Foothill Theater
3440 Foothill Boulevard,
Oakland,
CA
94601
3440 Foothill Boulevard,
Oakland,
CA
94601
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Motion Picture Herald, Jan. 12, 1952: “Robert Lippert sold the 687-seat Foothill in Oakland to the Golden State Circuit.”
Listings as Foothill started on July 11th, 1935. No grand opening ad found.
The reason the seats decreased is because for a period time the theater was used for stage shows and a huge stage was built.
i grew up in the fruitvale district in the 80s and 90s and i remember this theater being open for a short time in the mid 80s. i never went in it but i do remember it being open once in a great while during most of the 90s it sat vacant till the buddhist church took it over in early 2000 tobad i never got to see a movie here …..
Here is a larger view from Google:
http://tinyurl.com/4gm9ln
There is a small photo on this site. I think some remodeling has been done:
http://tinyurl.com/3cylx6
The venerable Foothill Theater holds a multitude of memories that I share with my brothers and sisters. Going to “the show†meant plunking down twenty-five cents and never being disappointed. Never in life afterwards would I ever get my moneys worth like I did when I was a kid sitting in the Foothill for a Saturday matinee of entertainment. Prizes raffled off during intermission included a wooden rocking horse and box of assorted concession goodies plus complimentary movie tickets. Irish luck would have it that these enviable items would be won by my two sisters whose matching ticket stubs were plucked from a tumbling mixing bin on stage, and forever become part of our family story.
According to the Oakland Tribune theater listing for July 4, 1960 it was re-named the NEW FOOTHILL.
…but as the Foothill it seated 687.
At least when it was the Studio 1, the Foothill seated 367 people.
Wow, I was actually in the Foothill theatre once when I was about 8 years old (1963)! It was a single floor theatre, and when you walked in, the candy counter was to your right. What I remember was that they had hardly anything to buy at the counter! When my mom and I went in to the auditorium we were the only ones there, and I don’t remember what was playing. Just a couple of black and whites. It had a small lobby and a pretty good sized auditorium with a nice sized screen. I don’t recall any drawings or anything. There was a curtain but it wasn’t used. When the movie ended, the next one started up right afterwards, no intermission. It was closed most of the time back then.
I’d always known it as Dean’s Foothill Theatre
Went there from the mid 30’s to late 40’s.
ARRRRRGGGHHH!!! I meant to say “Studio 1 Theatre” (yesterday AND on 11/2/03)!!!
Among the “Also Known as” names should be “Cinema 1 Theatre.”
See above (just above).
The Foothill was a single-screen theater—-its status should also be “Closed” rather than “Open.”
This nice little neighborhood theater has worn lots of hats —– it also housed a community theater company for a number of years in the 60s, possibly into the 70s.
The theater, after a long idle period, was remodeled about 1981 and renamed Cinema 1 Theatre; it operated for a few years before closing and became a church; after the church closed, it sat vacant yet again before being converted into its current function.