Corona Theatre

projectionistvictor on March 3, 2006 at 7:41 am

I was a projectionist at the Corona Theater in the early 70s.
I have a blog site that talks about being a proj in the good old days.

http://projectionistworld.blogspot.com/

kencmcintyre on January 26, 2009 at 3:31 pm

Here is part of a 3/17/91 article from the LA Times:

During the late 1980s, Corona was one of the state’s fastest growing cities, and urban sprawl sent its neighborhoods in all directions. But many newcomers from Orange County and elsewhere don’t even know what the Circle is, and they often end up bypassing downtown for their own neighborhood shopping centers.

Now business owners in the Circle want to revitalize the area and return some of downtown Corona’s former glory to a number of city blocks now blighted by drug activity, vagrancy, graffiti and prostitution. Some long-neglected homes and businesses need to be razed or repaired, and, if nothing is done soon, business owners and tenants fear the situation will only get worse.

The Downtown Business Association recently hired an architect to study the possible preservation of the Corona Landmark Theatre and an adjoining office building, which were built in 1929 and are two of the few remaining examples of Spanish Colonial-style architecture in the city. The owners of both structures have taken out demolition permits for the sites after their buildings were determined to be unsafe in an earthquake.

In any case, city officials warn that the Circle could face worse times if a major regional mall is built elsewhere in Corona. Such a prospect has been discussed with developers for the past several years. A city needs “a sense of place,” said George Guayante, redevelopment director. “We’ve all heard the expression `there’s no there there.‘ That’s not Corona now. But we could lose that sense of place if we don’t do something to keep it.”

kencmcintyre on April 23, 2009 at 8:58 am

Here is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cpvxfg

DavidZornig on February 10, 2025 at 6:46 am

History of Corona Facebook link with 10 images, scroll through. Description credit History of Corona:

“Corona Theatre – To understand the Corona Theatre, you first need to know the owner and founder.
As the movie industry started to launch in the early 1900’s, Glenn Harper and his family of Hollywood were involved from the get go. Glenn started the first movie advertising firm in southern California as well as owned the Rosebud, Apollo, and Vermont theaters in Los Angeles and Hollywood. Enjoying his success the Harper family took a family vacation to San Diego. It was suggested that instead of following the coast home that they take the inland route. As they journeyed home, they drove through Corona and became enamored with the small town. They stopped, ate a meal, and explored the town. In fact they were so impressed that they returned back to Hollywood, arranged their affairs, and returned to Corona for good. That said, within a couple of months living in Corona, Mr. Harper realized that the movie business was in his blood and made plans to build a big movie theatre. With $100,000.00 financing from the Corona Securities Corporation, he hired well respected Carl Boller of Boller Architects (Top 5 Theatre Architectural Firms of the time) to design it and Perle T. Glass of Corona to build it. Because the movie industry was so new at the time and the economy was going so well, the prevailing standard of the time was to build big and grandiose. Architect Boller did just that. He fashioned his design after a Spanish Mission Revival on the outside and incorporated an outdoor "atmospheric” presence on the inside. Every detail was well thought out from the sky painted ceiling to the ornamental light fixtures. Instead of a curtain, wooden doors would swing open to reveal the screen. Once the design work was finished and approved, Perle T. Glass started construction in March of 1929 and finished the 900 seat master piece towards the end of September of the same year.
September 29, 1929 was the night of the premiere of Corona’s new theatre. It was star studded to say the least. Actors Laurel and Hardy performed a skit, early movie stars Buster Keaton, Clara Bow and many others were in attendance. Sid Grauman of Mann’s Chinese Theatre was on hand, and Louella Parsons for Hearst Publishing was there to cover the event. People came from all over the southland and paid $5 to $10 a seat. The whole town was excited and in a spirit of charity Glenn Harper donated the $3000.00 opening night proceeds to the Lions Club of Corona to purchase land for a new hospital. Needless to say, that night in our small town was historic and perfect. Of course we are lucky to still have this magnificent structure. Just two months after opening it’s doors our country fell into the Great Depression. In the 1960’s when Corona decided to revamp its downtown image, the building no longer looked like it fit in. During the early 90’s it was slated for demolition. Yet it has pulled through, it is still in decent shape and is now owned by a small church here in town. One mention of the pictures below, the fuzzy one is taken from the Los Angeles Times taken the day of the opening……"

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=829363687116016&set=pcb.829382760447442