Whiteside Theatre
361 S.W. Madison Avenue,
Corvallis,
OR
97333
361 S.W. Madison Avenue,
Corvallis,
OR
97333
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Grand opening ad:
Whiteside theatre opening · Thu, Nov 9, 1922 – 14 · Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon) · Newspapers.com
Function should also include: Movies (classic)
How long before the marquee is done?
Although there is more renovation work to be done, including relighting the marquee. The Whiteside reopened Sept. 2011 for live events.
A 2011 photo can be seen here.
From Boxoffice magazine in December 1951:
CORVALLIS, ORE.-John W. Buck has been named full-time manager of the Whiteside Theatre, it was announced by Charles Whiteside for the owners. Whiteside indicated that he would still be active in theatre operations but would devote more time to hunting, fishing and other recreational activities.
Architect H. Ryan’s first name was Henderson. He also designed Seattle’s Liberty Theatre.
That WurliTzer was sold to Oregon State University and installed in their sports arena, Gill Coliseum. There, the organ’s sound was swallowed up by the cavernous building, and it saw little use.
However, in June of this year, removal of the organ at the Coliseum for restoration and a RETURN to the Whiteside theatre!
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Here is a photo following the closure:
http://tinyurl.com/22jbfc
Can anyone please tell me how to contact the owners of Whiteside theater? I would love to take a tour of the place for a research study.
Here is a November 2006 article from the Daily Barometer:
http://tinyurl.com/2k7frv
A fire on 10/20/27 “practically destroyed” the Whiteside, according to the LA Times. It survived the fire, obviously.
I was in Corvallis week-before-last, in order to visit a high school friend of mine who lives in Monmouth. It turns out that he knows the above-quoted Paul Turner, and took me to Paul’s Avalon Cinema to meet him. He had the exact story to tell which is quoted above with regards to the Whiteside.
Indeed the Whiteside is a beautiful theatre. Paul, as well as a couple of other people I spoke with, indicated that retail use is the next likely use for the Whiteside, with retention of the exterior and some aspects of the original interior likely. I took many exterior photos, with the knowledge that next time I go up to visit my Monmouth friend, the theatre probably won’t look as good or intact.
Here is a March 2006 opinion (or e-pinion, perhaps) from icorvallis.com about the closing of the Whiteside:
Numbers don’t favor revival of old Whiteside Theater
by Paul Turner
In the course of kindling the phoenix of the Avalon Cinema, I stumbled upon a piece of Corvallis history: the ticket stub from the last show at the Whiteside Theater. It was from January 2002. The movie was “Lord of the Rings.” It was the last movie on the last night that the last movie palace in Corvallis had something shimmering on its silver screen.
The Whiteside Theater is owned by Regal Cinemas, the same folks who bring you the Ninth Street Cinemas. They closed the Whiteside a couple of years before Carmike dropped that 12-plex into north town. Wonder if they ever considered that keeping the Whiteside open might’ve made Carmike back off our fair hamlet – at least for a while. Every day when I walk past the closed doors of the Whiteside, I contemplate the circumstantial dominos that fell and led to her fall. People still wonder why I opened a theater across the street rather than putting my energy into the Corvallis icon. When folks ask directly, I usually cut them short by pointing out, “If you have a million-five you’re not doing anything with, I’ll be glad to take her on.”
Any updates on this theatre? I notice it’s no longer listed on Loopnet.
I really hope they reopen it as a theatre… it was the best place to see a movie since all the multiplexes in the area were (still are?) absoultey horrific. Sad to think that movie viewing experience and technology peaked in 1922 for that area. I saw Silence of the Lambs with my friend and were completely freaked out. I also saw Rocky Horror at a midnight showing and was picking stuff out of my hair for days. Good times…