On March 28, 1924, the Balboa Theatre opened in what is now the Gaslamp Quarter, a historic district of San Diego.
The opening evening of the evening featured the participation of the Fancon vaudeville teams.
The San Diego Theatres, which operates the Balboa and the San Diego Civic Theatre, hosted a three-day centennial birthday party to be held March 28-30. The program will include a birthday gala with popular pianist and performer Hershey Felder; a screening of a 1929 silent film with organ accompaniment that will pay homage to the long history of the San Diego Army; an old program for families with young children; and an evening of entertainment with singers, dancers and musicians from San Diego.
Felder, who has directed several times during the more than 18 years at the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse and the former San Diego Repertory Theatre, said he plans to study the history of the Balboa to create a popular music program to sing along with him. It could have been played or conducted at the Balboa in the last century.
Proceeds from the gala will benefit from the Balboa Theatre Grant Fund, which provides grants to local nonprofits to rent the theatre at a reduced cost.
“As stewards of two of the city’s finest arts spaces, all of us at the San Diego Theatres are revered for celebrating the Balboa Theatre, its enduring legacy and exciting future,” Abigail Buell, vice president of strategy and strategy for the San Diego Theatres. . business development,” he said in a statement.
The Balboa Theater, located at 868 Fourth Ave. au downtown, was born in the Roaring Twenties, when lavish movie palaces sprang up in cities across the country. Built at a cost of $800,000, it was designed by architect William Wheeler with a taste that blended Moorish, Spanish Revival and Mediterranean classicism, according to San Diego-based Save Our Heritage. From its gigantic pendant Moorish lamps, the Balboa’s most striking design detail is the recessed waterfalls on either side of the stage, where water once fell on a landscape. of false rocks.
In reaction to the development of the city’s Spanish-speaking population in the 1930s, the theater was renovated with a new neon sign, renamed Teatro Balboa, and began screening new Mexico City films.
During World War II, the theater’s workplace wing served as a dormitory for sailors who stayed there before leaving overseas.
By 1959, the theater was going through a rough patch and was at risk of being demolished to make way for a parking lot, but the Russo family bought the assets and operated it for the next 25 years as an action movie.
Ultimately, the Balboa shuttered and remained closed for nearly 20 years. In 1972, the city of San Diego designated the Balboa as an historic site and in 1985 it was purchased through eminent domain by the city’s redevelopment agency, the Centre City Development Corp. In 2008 the Balboa underwent a significant renovation and in 2009 one of the nation’s five surviving Wonder Morgan Organs from the 1920s, was installed in the Balboa.
Tickets for the upcoming three-day Balboa Centennial will go on sale in January at sandiepasstheatres/balboatatheatre100.
pam. kragen@sduniontribune. com
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