Vista Theatre (Later Contra Costa Civic) (El Cerrito)

Address: 11390 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito CA

Date Opened: November 25, 1943

Date Closed: (Probably) December 11, 1956

Circuit/Owners: Blumenfeld Theatres, Independent (?)

Architect: Vincent G. Raney

Number of Screens: 1

Number of Seats: 480

Current Status: Liquor Store

The Vista Theatre became El Cerrito's second indoor movie theater (after the Cerrito) when it was opened at 11390 San Pablo Avenue (corner of Blake and San Pablo) by Blumenfeld Theatres on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1943.  The Vista ran primarily second run product during all of it's years of existence as a movie theater which ended when it closed at the end of 1956.

The grand opening program at the Vista was not exactly stellar material with a three year old Tex Ritter "B" western from Monogram holding down the top spot on the program. The co-feature, Universal's "Rhythm of the Islands" was at least from the same year the Vista opened. You probably would have seen these two one sheet posters in the poster cases in front of the theater on opening day.

Ads for the Vista from the Richmond Independent from August 1945. The Visa's programming was mostly second rate fare, lots of "B" films with multiple program changes each week. Before television that's all it took to fill the seats of these small neighborhood theaters. 

Examples of Vista programming during the post war years 1946 to 1948. Blumenfeld's Cerrito Theatre continued to get the big hits and the Vista got what was left over or the bigger films second run. Saturdays usually featured B western double features along with cartoons and a serial chapter.

In July of 1951 the Vista was playing a couple of "Adults Only" exploitation flicks at a Saturday night late show. "Hollywood Burlesque" was from 1949 and "Main Street Girls" an oldie from 1938. In bigger cities like Oakland and San Francisco there were of course theaters that played this type of product exclusively but many theaters and drive-ins in smaller communities would occasionally slip these programs in as late or midnight shows, usually on Friday and/or Saturday nights, to make a few extra bucks from not surprisingly an almost all male audience.

In the fall of 1951 the Vista was advertising itself as being "under new management", indicating that Blumenfeld Theatres had apparently sold or leased the theater to an unidentified smaller circuit or private operator. 

By 1952 the Vista like all Richmond area movie theaters was having a hard time attracting patrons due to the major post World War II decrease in population and the increasing popularity of television. Under a new operator the Vista struggled on offering second run programming, multiple weekly program changes, low admission prices and extra promotions that included raffles for cash prizes, live puppies and live baby chickens. The small one column ads above are from the Richmond Independent from 1952 and 1953. 

By November 1956 the Vista's days as a movie theater were numbered. It's advertising budget apparently allowed for normally only one newspaper ad per week in the Independent, usually on Saturday, and that was a small one, only 2 columns wide by 1 inch deep, an extra inch for "King Kong" above. It appeared for the most part that the Vista was open on weekends only, Friday to Sunday. All of the films above are from RKO Radio Pictures and are almost all reissues. 

Two oldies from (who else?) RKO Radio, "Androcles and the Lion" (1952) and John Ford's great "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" (1949) made up the final double feature program at the Vista and played Sunday to (probably) Tuesday December 9 through 11, 1956. "NOW WARM INSIDE" was the bottom line in the Vista's final little ad. Nice that they got the heater working for the final shows in December! Goodbye to the Vista, another little theater that I never had the chance to get inside of! 

After the Vista closed at the end of 1956 the stripped of equipment and subsequently vandalized theater sat vacant for four years before it was purchased and renovated by the Contra Costa County Civic Theatre (CCCT) and used for eight years (1960-1968) for their live theater productions. In 1968 the building housing the theater was sold and CCCT was forced to vacate.

Since the early 1970's Atlas Liquors has occupied has the old auditorium area of the structure that formerly housed the Vista Theatre. The front of the building including the lobby area was demolished and the rest of the interior gutted to accommodate this makeover. Thanks to "georob6316" for posting this information on the Cinema Treasures website!

So far I haven't found any photos of the Vista taken during the time that it was operating as a movie theater. If anyone has a web link or a personal non copyrighted photo that I can use with a credit I would greatly appreciate it if you would leave a comment or e mail me. Quality of the photo or even if it's a closeup or not is not that important. In the Vista's case a shot of the intersection of Blake and San Pablo Ave. in El Cerrito taken between November 1943 and December 1956 would be sufficient assuming that you can see the Vista in the photo. Thanks!