The Ventura Theatre is a historic live concert venue in downtown

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

. This was "the only luxury theatre built in

Ventura County Ventura County () is a County (United States), county in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, California ...

in the 1920s in the "style of the great

movie palaces A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...

." The lavish, elegant interior of gilt and opulence was originally designed by Robert E. Power Studios of San Francisco and has been restored. The theatre with a capacity of 1,150 and a flanking office building were designed by architect L. A. Smith in the

Spanish Colonial Revival architecture The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In th ...

that was favored by architects of motion picture theaters during the 1920s.City of Ventura
Historic Landmark #24
accessed from link o

(searchable GIS) In 1928, Ventura was a bustling oil boom town when the

grand opening An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

featured an organ solo, the latest news, '' Our Gang'' comedies, a vaudeville act and the movie '' Excess Baggage''. During the period between 1923 and 1929, many other buildings were constructed: the Hobson Brothers Meat Packing Company (1923), the First National Bank of Ventura (1926) (commonly called the

Erle Stanley Gardner Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of nonfiction b ...

), the Ventura Hotel (1926), the Elks Lodge - B. P. 0. E. #1430 (1928), the Mission Theater (1928), the Hotel Washington (1928), the Swift & Company Building (1928), and the Masonic Temple (1929). Contemporary downtown Ventura is defined by the theatre and the other extant buildings from this period.City of Ventur
"The Swift & Company Building"
Historic Landmark Designation Application Declared a landmark by the City of Ventura In 1976, the theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The office building was modernized in 1958 and was not included in the historic designation. and The theater currently has an active concert schedule.

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Buildings and structures in Ventura, California Cinemas and movie theaters in California Movie palaces Music venues in California Theatres in California Event venues established in 1928 Theatres completed in 1928 National Register of Historic Places in Ventura, California Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in California Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in California 1928 establishments in California {{music-venue-stub

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