The Guild Theatre (originally the Taylor Street Theatre) is a historic former theater building in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, in the United States. The theater was completed and opened in 1927. It closed in 2006 and was converted for retail use in 2018–2019. Since 2019, a

Kinokuniya Kinokuniya (紀ノ国屋) a high-end Japanese supermarket chain headquartered in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Kinokuniya Co., Ltd. became a wholly owned subsidiary of East Japan Railway Company on April 1, 2010. There is no relationship with retailer a ...

bookstore has occupied the space.

History

The Guild was the last remaining single-screen theater in

Downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildi ...

, completed in 1927. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Guild screened classic films, advertised as "Oregon's finest film classics theater". Later, it changed to showing second-run films. The theater has been closed and out of use since 2006, but a renovation began in 2017, for an unknown purpose. The building was originally called the Taylor Street Theatre until 1947, when J.J. Parker changed the name to the Guild after purchasing the theater. It closed in 2006. The Guild was the home of the

Northwest Film Center PAM CUT–Center for an Untold Tomorrow, formerly the ''Northwest Film Center'' is a regional media arts resource and service organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States that was founded to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilizat ...

and the center's Portland International Film Festival from 1998 to 2006. The center had been allowed to lease the theater from its owner, Tom Moyer, for just $1 a year. A proposal in 2010 to renovate and reopen the theater did not come to fruition.

2017 remodel

In late 2016, Tom Moyer's company, TMT Development, the property's owner, began work on remodeling the building. TMT also owns the adjacent Studio Building (a nine-story office building), and the work on the theater building is part of that $8 million project to renovate both buildings. In January 2017, the company told the ''Portland Business Journal'' that the former theater space is being remodeled for a new tenant whose identity could not yet be revealed, due to a

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...

. At that time, TMT was forecasting that its part of the remodeling work would be completed by early spring 2017, and the new tenant would then take over the site, in preparation for its own work on the former theater. Renovation of the

marquee Marquee may refer to: * Marquee (overhang), a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building * Marquee (structure), a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel, theater, casino, train station, or similar building. * Pole marquee ...

took place later in 2017. In May 2019, the Japanese

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

chain

Books Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore chain operated by , founded in 1927, with its first store located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Its name translates to "Bookstore of Kii Province". The company has its headquarters in Meguro, Tokyo. One of the company's ...

announced that the former theater would be the site of its new Portland store. The bookstore opened in August 2019. After the remodeling and conversion of the space, the ''

Portland Tribune The ''Portland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Pamplin Media Group, which publishes a number of community newspapers in the Portland metropolitan area. Launched i ...

'' described the modified interior as "light and airy, to the point of being sparse. The high ceilings are decorated with long strands of fiber, and the upstairs balcony, once the domain of the

projectionist A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators". Historical background N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate. Early ...

is given over to tightly packed rows of Japanese comics and graphic novels." In 2019,

Behind the Museum Café Behind may refer to: * ''Behind'' (album), a 1992 album by Superior * Behind (Australian rules football), a method of scoring in Australian rules football, awarding one point * "Behind" (song), a 2008 single by Flanders * Behind (restaurant), in ...

's owner Tomoe Horibuchi confirmed plans to open a second location called Book of Tea Café, within Kinokuniya. The cafe opened on August 21, 2019.

References

External links

*
Trying to gild anew the Guild Theatre
by David Stabler (July 8, 2010), ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'' {{Theatres in Portland, Oregon 1927 establishments in Oregon 2006 disestablishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Southwest Portland, Oregon Theatres completed in 1927 Theatres in Portland, Oregon