State Theater
1217 State Street,
Santa Barbara,
CA
93101
1217 State Street,
Santa Barbara,
CA
93101
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I and my girlfriend who was going to college in the area, went to see the first time/first run of “Raiders of Lost Ark” at the State Theater. It’s a really nice theater with a somewhat mexican village motif of balconies and buildings built into the side walls which makes it feel like you are watching a movie outdoors in the town square…which worked perfectly with the Indiana Jones village/town fight scenes as you felt you were in the movie! It was my favorite movie theater in the LA area while I was down there.
1967 photo added courtesy of the AmeriCar The Beautiful Facebook page.
Anyone work at the State Theater in the 60s? If so please email me. I have a question
I visited Santa Barbara a couple of years ago and it looks McDonalds is on this site now. I wish I could remember the name of my boss back in the early 60s. I really enjoyed working there.
I worked at the State Theater in the early 60s while attending Brooks Institute of Photography. I remember one night Fess Parker came in to watch a movie. It was a great job while going to Brooks. Anyone else work there?
State Theatre in 1980: View link
No photos? Man there must be hundreds of STATE THEATRES, I know LOEWS had many named STATE>
Southwest Builder & Contractor’s issue of June 23, 1939, carried an item saying that Clifford Balch was preparing plans for a remodeling and expansion of the State Theatre at Santa Barbara. Work was to include a 57 foot extension at the rear of the building.
The August 29, 1941 issue of SwB&C mentioned that the owner of the State Theatre was, at that time, Earl O. Calvert. Calvert was also the owner of the Lompoc Theatre in the Santa Barbara County town of Lompoc, and a few years later opened the La Mesa Theatre there, as well.
During its time as a video arcade in the early 1980s, the moderne styled marquee with abundant neon remained intact.
A Unity Shoppe thrift store now resides at this address.
City directory lists it first in 1942, at 1219 State Street (but you know how malleable these street addresses were over time). It closed around 1981. The Rose Theatre was at 904 State Street and was last listed in 1931.
The State Theatre seated 685 people.
The State Theatre was located at 1217 State Street. This theatre may date back to being called the Rose Theatre from the early 30’s. which was one of four theatres that Warner ran in the city. The Rose was closed off and on during the 30’s and disappeared around the late 30’s about the time the State opened. The first listings for the State is from around 1940.