Comments from Matt Hormann

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Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Oaks Theatre on May 19, 2014 at 9:20 pm

Joe, your hunch is correct. Thurston’s Pasadena City Directory of 1911 lists “Fisher’s Theater” at 87 N. Fair Oaks Avenue. 1912 oddly does not list either theater, but instead a cigar shop run by a “Mr. Fisher” at 89 N. Fair Oaks. By 1913, the Savoy Theatre appears at 87 N. Fair Oaks.

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Oaks Theatre on Mar 14, 2014 at 8:35 pm

“The Savoy Theatre [Oaks Theatre] on North Fair Oaks was rather a small movie theater. It had a stage, which contained the screen, but it didn’t have any backstage — just enough room to put a play on. If you were a member of the cast and you wanted to get from left stage to right stage, you had to go out in the alley. If it was raining, that was just too bad.” – Arthur Raymond, Talking About Pasadena: Selections From Oral Histories, 1986

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Academy Cinemas on Sep 7, 2013 at 6:08 pm

“Mobbed by some 200 young film fans last night as he left the preview of ‘Blue Skies’ at the Academy Theater here, Fred Astaire lost his $1,200 watch, a gift from his wife, during the melee, when the crowd followed him to a nearby parking lot. Also snatched were his hat and handkerchief.”

  • Pasadena Star-News, 3/23/1946, Page 9, Column 7
Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Academy Cinemas on Sep 7, 2013 at 6:04 pm

“Darryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century Fox Film head, reported to Pasadena police yesterday that his car was broken into and an imported Czechoslovakian Tyrolean hat, valued at $125, was taken last Friday night. Zanuck had been attending a preview at 1003 E. Colorado St. when the theft occurred.”

“Thieves Take Zanuck’s $125 Tyrolean Hat,” Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1952, p.19.

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Tower Theatre on Aug 26, 2013 at 8:15 pm

The Tower Theatre is still listed in the 1953 Polk’s Pasadena Directory of Householders, Occupants of Office Buildings and Other Business Places. The following year’s directory lists 114 E. Colorado as “vacant.” Thus, the theater must have closed in 1952 or 1953.

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about UA Marketplace 6 on Aug 26, 2013 at 12:41 pm

I am writing an article for Hometown Pasadena about some of Pasadena’s old movie theaters. Would anyone be willing to share their pictures/memories of the UA with me? Please email me at:

Here is a previous article, to give an idea of what the piece will look like: http://hometown-pasadena.com/history/ghost-theaters-on-colorado-blvd-part-1-of-2/29654

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Fox Pasadena Theatre on Jul 25, 2011 at 5:07 pm

Thanks, Joe. Amazingly, the Star-News also notes that composer John Philip Sousa performed at the theater with a full orchestra.

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Fox Pasadena Theatre on Jul 13, 2011 at 8:46 pm

According to the Pasadena Star-News, Clune’s Pasadena Theatre opened in March 1911, and one of the first performances was a minstrel show put on by the Pasadena Elks Lodge, which featured actors in blackface.

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Sierra Madre Playhouse on Dec 1, 2010 at 9:22 pm

According to old L.A. Times Independent Theater Guide listings, it was known as the Bogart Theatre from 1968 to 1971, and showed art house films like Closely Watched Trains and Ingmar Bergman’s The Touch.

Matt Hormann
Matt Hormann commented about Montrose Theatre on Nov 11, 2010 at 3:14 pm

I am writing an article on the theater for Montrose-La Crescenta Patch. If anyone has any memories of the theater to share, I would love to incorporate them. Please contact me.