Fine Arts Theatre
429 S. California Avenue,
Palo Alto,
CA
94306
429 S. California Avenue,
Palo Alto,
CA
94306
3 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Renaissance Rialto
Architects: Gale Santocono
Functions: Retail
Styles: Mission Revival, Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: California Avenue Theatre, Mayfield Theatre, Cardinal Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The 500-seat California Avenue Theatre was opened on August 19, 1926 with Perlmutter & Potash in “Partners Again”. It was equipped with an American Photo-player organ. It was later renamed Mayfield Theatre for a small community south of Palo Alto, Mayfield, which was later annexed to Palo Alto. The Mayfield Theater was originally a simple Spanish Mission style structure, but was given a plain Moderne style façade and marquee in 1951. It was still listed as the Mayfield Theatre in the 1957 edition of Film Daily Yearbook. Following renovations in spring of 1951 it was renamed Cardinal Theatre. The last chain to operate it was Renaissance Rialto as the Fine Arts Theatre.
Closed in the late-1980’s, the building is now an oriental rug gallery, though conversion back to a theatre would be relatively easy. The marquee still reads Fine Arts in neon, and the original façade still exists in part behind the 1950’s era fascia.
Contributed by
Gary Parks
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
My father managed the Park and Guild theaters in Menlo Park, the Altos in Los Altos and the Find Arts in Palo Alto in the 1960’s when the theaters were owned by Roy Cooper, Westside valley Theaters. I do not think Mr. Borg was in the picture after 1960, unless there was a lease rather than a purchase.
My father who just recently passed away was the projectionest at the Fine Arts during the early eighties. Edie was the manager at the time. I have many fond memories of sitting in the booth watching my father run the projectors. I learned a lot from him about old carbon arc projectors and the change over signal in the upper right hand corner of a movie. I will always have a warm place in my heart for the Fine Arts and secretly wish the old girl will become a theater again. RIP dad and thank you for the experience at the Fine Arts.
This was the Cardinal Theater when I first went in the 1950s. I don’t remember it ever as the California. I think it changed from the Mayfield before 1953 then to the Fine Arts in the 1960s.
The Mayfield Theatre is listed at 165 Lincoln Street (the former name of California Avenue) in a 1925 directory for Palo Alto and vicinity.
The 1951 remodeling of the Mayfield Theatre was probably occasioned by a fire in 1950. This photo from the Palo Alto Historical Association depicts ruined seats piled in front of the theater, and is dated April 7, 1950.
The Stanford Daily of April 28, 1960, said that the Cardinal Theatre, after a brief closure for renovation in May, would reopen on May 18 as the Fine Arts Theatre. It would be under the same management as the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, also an art house.
The scene in “Escape to Witch Mountain”, the kids were seen leaving the theater after watching a screening of the movie “Snow White and the 7 dwarfs”(both Disney movies).
Motion Picture Herald, Feb. 24, 1951: “The Mayfield, owned by Westside theatres, at South Palo Alto, is undergoing complete renovation and will be renamed the Cardinal.”
This opened as the California theatre on August 19th, 1926.
Renamed Mayfield on June 12th, 1936, as the Harvey Amusement Company takes it over. Ad posted.
Closed April 6th, 1950, and reopens as Cardinal on May 10th, 1951. Ad posted.
Reopens as Fine Arts on May 20th, 1960. Another ad posted.