Old Movie Theaters

I have not posted recently because I am embroiled in a project for my photography class. I am compiling a collection of photos of old, single screen, movie houses. I am amazed at how few there are left. In Pasadena when I grew up there were about eight theaters on or near Colorado Boulevard and one on Washington. None are left. Two are closed and hoping that money will drop from heaven for restoration. One has been converted into a 6 screen theater and so extensively remodeled that it is not recognizable. The remainder have been destroyed.

This is a photo of the Rialto, one of the two movie theaters in South Pasadena. It is only open occasionally. As you can see, it is in bad condition. The other South Pasadena theater has been destroyed.

When I was in my teens, I think that every movie theater that had ever been built in California still existed and a few were still being built. Now, about 80 to 90 percent are gone.

This is a nostalgic subject to me on several levels. My grandfather, Thomas Moule, opened one of the first movie theaters (a nickelodeon) in upstate New York and then managed the largest theaters in Detroit before retiring in 1945.