Capitol Theater (Salem, Oregon)
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The Capitol Theater was located at 542 State Street in Salem, Oregon, United States. It was built in the 1920s for vaudeville. During its heyday, it housed a Wurlitzer pipe organ, which is now in private ownership in Washington.
[edit] Decline and demolition
The theater converted from vaudeville to movies. By the 1980s, it was one of only two pre-World War II theaters left in downtown Salem, which had once hosted as many as eight. Like its neighbor, the Elsinore Theatre, the Capitol declined to a second-run movie house. It housed Salem's only surviving newsstand, complete with a cigar store Indian out front, until the theater closed in the early 1990s.
In 1994, the Capitol Theater was included in a plan to restore the neighboring Elsinore Theatre that never materialized.
The Capitol Theater was demolished in May/June 2000[2] because of structural decay. The location is now a parking lot, however, the adjoining office and retail space remains. This retail building, known as the Bligh Building and currently as the Pacific Building, is a contributing property of the Salem Downtown State Street-Commercial Street Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
- Capitol Theater from Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society
- Capitol Theater from Cinema Treasures
- Historic images of Capitol Theater from Salem Public Library
- Image of Capitol Theater from 1999 from Salemoregon.com
- Capitol Theater (Salem, Oregon) is at coordinates Coordinates:
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