Eastgate Theater
2025 SE 82nd Avenue,
Portland,
OR
97215
2025 SE 82nd Avenue,
Portland,
OR
97215
7 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Moyer Theatres, Regal Entertainment Group
Firms: Martin Bloom & Associates
Functions: Church
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Aug 21, 2009 — "Alien" 30th Anniversary
Opened October 26, 1966, the Eastgate Theater became the prime place to view the big summer blockbusters. Originally, the Eastgate was built with two screens, which seated 1,300 and 500. Later a third screen was built alongside the second auditorium. The number one large auditorium kept it’s size throughout the decades. The other two auditoriums seated approximately 400 people each.
Each auditorium was equipped with up-to-date digital sound, including the Dolby Digital 6.1 EX processor in the number one theater.
After the opening of the Century 16 just a half a mile away, there seemed to be no reason to keep the much older Eastgate Theater open however many Portlanders seemed to disagree. On February 18, 2001, Regal decided to close the doors for good. Thousands of people attended a final showing of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in the famous number one auditorium. The building is now used as a church.
Contributed by
Brian P. Linn
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
Hey guys, yea, the theater is now a Slavic Pentecostal Church. It’s original name is “Slavic Church Emmanuel” Slavic people are mostly Russian & Ukrainian. Anyway, they still have the chandelier there :) And yes, they demolished the food station. The first huge auditorium the right, they left and added a “balcony” to hold more people. The second auditorium, was transformed into a reception area for weddings and big dinners and the second auditorium was split in half, using the top for tens of classrooms, and the bottom, to a huge kitchen, walk in freezer, cooler, and a huge dining area. The window they cut out was for the classrooms they made. Hope this helps ;)
I happened to be browsing through the Portland OR theaters and remembered that there was a theater on 82nd that I visited twice; one in ‘94 and '97. Was Regal running the theater then or was it an outfit called Act III? If memory serves me correctly, it was Act III 82nd Ave and not Eastgate?
Back in the mid-90s or so, my brother and I used to live in Pendleton and when we would take the time for a roadtrip to Portland, we’d stop by and see a movie at one of the Act III theaters. I think I saw The Road to Wellville in #2 and Stargate in #1 back in ‘94. I was amazed at its huge screen and THX certified sound system. It was quite the killer sound system as it seemed you could not only hear but feel something when they’d play the THX keynote chord from the trailer. I moved back to MD but came back to visit in '97, where we saw Air Force One, to an almost sold out crowd. It was quite an experience to watch a movie in such a nice place and collectively enjoy Harrison Ford in a crowd pleasing thriller.
As manager/projection @ Eastgate between 91-96 It was a pleasure to run 70mm “Far And Away”, 993) Jurassic Park dts digital premiere openning weekend 50,000 box office, and 28,000 cocessions lots of money, ID4…. We had the best sound equipment money could buy. Act3 Theatres bragged this theatre to the Hollywood studios for openings. The master #1 Norocco Projector was bought by Paul Allen Cinerama’s theatre in Seattle and is still running 35/70 formats.
Customers said we had the best presentation of 35mm film. It was a pleasure to work and been the best ever. I wished McMenamins would of bought this theatre.
It’s very nice that this building got renovated into a church. It looks very pretty inside. Not only that, in that building people praise the Lord. Now it’s the time to go to church and seek God. Movie theaters don’t do such a great job. I am very happy that Slavic community bought that building.
Here is a Lee Marvin/Soupy Sales double feature, circa late 1960s:
http://tinyurl.com/mtc24e
What Double feature,Ken Mc.thanks.
Nice marquee job.
This opened as a twin on October 26th, 1966 by the Eastgate Theatre Corporation (Moyer Family). Grand opening ad uploaded here.
Closed on February 18, 2001.
Opened with “The Wrong Box” in Screen 1 and the double feature of “Alvarez Kelly” and “The Trouble With Angels” in Screen 2.