Avalon Theatre, established as the Sunnyside Theatre in 1912, is the oldest operating

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and is believed to be the state's oldest theater and the first with more than one screen.

History

Located at the intersection of Southeast Belmont Street and 35th Avenue in the city's Sunnyside neighborhood, the location of the Avalon Theatre had been formerly used as a

mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...

and later a

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

before being converted into a theatre in 1912, operating as the Sunnyside Theatre. Known for showing second-run films on two screens and for low prices, the theater has an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

design but Avalon's main feature is its classic nickel

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

, which was established in conjunction with the theatre in 1925. The establishment is operated by McKee Enterprises, who own the Wunderland arcade company which operates at the theatre. John McKee purchased the Avalon in 1964, and became the first cinema in Portland to operate with multiple screens. In 2008, ''

Portland Monthly ''Portland Monthly'' (also referred to as ''Portland Monthly Magazine'') is a monthly news and general interest magazine which covers food, politics, business, design, events and culture in Portland, Oregon. The magazine was co-founded in 2003 b ...

'' named the Avalon the "Best Way to Stretch a Dollar" on their "Best of the City" list.

References

External links

www.wunderlandgames.com
{{Theatres in Portland, Oregon 1912 establishments in Oregon Art Deco architecture in Portland, Oregon Art Deco cinemas and movie theaters Cinemas and movie theaters in Oregon Buildings and structures in Sunnyside, Portland, Oregon Theatres completed in 1912 Theatres in Portland, Oregon

History

See also

References

External links