Columbia Theatre
213 E. 2nd Street,
The Dalles,
OR
97058
213 E. 2nd Street,
The Dalles,
OR
97058
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Sterling Theaters, Inc.
Functions: Bowling Alley
Previous Names: Grand Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Grand Theatre was opened by 1911. By 1941 it had been renamed Columbia Theatre, and continued until at least 1950.
Contributed by
Billy Holcomb / Billy Smith / Don Lewis
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The photo recently uploaded shows that the Columbia Theatre was a few doors down the street from the Granada Theatre. The Columbia’s building is still there, at 213 E. 2nd Street, and now houses a bowling alley called Columbia Recreation Lanes.
Take another look from the other angle. I’m guessing the Bowling Alley is between the Granada & the Columbia.
Actually, it looks as though the bowling alley now occupies four buildings, including the Columbia Theatre, so the theater’s space now houses about one quarter of the bowling alley.
The bowling alley, part of which occupied the Columbia Theatre, has been closed for a number of years now, and the theater and two adjacent buildings it also occupied are slated for renovation and reuse for purposes not yet determined. An article in the March 29, 2019 issue of The Dalles Chronicle says that the building at 213 E. 2nd Street opened as a house called the Grand Theatre in 1911, and was later renamed the Empress Theatre. However, if this was true then by 1920 one of those names was apparently being used at another theater, as the July 10 issue of Moving Picture World mentioned “…A. Bettingen, Empress and Grand theaters, The Dalles.”
The Empress is listed in the 1926-1930 FDYs with 500 seats, and the Columbia is listed in 1931 with 450. The only house listed at The Dalles in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory is the Casino, at 312 2nd Street, so the Grand/Empress might have still been operating as a vaudeville house then.