The Liberty Theatre, formerly known as the Granada Theatre, is a
movie theater in downtown
Camas, Washington. It is the only movie theater in the city and is located on NE Fourth Avenue, next door to the
Farrell Building.
History
The Granada Theatre was constructed in 1927 with funding from Camas businessman Charles Farrell, who also owned the land the theater was built on, along with the Community Investment Corporation, a group of local citizens.
Design and construction cost about $75,000, including a $12,000
pipe organ, and lasted about six months.
Architect
P. M. Hall-Lewis of
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
designed the theater, while Charles Anman designed the interior and the entryway. It is an example of
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style with “Spanish/Moorish” influences.
The Granada opened on June 14, 1927, showing the war comedy ''
Lost at the Front''. Admission was 30¢ for adults, 10¢ for children.
In addition to movies, the theater presented live performances such as
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
on a stage that was 25 feet deep and 32 feet wide.
New management changed the theater's name to the Liberty in 1938.
On November 13, 1989,
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
Westley Allan Dodd
Westley Allan Dodd (July 3, 1961 – January 5, 1993) was an American convicted serial killer and sex offender. In 1989, he sexually assaulted and murdered three young boys in Vancouver, Washington. He was arrested later that year after a failed ...
was captured and arrested after attempting to abduct a 6-year-old boy from the restroom of the theater.
On August 27, 1994, a three-alarm fire destroyed the ticket booth, lobby, and concession area, and damaged the balcony. Owners the Farrell family invested about $630,000 in a restoration project that took 20 months to complete. A firewall constructed as part of the restoration eliminated the live performance stage.
The Liberty reopened on April 26, 1996, with a special showing of ''
The American President
''The American President'' is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Richard Dreyfuss. In t ...
''.
The Liberty closed for financial reasons in September 2009.
In 2011, Rootstock Capital Management LLC struck a deal with the theater's owners to reopen and operate the theater. On reopening, the Liberty switched from a
first-run movie theater to a second-run and arthouse venue.
Renovations included the creation of a second screen, dubbed The Granada as a nod to the Liberty's history. The theater reopened on March 17, 2011, with a showing of ''
Darby O’Gill and the Little People''.
In 2013, the theater converted from film to digital projection.
Layout
When it was constructed, the Granada was a single-screen theater with 800 seats.
When the Liberty reopened in 2011, one of the renovations was to add a smaller second screen.
Now the Liberty's main auditorium seats about 348 people, and the Granada seats 29.
Gallery
File:Liberty Theatre from across the street at night.jpg, Lit up, viewed from across NE Fourth Ave
File:Liberty Theatre with Christmas tree in front.jpg, Public Christmas tree in front of the theater in December
File:Marquee at Liberty Theatre in Camas, Washington.jpg, Close up of the marquee
File:Neon Liberty sign.jpg, The neon "Liberty"
File:Liberty Theatre entryway at night.jpg, Entryway at night
File:Lights above the entryway at the Liberty Theatre in Camas, Washington.jpg, Lights above the entryway
References
External links
*{{official website, http://www.camasliberty.com/
Art Deco architecture in Washington (state)
Art Deco cinemas and movie theaters
Camas, Washington
Cinemas and movie theaters in Washington (state)
Buildings and structures in Clark County, Washington
Theatres completed in 1927