Tower Theatre

Gosh Ms. actionjacksonsacfilmlady, what a reactionary you are. You have absolutely failed to understand what I was trying to convey in my post as well as demonstrated to all that are reading you possess a total lack of intellect and on top of that be a bit of a bigot yourself by the assumptions you’ve made about me. To set the record straight, I didn’t just come from Des Moines or Middle America or any Red State and I’ve lived in the Oak Park area for a good portion of my life. In my post I never mentioned anything about the ethnicity of the staff at Tower but the inappropriate manner in which some of them conducted themselves. (The “sweaty Armenian” just happened to be sweating profusely wearing a sleeveless half-shirt bearing the slogan “Mer Hayrenik” across the front. My wife is Armenian, thats how I knew what the slogan said. She sweats profusely every night after I’m done with her! LOL!) Movie Theatres are a business and with any other business you want to make sure you have the best possible staff and know how to behave appropriately. I’m sure if you ran a theatre you wouldn’t want your employees showing up to work with a rag and shoe lace on their heads. I’m sure you wouldn’t be happy about the disgusting washrooms or popcorn scattered everywhere while your staff chooses to lounge around screaming, cursing and playing games. And I really doubt you’d be pleased if someone were making advances on your boyfriend or husband right in front of you while he’s just tryng to order you popcorn and soda. You can’t possibly believe that’s a proper way to run a business. And as for the “N” word, even if it’s among African-Americans, it’s not very professional to speak in that kind of language in the work place. Do what you want in your home but the rest of us don’t want to be subjected to that kind of garbage.

I grew up in and around Sac up to the age of 7, then in L.A. until just recently,( I’m 42), when I moved to Truckee, so I really got to experience many classic theaters, north and south. My dad took us kids to all the beautiful and mysterious movie houses on Broadway in L.A., and because we had cousins, aunts, uncles and friends scattered throughout the San Joaquin Valley,(including some “sweaty Armenians”), we got to see alot of the smaller but no less classic small town movie houses, some , I recall, with these cool old neons signs of Polar Bears announcing,“Cool Air Conditioned Air Inside”.
But the one theater that I remember most vividly, and with much affection, is the Tower. One summer that I stayed with some relatives, we visited the Tower almost every weekend. What a superclassic venue. I went by there recently. I hear its being threatened by the encroachment of megaplexes. I hope they save her.

The name of the chain is misspelled at top. It is Reading Cinemas.

This is their web site.

The theater’s individual web page is still at the URL Lost Memory posted in the comment above.

I grew up in the suburbs and only enjoyed watching movies in the megaplex’s. Now that I’m a little older and have moved into midtown Sac, I have found a deep place in my heart for theaters like the Tower, Crest and Guild. If there is a movie out and I want to see it. The first place I look is at the Tower. Yes it’s old and run down and most of the employee’s there have no appreciation for what the theater is to this town but It’s a theater with history.

Maybe one day I will have the funds to purchase this theater and restore it to it’s former beauty. Until then, I will enjoy it for what it is and give it as much business as possible.

I first moved to Sacramento in 1962 and have many fond memories of the single screen Tower where I enjoyed such first run attractions as “Charade”, “Lilies of the Field”, “The Great Escape” and “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Like so many other once grand theatres, separating it into 3 theatres pretty much destroyed the interior charm of the Tower but at least it still stands and looks pretty much the same from the outside. The dreary interior could use a major overhaul but I don’t expect to see that anytime soon. Since the Crest stopped regular film programming it’s the only place in town to see indie and foreign films nowadays which is pretty pathetic for such a big metropolitan area as Sacramento.