OUR HISTORY

For over 113 years, the movie theater at 621 Chetco Avenue has provided the City of Brookings with film and entertainment. Known first on its opening in 1909 as the Pine Cone Theater, this was later changed to the Redwood Theater sometime in the 1980’s. Originally built of red brick in a grand but understated, formal manner, this movie house served not only the City of Brookings but the entire Southern Oregon Coast. Its patrons come from California to the South, to the Rogue River area and beyond in the north. The movie theater is located in the heart of Brookings and has been, and remains, a part of the community. It contains a number of artifacts and photos of a historical nature. The community loves their theater!

The Theater has from what we know been in continuous operation for 113 years and is not only the geographic center of the City of Brookings but is also at the center of the entertainment industry for Brookings and the broader area.

The current new owners are committed to preserving the past history of the theater and creating an expanded vision for its future that puts the theater at the center of the entertainment, educational and community life of the City. We are committed to working closely with the City of Brookings, The Chetco Valley Historical Society, and various other entities, the State of Oregon and community volunteers and stakeholders to together create a vision for the theater. Part of this effort is to further research the historic past of the theater, preserve the remaining artifacts, and return it as much of it as possible to its former appearance or sensitively replace required or missing elements with period sensitive new elements.

There have been several alterations to the theater in its 113 year history. The first came with the widening of the 101 (Chetco Avenue) which impacted the front of the building to some degree. There were at least two other alterations – one apparently in the 1950’s era and the second in the 1990s – that are in many ways are inconsistent with the original historic nature of the building.

The intent is to uncover what remains of the existing original theater building and restore it. We realize however that, give the apparent scope of the alterations in what we think was the 1950’s and 1990’s, we will be unable to return the theater exactly to its 1909 state. In such a case where large parts of the theater façade or interior walls and ceilings have been removed, then we will replace altered sections with period sensitive replacements in keeping with movie houses from the 1910’s and 1920’s through the use of colors, signage, seating, as well as through the sensitive display of historic artifacts found in and around the theater (these include photos, old movie posters, old seating, cameras, film cases to name some of the items) All of this however in a technically modern and comfortable facility for our patrons. We also are considering the feasibility of returning the live stage and remnants of the former stage lighting and curtains to a functional state for live performances and community events.

There have been several alterations to the theater in its 113 year history. The first came with the widening of the 101 (Chetco Avenue) which impacted the front of the building to some degree. There were at least two other alterations – one apparently in the 1950’s era and the second in the 1990s – that are in many ways are inconsistent with the original historic nature of the building.

The intent is to uncover what remains of the existing original theater building and restore it. We realize however that, give the apparent scope of the alterations in what we think was the 1950’s and 1990’s, we will be unable to return the theater exactly to its 1909 state. In such a case where large parts of the theater façade or interior walls and ceilings have been removed, then we will replace altered sections with period sensitive replacements in keeping with movie houses from the 1910’s and 1920’s through the use of colors, signage, seating, as well as through the sensitive display of historic artifacts found in and around the theater (these include photos, old movie posters, old seating, cameras, film cases to name some of the items) All of this however in a technically modern and comfortable facility for our patrons. We also are considering the feasibility of returning the live stage and remnants of the former stage lighting and curtains to a functional state for live performances and community events.

It is our goal to preserve what is left of the historic structure and to provide safe stewardship of the remaining artifacts. Once complete, we can look outwards toward returning the theater to its rightful place as a community event space for live production, club drama groups, public educational and awareness events for our broader community.