Lewiston's beloved theater: 2 bucks a seat, 50 cents for popcorn
By Seth Quillen
Hard News Cafe, 29 October 2003
Summary:
The Lewiston Comminity Theatre is one of few remaining city-owned theaters in the country. It was built as a replacement for the Lewiston Opera House, which was destroyed by fire on Christmas Eve in 1930.
Plans for the Lewiston Community Theatre began in 1934, with part of the funding coming from a state grant. The 380-seat movie house opened in 1935 with a Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire movie.
In the beginning years the Lewiston Community Theatre had no concessions stand and played every night to packed audience. Now days the theater open only three days a week, and you can get popcorn and fountain drinks for 50 cents each.
The Lewiston Community Theatre has also been used for plays and road shows put on by local church and civic groups. At one point Spanish-language films were played on Sundays to large audiences of Mexican immigrants, who would have dances afterwards in the adjacent dance hall.
Because the Lewiston Comminity Theatre is a low-gross theater it has to wait a longer to get the new movies. The theater's policy is to never play R-rated movies, but family movies usually draw the biggest crowds anyways. The theater often has its best night on Monday's which is family night when tickets are only 10 bucks for the entire family. "If it's a good show, family night is usually packed."