Central Theatre

145 W. 15th Street,
Ely, NV 89301

Unfavorite 1 person favorited this theater

Showing 14 comments

Christopherlani
Christopherlani on December 17, 2013 at 3:31 pm

The Central Theater is being purchased by Christopher Lani and Don Purinton. Digital conversion will take place towards the end of Febuary, 2014.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 11, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Here’s an interesting line from the NRHP Registration Form for the Central Theatre:

“The original interior had ‘pastel tinting and designing by Hugo Claussen combined with thick carpeting and soft florescent lighting to produce a restful feeling.’”
The form doesn’t specify the source for the quote naming Hugo Clausen (which I believe is the correct spelling of his surname), but it might have been from the Ely Daily Times, which is cited as a general source.

rivest266
rivest266 on July 3, 2012 at 8:28 pm

Wrong link: should be http://www.facebook.com/ElysCentralTheater

Christopherlani
Christopherlani on July 1, 2012 at 4:36 am

New Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/ElysCentralTheater

Christopherlani
Christopherlani on July 1, 2012 at 4:32 am

The Central Theater is reopened as of May 28th, 2012. I am managing it and am putting together a group to purchase the theater. Digital conversion should be completed by Sept.

beentheredonethat
beentheredonethat on March 26, 2012 at 10:46 am

I worked here as a teen in the late 50’s and early 60’s. The box office was between the doors. That was in the days when John Mariani was the doorman and Vic Walker was the Manager. Great times.

rivest266
rivest266 on December 28, 2011 at 11:36 am

According to its facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ely-Central-Theater/298538513492675 , It closed in December.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on April 5, 2010 at 9:40 pm

Once again cool night shot ken mc.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on April 25, 2008 at 10:45 am

cool theater………love to see the inside!

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 7, 2007 at 9:27 pm

This was part of the Hull Circuit in the early sixties. Hull also operated the Ely Theater in the same town.

GaryParks
GaryParks on August 26, 2006 at 9:55 pm

My wife and I saw “Pirates of the Carribean 2” at the Central while on the home stretch of a three-week road trip through the Southwest last month. Even though the movie had been out for several weeks, there were probably about twenty patrons, mostly kids, with a parent or parents, in attendance. The staff of two teenage girls and one late teen/early twentysomething (?) young man welcomed us, and let me take pictures and showed me the old coal-burning furnace backstage. Although a late Thirties theatre, there is a rather deep stage (no fly tower), with the screen mounted at its rear. We were told that once in a great while the stage is still used for local events, most recently a fashion show for a local clothing retailer.

The exterior and interior of the theatre are not restored, but quite well preserved, if a little world-weary looking. The sign tower’s green neon letters still light up, and there is wonderful yellow backlit paneling in the reader board. The doors are beautiful. The lobby has gone through remodeling, probably in the Seventies or Eighties. The auditorium has soundfold-covered walls, but the ceiling still features rich art deco cast plasterwork with original decorative paint, and huge saucer-shaped light fixtures.

We were told that the theatre was built using all local talent and labor.