The Granada Theater, located on 2nd and Washington streets in

The Dalles, Oregon The Dalles is the largest city of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,010 at the 2020 census, and it is the largest city on the Oregon side of the Columbia River between the Portland Metropolitan Area, and Hermiston ...

, United States, was built in 1929. The exterior of theater is in the

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

style.

History

The theater was designed by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

William A. Cutts for the Universal Film Corporation and building owner M.R. Matthew. Initial costs totaled $125,000. The building was equipped with

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

and Movietone sound systems. This theater is said to have been the first theater

west of the Mississippi Trans-Mississippi was a common name of the geographic area west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century. The area included Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and many other territories. The term "Tr ...

to show a "

talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

". The building's corner marquee was added in the 1950s. In 1986 the building was added to

The Dalles Commercial Historic District __NOTOC__ The Dalles Commercial Historic District comprises a primarily commercial and civic portion of downtown The Dalles, Oregon, United States. Strategically located at the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge and near Celilo Falls, The D ...

. The city of The Dalles purchased the theater in September 2010. In March 2017 the building was sold to new owners, who planned to renovate and reopen the building. The theater reopened in November of that year, with its facade repainted as it would have been in 1929. The theater received funding from the

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), officially known (in state law) as the State Parks and Recreation Department, is the government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon which operates its system of state parks. In addition, it has pro ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, in order to fund repairs and to keep the building open.

References

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External links

Granada Theater
(official website) 1929 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in The Dalles, Oregon Cinemas and movie theaters in Oregon Historic district contributing properties in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Wasco County, Oregon Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon