Finding Portland's Old Movie Theaters
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- čas přidán 7. 01. 2018
- On a whim, my girlfriend and I back at the start of 2017 ventured into downtown Portland searching for all the spots where the cities large, extravagant movie theaters and movie palaces were location, practically all of which are now gone. Unlike my usual stuff, this was mainly a discovery video meaning there was a mix of definitive spots as well as prediction about where some theaters were located.
- Krátké a kreslené filmy
I really enjoyed this video. I am very interested in old cinemas. I worked at the old Broadway Theater in the late '70's. I also worked at about a dozen other theaters in the Portland area from 1976 to 1997. Over the years I've discovered many old cinemas that have been re-purposed. If you would like more information about them, just let me know.
Going back to the mid-50s and 60s, the movie palaces were still there. It was before multi-plexes and it was the practice that a first-run movie would play at only one theater. I saw the Academy Award winner of '56, Around the World in 80 Days in Todd-AO at the Broadway. In '65 The Sound of Music played the Fox and had a 2 year run in that theater. It was a reserved seat engagement and cost about $2.25 a seat (considered a high price at the time). The Guild was more of an Art House and showed many foreign films.
I saw first run My Fair Lady at the Paramount Theater (the one with the Portland marquee). There was an Oriental Theater on the westside of the river - I saw first-run Rosemary's Baby- and in Hollywood District on Sandy Blvd (?) was the Cinerama Theater where I saw How the West Was Won. So many of these theaters were elaborate, old-style movie palaces and quite breathtaking. Of course the smaller box-like with no frills cinemas had not appeared yet, so we knew nothing else. I also remember the smaller 21st Theater in NW where I saw the The Graduate. Many cities have restored some of these old gems into Performing Arts venues for
live shows, but for the most part they have been torn down and are only a distant memory.
It’s sad what happened to the old Fox. I went to the Fox nearly 3 days a week, watched the same movies time and time again. It was well past its heyday in the mid 1970s but the glorious architecture was everywhere to be seen. I wish it could have been saved. The Broadway theater was pretty much a dive in the 1970s but I have a lot of good memories there too.
The Guild was where I saw my first porn movie when I was 15, of course I entered through the back exit.
Guild theater is now a shop with asian books and anime/manga as well as other categories like art design tattoos etc. tons of cool stuff. Interesting seeing the inside of the theater after it shut down
That’s awesome to hear, I’ll need to stop by there again. It’s nice to hear there’s a business in there too that stands a chance of being successful for a while.
Millions of people: "Duur, lets move to Portland cause it's cool duuur"
Hundreds of people: "Let's research history of our hometown".
Your film caught my attention and brought back the many times I visited most of these theaters. Your research was great, I do wish you would have paid more attention to the
star theater, a little jewel, which I have always hoped would never be torn down. I have
never been in the star as it was a burlesque house and I was too young to get in. Burnside
street and that area was called skid row and still shows a little of that. I also do videography
and have moved to Seaside where I now do some drone videos. Looking forward to your
Eastside film hoping you especially Will pay attention to the Oriental as a school chums
father was the projectionist and I spent time in the lavish decorated huge venue. Dave
It's interesting you'd point out the Star. One of the main reasons I only glossed over it at the end was I have a short video on my channel, actually from my old channel, where I visited it briefly. I've got the link to it here. Nothing too special.
czcams.com/video/uUv1wJLskvg/video.html
Good 👍 job Steve...I'm on the board of directors at The Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center. Please come check us out. Columbia Gorge history. I follow your website always interesting.