strip centers was in full throttle in the late 1960s and 1970s leaving decreased needs for parking challenged hotel and retail locations.

The Bonnell building saw its Stothart Hotel and last retailer leave no longer pining for anymore nights on Broadway. A tragedy of sorts leading to many lonely nights. But a new idea got patrons to come on over to the Bonnell and it was the adult film mecca to be, the Mecca Theatre, which opened in August of 1971. Local officials wouldn’t even take a holiday in their pursuit of ridding the town of this filth. During a double feature in 1974 of “Deep Throat” and “The Devil in Miss Jones,” four cops and an official had seen one fanny too many ending the screening.

But the operator wouldn’t plead guilty. That turned out to be a heartbreaker for the City which saw the Mecca, which some saw as a house of shame, continue stayin’ alive for 23 years and two years on from that for a total of 25. The city slapped a one million dollar plus valuation on the building in 2006 with the aging owner thinking that was nothing more than jive talkin’. So he said “I surrender” and the building was bought by new interests hoping to stage live theatre.

They got at least one play staged with the play, “Doubt,” in 2010 but alas there was no night fever generated for the stage plays. There were words just prior to the property’s foreclosure that occurred the next year. A new owner found that the hotel rooms upstairs had been frozen in place since the 1960s and had an idea to convert those to condos. And the Bonnell Building is so happy now that it should be dancing.