State Theatre
124 S. Main Street,
Holstein,
IA
51025
124 S. Main Street,
Holstein,
IA
51025
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Since we know that the website history is complete nonsense, I wonder if the ‘dome shaped theater’ referenced isn’t actually someone being confused about what an airdome was?
The history on that website is wrong, or at least confusing. The 1933 map shows a vacant lot where the State is today. The Scenic/State is not dome shaped, and is still there. It was one block north. 1933 oddly seems to be the first year that a map was made, so I can’t say where the 1914 Scenic was.
Here is the State Theatre’s official web site. The grand reopening took place on November 4. So far they are running quite a mixture of older movies and recent releases (Fantastic Beasts is upcoming in December.)
So wonderful to see a Quonset theatre being restored! There were legions of these built after World War II. Trade magazines heralded them as a wave of the future for people wanting to establish new theatres without spending a lot of money. And indeed, for a time the Quonset theatres were a big success, nationwide. Today, there are a scant few remaining, and ever fewer in operation. In California, I only know of the Rio, in Monte Rio, that is operating as a movie theatre.
Theatre is being renovated to open in the fall of 2016. Leather recliner seating has been installed, reducing the seating capacity to 150.
Granola’s link is the official web site of the State Theatre. This page of the web site says the house was rebuilt as a quonset hut in 1948, which I would take to mean that the new State Theatre that was opened that year was on the same site as the old house that opened in 1927 as the Scenic.
THEATRE BEING RENOVATED
OPENED 1927 AS SCENIC THEATRE
RENAMED STATE THEATRE IN 1929
http://www.holsteinstatetheatre.com/
Holstein Development Authority is in the process of refurbishing Holstein’s State Theatre.
The Kugels also owned the Orpheum/Maple theatres in Mapleton, Iowa. Mr. Kugel sold the new Maple to Doc Naulteus in 1952. See the Mapleton entries on Cinema Treasures.
Ed Kugel,my grandfather and my grandather’s wife were co-owners of the theatre. My grandfather was Vern Bruning. His wife was Jo Bruning. All lived in Holstein. I saw The Creature From the Black Lagoon as a first run there. My grandfather ran the projectors and I got to watch it from the booth. His, wife, Jo, sold tickets and ran the concession stand. Holstein was such a great place… Lots of nice folks! I remember Ed Kugel because he walked with a bad limp due to a childhood broken leg.
No showtimes or any official website or facebook page. Is this closed or the owners does zero marketing for this cinema.
Here’s a wide view of the theatre from August 2010:
http://www.agilitynut.com/10/9/quonstate.jpg
Boxoffice didn’t give any addresses, and wasn’t clear on whether or not the orignial State was demolished to make way for the new one. The original State’s building might or might not still exist.
Google Maps satellite view is no help. It doesn’t get close enough to pick out individual buildings. Can’t find any pictures with Google image search, either.
But wait! Flickr to the rescue! It’s a quonset hut! (Thanks, Leah.)
The August 28, 1948, issue of Boxoffice said that E.W. Kugel, owner of the State, was replacing the theater with a new quonset hut building that would seat 450 patrons. It was expected to open in September.
Later, when Kugel opened the Maple Theatre in Mapleton, Iowa, Boxoffice ran an item about him in their issue of January 21, 1951. It said that Kugel had bought the original State in 1934, and had opened the new State in 1948.
The State is not specifically named in an ad which appeared in Boxoffice’s clearing house section on September 29, 1969, but the location of the theater for sale was Hosltein, Iowa. The 375-seat house, offered for $35,000, was described as a long-established business, on the market for the first time.