Two Movie Theaters in Town
By Linda Ingraham
Aug. 09, 2010
Cashmere once had two movie theaters in town, one on each end.
The Royal Theater was in the old grange building on the corner of Woodring St. & Cottage Ave. It is now the Pioneer House. The Post Office & a grocery store were in the front with a long hallway to the back to the theater. Don White remembers buying a ticket out front for 10 cents. He had to work 2 hrs. to make that 10 cents. He said he saw his first talking film there about 1929. There were people playing the piano & other musical instruments during the film for sound effects. After the movie, you exited out to the left onto Woodring St. In the late 1940's, Ben Slowe & his wife Delphine & daughter Sharon moved to town & purchased both the Royal Theater & the Vale Theater. A fire in the building in 1949 caused him to close the Royal Theater.
The Vale Theater was on the corner of Division St. & Cottage Ave. It is now Colony Corner, 101 Cottage Ave. The building was the Big D Department Store & Guy Long purchased the business in 1909. The store was remodeled in 1937 when Long opened the very modern Vale Theater. Mr. Slowe ran the Vale Theater until it burned around 1959. It was then remodeled back to a dept store, Schneider's Dept Store until 1967 when it was remodeled into offices. All the kids in town went to the movies on Sat. afternoons for 25 cents. It was the best entertainment in town. This information was provided by Chuck Slowe of Cashmere, grandson of Ben Slowe.
The Cashmere American Legion remodeled the basement of the department store in 1934 to be a place to hold their meetings & social events. They called it "The Dug Out". There are still color murals painted by Spot Miller & his brother on the walls. The previous owners were going to refurbish the murals but don't know if that has been done. Dale Schultz & I were given a tour a few years ago & they are amazing. Dale took some good pictures. It would be great if the new owners would let people tour the basement to see the history but time will tell.
Comments
4 comments
Great article, Linda. Wouldn't it be fun to have a small theater here again?
August 17, 2010 at 2:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey Tao!! you should toally open a $5 theater!! It would be so great for Cashmere!
October 28, 2010 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That would be really neat to get a theatre back in town. Even a $1 or so movie showings. They have some of those in other places.
February 1, 2011 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks for the article on some Cashmere history. I would be willing to open the building up if people want to view some of the history of the building. Tao Berman
August 16, 2010 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)