Towne 3 Cinemas
1433 The Alameda,
San Jose,
CA
95126
1433 The Alameda,
San Jose,
CA
95126
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 46 comments
Quite a mouthful:
Renamed Towne in 1951 and closed in 1953. It reopened as the Hester again on June 16th, 1954 and Towne again on June 4th, 1955 on an art policy. Owners were Shaw International Pictures in 1965 and the Art Theatre Guild in 1970 who switched it to adult movies in 1972 and closed in 1988.
It was reopened by Camera Cinemas on May 17th, 1990 and reopened with 3 screens on June 12th, 1992 and the official T3 opening on June 19th. 1992. Grand opening ads posted.
Opened on July 20th, 1928. Grand opening ad posted.
It’s so cool the picture here features HENRY FOOL on the marquee. I totally saw that movie at the Towne 3, back in ‘97, and it was great.
The last film I saw there was THE SECRET LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS, in 2002. Not long after that, it became a Bollywood cinema.
Unfortunately per Alphabet (google), this one is permanently closed. 😩😩
appears to be closed for redevelopment.
SAN JOSE — Bay Area investors have bought a San Jose movie theater property with an eye to a revamp that would bring in new uses at the site.
The new owners of the theater site are contemplating a renovation and redevelopment of the property’s interior, although firm plans aren’t in place yet.
“We think this is a very good location,” said Azad Seyidov, a Bay Area business executive who heads the entity that bought the Towne 3 Cinemas property at 1433 The Alameda.
Baku AS, an affiliate headed by Seyidov, bought the property for $2.3 million, according to documents filed with Santa Clara County officials on March 11.
Strange! It was working earlier today when I did an update of the website link.
That official website link is dead, even when linked to from the Towne 3 Cinemas Facebook and Twitter pages below.
https://www.facebook.com/Towne3Cinemas/posts/2463985013635323
https://twitter.com/towne3cinemas?lang=en
This theater is now a independent http://www.towne3.com/
1942 photo as the Hester Theatre added. Below history via Bob Emerson:
The Hester Theater opened in 1926 as a neighborhood theater in the Rose Garden district of San Jose.
The Theater name given as Hester theater in remembrance of Craven P. Hester, former district attorney for San Jose and then judge of the Third Judicial District in 1850. Christened the Hester Theatre, Its original neo-Egyptian/Spanish style façade, designed by architects Binder and Curtis, was modernized when the theater was renamed the Towne in 1952.
The Hester was the first neighborhood theater in San Jose. And Hester Elementary School is just across the street.
IMC6 was the name of their location in the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall. An ex-AMC 6-plex IIRC. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/38510
Used to be a porno theater back in the 1980’s. I moved in up the street on Hester Ave in 1989. It shut down a year or so later killed by VCRs.
A 2010 photo can be seen here.
Recently a fellow researcher and I stumbled upon a beautiful nighttime photo in the archives at San Jose State, which shows this theatre when it was newly minted as the Towne in the early 50s. It is a nighttime shot, and it shows that the marquee once had a little extra bit of metal sculpture—with neon—above the still-remaining curling neon at the marquee’s point. Also, the painted detailing which once decorated the floral metal sculpture on the facade is clearly visible, and shows that originally, this scuplture only had neon behind it, which glowed indirectly from around the sculpture’s edges, as remained the case until a lot of extra neon was added in recent years.
Finally, the box office which once stood to the Right of the entrance (marked today by a patch of concrete amid the terrazzo) is clearly visible.
Link doesn’t work – at least they’ve stopped lying to people by calling it a 6-plex!
Since the marquee is historic, the name of the theatre has returned to Towne with the grand re-opening. It is now monikered “BIG Cinemas Towne 3”. The interior has been completely renovated…
Pictures available here:
photos.imc6.com
I believe the IMC6 was the name of a previous 6 screen theatre the company ran. I’ve seen it happen a few times with the Bollywood Theatres where they change venues but keep the same name because it became so identified with the original theatre. Perhaps it’s a way of saying “Hey – it’s still us – not some other people – you can trust us!”.
The NAZ8 (at the old GCC Fremont Hub 8) kept their name NAZ8 even when they moved to an old Super Saver 7 down the road in Fremont, CA. I think the IMC6 comes from an old UA house in Lakewood, CA.
Anybody else find it unreasonably stupid the theater is called the IMC6 – an acronym for Indian Movie Center 6 when it only has 3 theaters?
The theater is now under new ownership and should be listed as BIG Cinemas San Jose. In addition, there should be another aka: IMC6. See story here: View link
This article about Bollywood was in the LA Times today:
http://tinyurl.com/yg63gn3
Here is a 1984 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cplnee
Glen Welden & Associates has just completed the neon restoration of the marquee for The Towne Theatre. An extensive process involving 140 man hours, multiple neon tube and wiring replacements as well as the removal of over 350+ pounds of used transformers, wiring and bird refuse from the roof of the marquee structure. The decorative wall neon was replaced and the original four point flasher unit was restored to allow the “chasing” of the red and white neon up the facade of the theatre.
Many thanks to Danny Colburn of Associated Sign, Hayward California, for his exhaustive work on the marquee.
Glen Welden & Associates is the exclusive United States Re-Imaging firm for Phoenix Adlabs Theatre Group located in Mombi, India. Adlabs was the production firm for “Slum Dog Millionaire”, a recipient of 8 Academy Awards.
The Paletta Group, Atlanta Georgia is the U.S. Distribution firm for Adlabs.
Thanks to Adlabs for thier appreciation and support in the restoration of The Towne Theatre Marquee.
Photos of the restoration can be viewed at www/facebook.com/album/glenwelden
Here is an item in Boxoffice magazine, April 1950:
SAN JOSE, CALIF-The Harvey Amusement Company has purchased the Hester Theater here from Milton and Kirk Samis. The circuit plans a $10,000 remodeling job. The building which houses the theater was sold last year for $100,000 to E.H. Emmick of San Francisco. The late Milton Samis Sr., father of Milton and Kirk, operated the theater for more than 20 years. O.B. Caldwell is the Hester’s new manager.
Thought this might be interesting to some of the Avenue Theatre Silent and Townne Theatre Film Fans – I now own the Wurlitzer Opus 1773 that was installed in this theatre in the 1960’s. After the Avenue Theatre’s owner died the arrangement with the organ’s owners and the theatre’s new owners deteriorated and the organ was moved to the Towne Theatre in San Jose for a period. After its time there the instrument was removed and stored.
In 2005 the organ was packed and trucked to FL where it is being professionally installed in my studio after restoration takes place. This 3 year process is about over and I’m expecting a truck on Oct 27 to arrive here and installation to begin.
I’m proud to be the new curator of this piece of history.
A new Thai restaurant that everyone is raving about opened next door to the theatre recently…
To at least in part answer the prior poster’s question as to what sort of facade improvements were being done: All of the neon has been repaired, for one thing. In addition, some of the decorative tubing on the marquee which was previously all white is now green and magenta, which really looks nice. At present, there are no letters placed on the reader boards, though at night the lights are on, posters are in the cases, and people are seen going in and out and hanging out in front or in the lobby.