Lux Theatre

1220 Broadway,
Oakland, CA 94612

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Additional Info

Architects: Alexander Aimwell Cantin, Alexander Mackenzie Cantin

Firms: Cantin and Cantin

Styles: Egyptian

Nearby Theaters

Goodwill Store (former Lux Theatre)

The Lux Theatre opened in 1948. This small downtown Oakland theatre was one of many that slowly disappeared from the scene (it was one of the last to do so). This was a particularly stylish if somewhat seedy cinema. The Lux Theatre was last used (as a theatre) for Chinese movies. It became a branch of Goodwill which had closed by December 2020.

Contributed by Garrett Murphy

Recent comments (view all 18 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 21, 2006 at 6:50 am

An ad in the Oakland Tribune on 11/24/52 puts the theater at Broadway and 15th, which is a bit at odds with the address listed above. The phone number was TW3-3786. The feature on that day was “He Walked by Night”.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 17, 2007 at 7:05 am

Here is a 1950 ad from the Oakland Tribune:
http://tinyurl.com/yp4vhg

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 21, 2008 at 10:28 pm

Here is a September 1960 ad from the same paper:
http://tinyurl.com/4b5fom

staw
staw on January 16, 2009 at 8:23 pm

The Lux Theater was between 12th and 13th streets on Broadway. Not 15th. It was relatively new theater and had a unique feature where the seats slide fore and aft about 12 inches so that you can let people squeeze by in front of you without having to stand up. I remember seeing West Point with James Cagney there.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 9, 2009 at 1:24 am

Here is a November 1955 ad from the Tribune:
http://tinyurl.com/n9w7ly

seymourcox
seymourcox on May 1, 2011 at 9:34 pm

Around 1980 I visited the Lux. It was very clean, well kept, and still had a classy 1940s look. The auditorium was packed. I watched an entertaining horror flick that took place in a carnival fun house, but didn’t stay for the second feature because the tempature was too warm and stuffy.

sardi
sardi on August 19, 2014 at 7:41 pm

saw Enter the Dragon about 10 times there when it came out!. How about “pizza pups” Does anyone remember those? A hot dog wrapped in a slice of cheese pizza then popped in a toaster over for a couple of minutes. Put a bit of mustard on when they were done and you talk about heaven! I still remember what the lady who worked the concession stand looked like. She was there for years and years.

terrywade
terrywade on July 31, 2016 at 11:03 pm

To bad the current people that have this old theatre took down the nice neon marquee. You can still go in and see It was a great little cinema in the 50 and 60’s.

gsmurph
gsmurph on December 19, 2020 at 12:02 am

The Goodwill inside the Lux has closed; the space is now vacant.

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