On the last Tuesday of each month, Matias Bombal heads over to the Orinda Theatre and does what he was born to do: entertain Contra Costa County theatergoers like it’s 1941.
In an attempt to make the experience as close as possible to what moviegoers experienced when the theater opened that year, Bombal plays newsreels and a cartoon from the era, along with a 20-minute musical short and some previews.
Finally, Bombal jumps on stage to introduce the film. His commanding voice, charisma and enthusiasm are pitch-perfect as he transports movie lovers back in time.
But none of it is as important to capturing that historic feel as the Orinda’s magnificent architecture.
Recognized by the Art Deco Society of California as “Moderne,” the building finished construction just after the Art Deco explosion of the ‘30s. Bombal calls it, “modern baroque,” but with Art Deco influence.
“The circular lobby of the Orinda has a feeling of the living room,” said Bombal, a program director at the Orinda who also has a nationally syndicated radio show discussing modern cinema. “It’s intimate.”
This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Art Deco at Paris’ L’exposition internationale des arts decoratifs et industriels modernes; in English, the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts — Art Deco, for short. The exhibit was held in 1925, just after World War I, and presented the world with a glimpse of the newest designs that reshaped architecture at the time.
Why the big change? There was a rejection of the establishment following the war, which altered every part of society. Instead of looking to the past with warm nostalgia, people had their eyes set on the future as they hoped to create a new world amid the temporary peace before World War II.
Designers began using new materials like aluminum, fiberglass, bakelite and neon. The style is said to have represented power and opulence, hence the heroic human figures, floral motifs and bold geometric shapes. The entire idea was rooted in progress; humans were developing, artists observed, and new buildings would come with a hope for a brighter future.
At the exhibit in Paris, there were 15,000 exhibitors from 20 countries, and 16 million people were estimated to have visited between April and October.
“It was seen as the launching pad of the Art Deco style that was bubbling up in Europe to the world stage,” said Therese Poletti, the preservation director of the Art Deco Society of California. “It was a huge exposition that focused on the new decorative arts in France. It was a way for France to get back the design mantle it lost in World War I.”
In California, a lot of the new buildings were constructed after the recovery from the 1906 earthquake. With the population boom followed a lot of Spanish Colonial and Victorian designs. But the Art Deco explosion between 1925 and 1940 wasn’t lost on this region.
“You can find a lot of Art Deco here if you look for it,” Poletti said.
Here are five great Bay Area places with Art Deco influence that are worth a visit:
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Movie patrons walk the red carpet as they arrive to the Orinda Theatre 75th anniversary gala celebration in Orinda. The 800-seat art deco theater was built between 1937-1941 by local developer Donald Rheem. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
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Movie patrons walk the red carpet as they arrive to the Orinda Theatre 75th anniversary gala celebration in Orinda. The 800-seat art deco theater was built between 1937-1941 by local developer Donald Rheem. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The Orinda Theatre, Orinda
The inviting scenery first starts when you’re driving down Route 24 and catch a glimpse of the theater’s original neon pink and green sign.
“The vertical sign looks like a shark fin, so it looks like the vertical is cutting through the air and moving forward,” Bombal said.
Once inside, you’ll notice something different from some of the other theaters of the era.
With many movie palaces, like the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, “the first thing that happens is you walk in and everyone looks up and nearly passes out falling over backwards, because it’s so impressive to look at it,” Bombal said. “But the Orinda is a round, circular space, which feels more intimate. So it’s like you’re walking into your living room at home.”
The lobby is small but colorful, with American beauty rose, bright blue, midnight blue and a woven carpet that matches the ceiling painting by Anthony Heinsberg.
“You have a nice thematic closed space, then go up a long flight of stairs, and you’re in a big auditorium,” Bombal said. “And it’s much larger than you’d think it’d be based on the narrowness of the entrance you come through.”
A.A. and A.M. Cantin Collection/Environmental Design Archives/Cal Berkeley).
The architect was Alexander Aimwell Cantin, who built many theaters in the Bay Area. He also remodeled some older spaces to make them look more modern.
“In the case of the Orinda, he throws in illustrations and artwork, which is not necessarily congruent with these design styles at the time,” Bombal said.
The theater stayed open until 1984, when it was scheduled to be demolished to pave the way for a new complex to be built. But local preservationists fought the plans in court, and in 1985 the California Supreme Court ruled in their favor. New seats were put in as well as additional renovations that took years to complete before the theater reopened in 1989.
Today, the Orinda continues to show old and new movies as well as hosting live performances from Broadway stars, musical acts, standup comedians and cabaret performers.
Details: Located at 4 Orinda Theatre Square in Orinda; https://www.orindamovies.com.
Hotel De Anza, San Jose
Built in 1931, the 10-story Hotel De Anza may be the crown jewel of San Jose’s Art Deco buildings.
Featuring a marquee with zigzags and geometric floral motifs and a pink neon sign scheduled to light up again this summer, the hotel is a standout in the city, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
There are more floral designs in the lobby and conference rooms, with large paintings, archways, chandeliers and decorative elements that also incorporate some Spanish Colonial designs.
Facing demolition in the 1970s, the hotel was saved by the now-defunct San Jose Redevelopment Agency, which helped renovate it in 2015.
An ownership group headed up by Northern California hotel owner Dhaval Panchal purchased the property last year and temporarily closed the hotel as they began renovations. The electrical panels, which spokesperson Maxine Reyes described as, “previously being held together with duct tape and glue,” were restored.
Investing in such renovations “shows the community that this family is here to stay, and they want this landmark to be this special hotel everyone knows it for,” Reyes said.
Details: Located at 17 Notre Dame Ave. in San Jose; https://www.hoteldeanza.com.
Stanford Theatre, Palo Alto
While the Stanford Theatre is recognized as a landmark by the Art Deco Society of California, some purists may have a nit to pick with that designation, as the building in the heart of downtown Palo Alto was actually designed more in the tradition of neoclassical architecture.
Perhaps it’s most accurate to say that while the outside of the theater reflects neoclassical’s obsession with simplicity and more subtle design, the interior is an absolute explosion of Art Deco showmanship. Lined floor to ceiling with Deco’s obsessive geometric patterns, and alight with the reds and golds of the archetypal Californian movie palace, the Stanford has become one of the most popular places in the U.S. for fans of classic cinema to gather week in and week out.
It wasn’t always that way. Like Art Deco itself, the Stanford Theatre is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and newspaper clippings from the time — permanently on display in the theater’s annex, which is a treasure trove of posters, lobby cards and more from films scheduled to be shown — reveal that the theater was the center of attention when it opened on June 9, 1925. By the 1960s, though, the Stanford had fallen into disrepair.
Ironically, it took the death of Fred Astaire, one of the stars whose movies the Stanford had shown in its heyday, to bring it back to life. David Woodley Packard, son of Hewlitt-Packard co-founder David Packard, organized a film festival honoring Astaire’s work shortly after the icon’s passing in 1987. It was so successful that the Packard Foundation purchased the theater for $7.7 million and set about restoring it, making it a permanent safe space for Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Over the years, the Stanford has become famous for its themed festivals — Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock, Val Lewton, Vincente Minnelli and Audrey Hepburn are just a few of the actors and directors to be celebrated recently – and for some rather clever pairings by programmers in its double features. (“Bride of Frankenstein” and “Sunset Boulevard”? We see what you did there, and we don’t know which is the grande dame and which is the monster, either.)
With its sparkingly preserved architectural flourishes, wide range of programming, family-friendly affordability and mighty Wurtlitzer organ played between evening showings – you can count on at least a few awestruck moviegoers videoing these performances every weekend — the Stanford is possibly the most important home for classic cinema to be found not only in the Bay Area, but anywhere.
Details: Double features Thursday-Sunday. 221 University Avenue, Palo Alto. stanfordtheatre.org.
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Guests file the Paramount Theater in Oakland, Calif. to hear former Prime Minister Tony Blair speak on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007. (Sherry LaVars/Contra Costa Times)
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Guests file the Paramount Theater in Oakland, Calif. to hear former Prime Minister Tony Blair speak on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007. (Sherry LaVars/Contra Costa Times)
The Paramount Theatre, Oakland
One of the most prominent architects in the Bay Area during the 1920s was Timothy Pflueger, who’s got his name on some of the most stunning theaters in the region. But none is quite like this one.
“The Paramount is probably Pflueger’s Art Deco masterpiece,” said Poletti. “Someone once compared his role there to a symphony conductor — in charge of a lot of artists, craftsmen and builders — and it’s not a bad analogy, since the building is a true work of art.”
Pflueger hired some of the era’s leading painters, sculptors and muralists, who leaned into towering mosaic and classic Art Deco patterns to create the country’s second-to-last theater with more than 3,000 seats (Radio City Music Hall was the last).
After the stunning neon sign greets visitors from the outside, the well-lit grand lobby features gold and emerald green throughout. There are tall designs along the walls and figure-like shapes crafted in. Throughout the theater, there’s no wallpaper; everything was hand-painted.
There are Art Deco lamps and curtains, geometric shapes on the rugs and magnificent displays of light all around; look up from the auditorium and the lightbulbs resemble an Egyptian figure.
Similar to the Orinda, the Paramount was also slated for destruction, but the Oakland Symphony bought it in 1972 and started a series of matinee concerts.
The Paramount became a California Registered Historic Landmark in 1976 and a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
Today it’s the home of the Oakland Symphony and is one of the area’s leading destinations for popular performers in art, music and theater.
Details: The theater offers 90-minute tours on the first and third Saturdays of the month. Located at 2025 Broadway in Oakland; https://www.paramountoakland.org.
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The Alameda Theater is photographed on Santa Clara Street in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 23, 2016. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)
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The Alameda Theater is photographed on Santa Clara Street in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 23, 2016. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)
The Alameda Theatre, Alameda
Another one of Pfluerger’s masterpieces, the Alameda Theatre opened in 1932 and is known as “The Little Paramount.”
“Because it’s just as spectacular, but at a smaller scale,” Poletti said.
The towering pink and orange neon sign lights up Central Avenue. The tall, floral patterns on the facade are signature Art Deco designs. The grand lobby features more flowers and figures, though much of the lobby has been updated.
The building closed as a theater in the 1980s and was later used as a gymnastics studio and roller rink, before being redesigned in 2008. The ticket booth and concession were updated to complement the Art Deco style. The original decorative finishes were restored and the metal leaf structures made to sparkle again. The painted stage curtain, carpeting ceiling grilles and most of the light fixtures were also restored by the Architectural Resources Group.
The ceiling has layers of decorative finishes and a wall mural, though they were painted over with a swan motif in the ‘40s. The mural was uncovered and restored as part of the 2008 project.
The theater is now operating as an eight-screen multiplex showing new films, and it also hosts popular events in Alameda’s Park Street Historic District.
“It’s a great example of how a movie theater can be saved, with smaller theaters added, but they do not mar the original, main auditorium,” Poletti said.
Details: Located at 2317 Central Ave. in Alameda; https://www.alamedatheatres.com.
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