Happy birthday, crestsacramento! On October 6, 1949, the Crest Theatre opened to the public at 1013 K Street in Sacramento with the showing of the film, “That Midnight Kiss.” Originally managed by Fox West Coast Theatres, The Sacramento Bee newspaper published that it was the “Theatre of Tomorrow!” The Hollywood Movie premier at the Crest was attended by movie stars of the film, Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson, and also then-Governor Earl Warren.
The location has a long history of theatres before Crest. On January 19, 1913, the Empress Theatre opened to the public. The vaudeville theater cost $150,000 to construct and contained a 2,000-seat auditorium. The Sacramento Bee hailed it as a “Monument to [the] City’s Future.” The Empress started to show motion films in 1918 and the owner later changed its name to the Hippodrome. Two fires in 1918 and 1921 caused major damages to the building. The Hippodrome’s marquee at the front of the theater collapsed in September 1946, killing a passin...
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