The Early Years: Opera Houses, Nickelodeons & Storefront Theaters (1900-1930)

The primary focus of this blog is the movie theaters that I was familiar with when I was growing up in Richmond in the late 1940's and through the 1950's.  Beginning with the next post (Richmond Theatre) I personally remember all of those theaters and enjoyed movies in most of them. However while doing research I found some information about theaters that I was completely unaware of, theaters that were shuttered decades before I was born. The information I uncovered is sketchy at best but I thought I would share it here for anyone interested.

The first reference to any theatre in Richmond, be it for live performances or motion pictures that I've found is for a RICHMOND OPERA HOUSE, also known as the Point Richmond Opera House, located at 11 Standard Avenue in Point Richmond. According to the Point Richmond Historical Society this large establishment was already in operation by 1902 and "served as a center for everything from church services to medicine shows to legitimate opera." So far I haven't found any evidence that films that were ever shown there but I suppose it's a possibility as it apparently existed until at least the mid 1920's. It disappears from the "Theatres" listing of the Richmond City Directory in the 1916-1917 edition and shows up again in the 1922-1923 and 1923-1924 editions before disappearing again in subsequent editions. I don't know if it was closed during the missing years or just omitted from city directories for those years. 

A typical "nickelodeon" but not in Richmond, this one was in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Several small movie theaters appear to have opened in Richmond beginning toward the end of the first decade of the new century. Since movie exhibition was still in it's infancy at that time I suspect most of them at least initially were "nickelodeons", set up in converted storefronts and so named because at least in the early years admission was only five cents. These theaters flourished throughout America from about 1905 to 1915 and featured programs of short films, comedies, serial chapters, travel films, newsreels, etc. If the newspaper advertisements in the Richmond Independent were typical, titles of the films shown were rarely even mentioned in the newspaper ads but instead promoted with posters outside of the theaters.

The 1909-1910 edition of the Richmond City Directory shows in addition to the Richmond Opera House in Point Richmond the GRAND THEATRE operating at 303 Macdonald Avenue in downtown Richmond. The Grand disappears from the city directory's 1911-1912 edition.

The 1911-1912 city directory omits the Grand and adds the CENTRAL THEATRE at 5th & MacDonald Avenue, the HELM THEATRE at 1106 Macdonad Avenue, the IDLE HOUR THEATRE at 60 Washington Avenue and the ROYAL THEATRE at 316 Richmond Avenue, the last two theaters being in Point Richmond.

The CENTRAL THEATRE was operating in 1912 and located at 5th and MacDonald where it would soon have a new and much larger neighbor, T &D's Richmond Theatre.

Directly to the right of the Richmond Theatre in this 1913 photograph is what appears to be a another smaller movie theater. Is this the Central?

The Helm Theatre which was located at 1106 Macdonald Avenue. It was operating by 1911.

The ROYAL THEATRE was located in the Arnold Building at 316 Richmond Avenue in the Point Richmond area. An item in the Point Richmond History Association's newsletter stated it opened on January 15, 1910. Based  on listings in the city directory it appears to have closed by 1915.

In the 1912-1913 city directory the Idle Hour Theatre in Point Richmond is missing and the Helm Theatre at 1106 MacDonald had become the ISIS THEATRE.

By 1912 the Helm at 1106 Macdonald had been re-named the ISIS THEATRE and was promoting itself as the "Only Nickelodeon in Town".

Based on listings in the 1913-1914 city directory the Central at 509 Macdonald Ave. had become the BIJOU THEATRE and the structure that housed the former Helm and Isis theaters at 1106 MacDonald was now home to to MAJESTIC THEATRE.

By 1913 the MAJESTIC THEATRE was operating at 1106 Macdonald Avenue, the location that formerly housed the Helm and Isis.

The 1914-15 Richmond City Directory lists both the above mentioned Majestic and the JEWELL THEATRE occupying the same 1106 Macdonald Avenue location. Most likely the Majestic had just became the Jewell. The Bijou at 509 Macdonald had also become the VIM THEATRE in this edition.

The former Bijou Theatre at 509 MacDonald had become the VIM THEATRE in the 1914-1915 edition of the Richmond City Directory. The Vim itself is missing from the 1915-1916 edition of the City Directory as are it's next door neighbor the Central at 507 Macdonald, the Jewell/Majestic at 1106 Macdonald and the Royal in Point Richmond.

The 1915 -1916 City Directory show only the Point, Richmond Opera House and the Richmond Theatre remaining.  A year later that same publication omits the Richmond Opera House and adds the REGENT THEATRE at 1106 MacDonald Avenue, the location that had previously housed the Helm, Isis, Majestic and Jewell theaters. 

Newspaper ads from the Richmond Independent for the Regent Theatre in 1916. For the first time for these smaller theaters actual titles of the films showing were regularly featured in the Regent's small ads in the Richmond Independent. Full length features have obviously been added to the programs of short films previously exclusively featured in these storefront theaters.

By early 1917 the Regent at 1106 Macdonald (sometimes listed in city directories at 1104 Macdonald) appeared to have become the MACDONALD THEATRE. There was no regular advertising for the Macdonald in the Independent but press release type articles frequently promoted the features playing there. 

On May 19, 1917 after being closed for two weeks for remodeling the MacDonald reopened and started regular daily advertising in the Independent. The Macdonald would remain in business for another full decade, setting a longevity record for  these mostly short lived early movie theaters in Richmond. The structure that housed the Macdonald had also been used as a movie theater since at least 1911, formerly home to the Helm, Isis, Majestic, Jewell and Regent theaters.

Typical display ads for the MacDonald from the Richmond Independent from 1922.

More Macdonald Theater ads from the Richmond Independent from June and October 1926.

In 1927 the Macdonald was still competing with the the California (formerly T & D) and the Richmond. Newspaper ads for the Macdonald appear to cease at the end of September of 1927 but the theater's listing still appears in the 1928 and 1929 city directories so the Macdonald may or may not have been operating without newspaper advertising during those latter years. It is missing from 1930 and later year city directories.

In mid-1929 the Macdonald's proprietors Lawrence Borg and William Pappas temporarily leased the Richmond Theatre from Fox West Coast Theatres and operated it for a time. 

After the closure of the Macdonald and for the next dozen years or so the California (formerly the T & D, later the Fox) and the Richmond (later the State) would be Richmond's only downtown movie theaters. By 1930 the Point Theatre in Point Richmond was also apparently closed and would remain so until Robert L. Lippert remodeled it and reopened it as the "V" Theatre in August 1942.

During this same time period (1900-1930) three larger and much longer lasting movie theaters opened in the Richmond area, the RICHMOND THEATRE in 1912, the POINT THEATRE in Point Richmond in 1913 and the T & D THEATRE in 1922. They are all covered extensively in other posts.