Colusa Theatre
513 Market Street,
Colusa,
CA
95932
513 Market Street,
Colusa,
CA
95932
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News Clipping in photo section: Owner Ned Steele served as the architect and designed the theater himself
The official web site link for this closed theater is of course dead and can be taken down. The Colusa Theatre in Williams mentioned in the previous comment by MichaelKilgore is a different house, and shared this theater’s name because both towns are in Colusa County. It is not yet listed at Cinema Treasures, though the drive-in there is.
Motion Picture Herald, Jan. 12, 1952: “The Ned C. Steele father-and-son partnership will be dissolved with the 314-seat Colusa at Williams being taken over by Ned, Sr., and the Sun-Down drive-in, there, going to Jr.”
Oh — and there used to be a blade sign down the front but it was knocked out in a storm a LOOOONG time ago (60’s? sooner?)
The theatre reopened well before 2004. Renovation work began in 1996 and I think it reopened in late 1996 or early 1997… I can’t remember, it’s such a blur. Sad to see it close, I helped a little bit with the renovation in 1996.
The Colusa Theatre closed March 6th, 2017, and appears to be for sale. Website below. 1 exterior photo and 1 auditorium photo added credit Katherine Mixie Kubicek. Thanks For The Memories & For Sale Or Lease on the marquee.
http://www.colusamovies.com/
I contributed and will put it on the Jay House Facebook page. If you need a place to put someone up for a live fundraiser or an item for an auction, I’ll be happy to donate nights at Jay House vacation rental. -Connie
The Colusa is having a “Digital or Die” campaign on Kickstarter. Without an upgrade to digital projection the Colusa could close.Donate Today! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/174769538/digital-projector-for-the-colusa-theatre?ref=category
Theater now for sale $350,000
A 2010 photo can be seen here.
This theater is in serious danger of closing: View link
In fact, I just went to the Universal Studios link Joe posted and it clearly says that ‘the exteriors were all shot on the Universal backlot.’ But one of the pictures it shows is actually shot in Colusa- you can see the stone drugstore and orange trees I mentioned in the background!
not Boo Radley’s house- a couple of scenes outside the courthouse were filmed at the Colusa Courthouse. They actually used the steps at the back entrance to the courthouse addition rather than the front of the courthouse which has no steps. The scenes include crowds rushing to the courthouse for the trial, and the kids hanging out on the steps before going in. In the background you can see a stone building which at the time was the Carnegie Library- for the film it was given an awning and made into a drug store. Interestingly, this same building was used as the police station in tick…tick…tick… I don’t know whether it was still the library at the time (the film came out in 1970) but it is the police station now- so maybe a case of life imitating art! There are also a couple of orange trees visible in the ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ scenes that are still there today.
Just so the above iteration of a local legend won’t spread misinformation outside Colusa, the 1962 film “To Kill A Mockingbird” was set in the fictional Southern town of Maycomb (“Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it…” being the opening line of the narration), and the exteriors, like the rest of the movie, were shot at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
A stage version of “To Kill A Mockingbird” was first presented in 1970, but I don’t think the play has ever been filmed. There are many things to see in and around Colusa, but Boo Radley’s house is not among them.
Colusa is a delightful little town. Only a couple of hours from San Francisco, an hour from Sacramento, but a completely different world. Very southern ambience, including the antebellum style courthouse next to the Colusa Theater, used for outdoor scenes in To Kill a Mockingbird. In fact the 1970 film …tick…tick…tick was shot in Colusa, and was set in a (fictional) town called Colusa in the deep south. I have a vacation rental 3 blocks from the theater, called Jay House (www.jayhousecolusa.com). Most guests are bird watchers, as we’re right in the Pacific Flyway. But we’d love to host some theater enthusiasts too!
The Theatre Name was on the marquee tower which was destroyed by a wind storm in the mid 1980’s. Future plans include the replacement of the original tower. The lower marquee was in a state of disrepair and was restored in 1996.
The Colusa Theatre building was built as a department store in the early 1890’s and was converted to a theatre in 1931. As with many theatres, the Colusa Theatre was badly damaged by fire in 1946. The current interior design, facade, and marquee date to the 1947 re-opening.
A local artist, Adele Etcheverry, restored the 1947 murals.