Fillmore Towne Theatre
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| Address | 338 Central Avenue Fillmore, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°23′59.65″N 118°54′48″W / 34.3999028°N 118.91333°W |
| Capacity | 325 |
| Screens | 1 |
| Current use | Community theater, music concerts, arts education and film festivals |
| Construction | |
| Opened | October 2, 1916 |
| Rebuilt | 1996 |
| Years active | 1916-1994 |
| Website | |
| mudturtletheatrical | |
Fillmore Towne Theatre is a former vaudeville and movie theater in Fillmore, California and is a landmark in downtown. Built in 1916, the single-screen theater showed silent films.
History
[edit]The single-screen theater was used to show silent films and the stage area was used for vaudeville. Mary Pickford performed here.
Built in 1916, the Fillmore Towne Theatre has gone through numerous owners as well as several names. Previously known as Barnes, Stearns, Fillmore, this theater has gone through two fires and an earthquake.[1]
After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the City of Fillmore purchased the building.[2] Through extensive fund raising by citizens in the Save the Towne Theatre Committee, as well as federal and state grants, such as those given by the State Historic Preservation Office, the theatre was restored.[3][4] After the restoration (costing in excess of $1 million), it reopened in 1996, showing the latest movies.[5][6] The theatre stopped showing feature films in April 2011 as the city budget could no longer make up the shortfall.[7][8]
In 2021, the theater was purchased by Mudturtle Theatrical, Inc. Mudturtle intends to restore the theater to make it a venue for "building community through the arts".[9]
Structure
[edit]This single-screen theater was renovated in 1994, with new seats and carpet, as well as a live stage in order to restore its vaudeville roots. It has a total of 333 seats on the main floor. The balcony is closed.
References
[edit]- ^ "The Historic Fillmore Towne Theatre". Archived from the original on May 15, 1998. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
- ^ Biasotti, Tony (April 26, 2017). "Fillmore sets stage for revival of 101-year-old theater". Ventura County Star. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
- ^ Pancho, Doll (March 16, 1995) "Film Mementos to Be Sold for the Towne Theatre" Los Angeles Times
- ^ McDonald, Jeff (August 10, 1994). "City Maps Restoration of Its Historic Theater". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Green, Nick (November 01, 1996) "Show Finally Goes On at Historic Theater" Los Angeles Times
- ^ Zoltak, James (April 13, 2011) "Fillmore council votes to close landmark theater" Ventura County Star
- ^ "Welcome to the Fillmore Town Theatre" Archived 2013-03-25 at the Wayback Machine City of Fillmore Accessed 18 May 2014
- ^ McLeod, Jean (April 13, 2011)"Fillmore Town Theater closing down after this weekend" The Fillmore Gazette
- ^ Woods II, Wes (September 24, 2021). "Arts set to return to historic Fillmore theater after city sale". Ventura County Star. Retrieved January 21, 2022.