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A Theater Near You!
A Theater Near You
Washington Theater Memorabilia from the Collection of Robert Headley
The history of movie exhibition in the Washington area was similar to that in cities of comparable size throughout the country. Movies were exhibited by itinerant showmen in many different venues.
The first nickelodeons were opened around 1906 and it seemed that there was a new theater on every corner. Most did not last. In the mid-teens, larger, more elaborate, and more comfortable movie theaters appeared in the downtown and in major commercial districts. Washington's first "palace" was the Knickerbocker built at Columbia Road and 18th Street, NW in 1917.
Theaters increased in size and lavishness of décor until the late 1930s. Because of the Depression, money to build theaters was scarce and the trend was toward smaller theaters.
A new architectural style-Art Deco-appeared and what new theaters were built differed markedly from those pre-1930. They were sleek, streamlined buildings with glass bricks and neon. Warner Bros. became the dominant exhibitor in the Washington area.
After World War II there was a surge in movie theater openings and remodellings, but that ended abruptly around 1950 as TV became more available and more people moved to the suburbs. Between 1950 and 1960, drive-ins were the fad and many were built in the fertile farmlands that ringed the city. As urban sprawl moved further out of the city, the land where they were built became more valuable and they disappeared.
A resurgence in building big, single-screen theaters around shopping centers took place in the 1960s, but this lasted only a few years. Exhibitors had found multi-screens. At first these were fairly large, but quickly they degenerated into small, uncomfortable, uninspired boxes.
Finally, in the mid-1980s, exhibitors seemed to sense the public's dislike of these and began to build larger, more elaborate multiplexes. The typical new movie theater of the late 1990s is free-standing, has 14 to 16 screens, stadium seating, and a wealth of technical advancements in sound and projection.
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© 2001 University of Maryland Libraries
Last Revised: April 9, 2001