Paramount Theatre

2001 Photo from the Dave Felthous collection

911 Pine St Seattle WA 98101 (206) 956-5343

Information for this tour was contributed by Dave Felthous & Matt Lutthans.

The 1928 Paramount was built away from the heart of then-downtown Seattle, anticipating eastward growth that took years to happen. With 3,000 seats, it was the largest movie theater in the city.

It actually opened as the "Seattle Theatre" and did not originally have its "modern" triangular marquee. That marquee was built specifically for the run of "This is Cinerama" in 1956. Originally it read "Cinerama" where it now horizontally reads "Paramount"

In the late 50s, the theatre reverted to showing standard fare again, then in 1959 the Cinemiracle format arrived, which was virtually identical to Cinerama, and by the time it arrived here, had already been purchased by Cinerama, Inc., to avoid further proliferation of the format. Following the run of the only true Cinemiracle film, "Windjammer," the theatre again resorted to standard fare, but returned once more to 3-projector Cinemiracle during the World's Fair in 1962, showing "Holiday in Spain" in a bastardized 3-projector format. (The film was not shot -- but was projected! -- that way. Very odd.)

As new theaters went up in the suburbs, fewer people went downtown to movies, and the Paramount eventually quit showing films.

Its long-term future was clouded for many years until Ida Cole, who had made a fortune with Microsoft, bought the theater and invested millions in upgrading and restoring the building. It now the elegant home of touring shows.

Photos from the Scott Neff collection.

55 KB 338x450	61 KB 450x338	70 KB 338x450	45 KB 450x338	50 KB 338x450
69 KB 338x450	47 KB 450x338

Advertisement from the Matt Lutthans collection.

46 KB 300x306

Return to the top of this page   or   Return to the main page

Log in to remove these ads Fandango Buy movie tickets, look up showtimes, watch trailers and more!

All information presented in this site is believed to be accurate, based upon available information. However, errors do occur and the information presented here may not reflect reality, often due to circumstances beyond control. Some documents, images and logos contained in these documents belong to various organizations and corporations. Their inclusion here is for the benefit of the reader and for the benefit of the particular organization, but they are, in fact, the copyrighted property of those organizations. Their presence here does not imply any endorsement of CinemaTour by those organizations. CinemaTour is not affiliated with any cinema or circuit.

© 1995-2008 Vision Entertainment Services. All rights reserved.
Use of this site signifies agreement to terms of service.