Rose Theatre

Uploaded a photo of a 1908 postcard of Commercial Avenue in Anacortes, WA. The Rose Theatre is on the left.

This web page from the Anacortes Museum has several photos in which the Rose Theatre appears. The Rose operated in two locations. Some of the photo descriptions on the Museum’s page say that the Rose was originally located at 509 Commercial Street, and in 1911 it moved to the block of Commercial between 5th and 6th. However, the photos themselves show the original Rose was on the west (even numbered) side of Commercial south of 6th Street, and the second location was on the east (odd numbered) side of Commercial south of 5th– in fact, at 509.

As near as I can tell from the photos, the original Rose was at 604 Commercial. I don’t know if the building there now, which has one of those godawful shingled fake mansards from the 1960s on it, is the same building the original Rose was in or not, but it could be. In any case, the second Rose at 509 Commercial was converted into a bowling alley in 1925, and the building was demolished in 1928.

The second, fourth and fifth photos on the museum’s page are close views of the original Rose at (probably) 604 Commercial, and the third and the second to last photos on the page are close views of the second Rose at 509 Commercial. The others (except the final one) are general street views with one or the other versions of the theater buildings as part of the scene. The last photo, taken from the steps of the Post Office in 1941, shows at far right part of the site of the second Rose, which by then had been demolished.