Capitol Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on July 9, 2025 at 10:17 am

Feel free to go with that listing as submitted by Katie Mac and I’ll fill in some information here to provide a bit more depth based on my research. There were three Victory Theatres in Tacoma’s history - two of which operated simultaneously - and two Capitol Theaters. This South Yakima location represents the final namesakes of both the Victory and Capitol locations in Tacoma.

Backing up, the original downtown Pantages Theatre - an expansion of the existing 1904-built Crystal Theatre - was replaced with a new Pantages Theatre in 1917. The original was renamed for a year as the Oak before it chose the more patriotic Victory as its moniker beginning on June 9, 1918. Oddly enough, that name was already in use on the south side as in the Camp Lewis area, Casady & Greene’s Victory Theatre had opened there on March 30, 1918 (opening with William S. Hart in “The Primal Love.”) Guessing here, but it’s likely that the signage for the downtown Victory was ordered before they knew about the hastily-built, 1,800 seat “shed.”

Overmatched in a new era of movie palaces, the downtown Pantages' Victory Theatre was a loser closing in 1922 and replaced with a restaurant. The 1,800 seat Victory Theatre had claimed victory. That was short lived as fire consumed that operation on July 13, 1924. The final film ended at 10:30p and the fire was reported at 11:30p. A sentry shot a potential arsonist as a suspect likely unaware that wood-framed theaters often burned down for non-arsonist related nitrate film fires.

Over at South Yakima and 48th, a new two story commercial block was completed in June of 1924. It housed a theater designed as The Mission and had a neighboring confectionery which would serve as the theater’s de facto concession stand. F.E. Lyons' Mission opened with a soft launch on July 8, 1924 with “The Silent Command” followed by a grand opening on July 10, 1924 with Harold Lloyd in “Girl Shy.” The Mission styled venue had a seating capacity of 500 at launch. The $35,000 theater had Simplex projectors, a Raven halftone screen and, of course, a Tacoma-built Western Furnace to heat the place. Based on all reports, however, temporary signage was in place.

William T. Post, owner of the building, saw Lyons scoot and found a new operator for the Mission for five years in Henry Berglund. Berglund likely scoured the city for existing theater signs to save bucks and found - again, likely - the Victory Theatre signage from the former downtown venue changing its name to the Tacoma’s third Victory Theatre at its grand relaunch on December 7th, 1924 with films and live vaudeville (no amateurs).

Berglund declared a quiet victory leaving the venue and was replaced by C.P. Merwin and A.K. Wolfenden. The pair wired the Victory for sound in December 14, 1929 to remain commercially viable playing “The Desert Song.” Assuming due to labor issues, the venue is opened under new management and becomes the (second) Capitol Theatre opening September 6, 1935 with “It Happened in New York” and “Little Men” with 100% union labor.

Just prior to its 38th Anniversary, the Capitol closed on May 6, 1962 with “Light in the Piazza” and “Bachelor in Paradise.” It was listed for sale for $37,500 for a church or theater owner in 1963. It’s assumed no interest was found and the building was likely demolished late that year to reduce taxing liabilities. Residential housing is now on the lot.

Btw: In the entry provided above, it states that Capitol Theatre was destroyed by a fire in 1948, there is no mention of that fire and the only “blotter” note is that manager John R. Kane was robbed there on November 1, 1948. This one opened as the Mission Theatre, changed to the Victory Theater and became the Capitol Theatre in a nearly 38-year run.