Tower Theatre: A look into the history of a Sacramento landmark
(FOX40.COM) — The Tower Theatre has been a Sacramento staple for decades, creating many memories for moviegoers.
A landmark in the city of Sacramento, the tower beams with neon lights that can be seen from the freeway. Behind the doors of the iconic theatre are years of movie history.
Built in 1938 the Tower Theatre became the heart of the Broadway District while Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood was being developed at the same.
“It was on August, August 21st of 1938 that the city had an official renaming of the city because they did want it to become a new entertainment district,” radio and film critic Matías Bombal told FOX40. “By calling it Broadway, like Broadway in New York, where all the great theaters are and anchored by the Tower Theatre, this would be for the future of Sacramentans.”
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The theater and neighborhood came before the big Hollywood boom just had one auditorium.
In those days, one movie ticket cost 35 cents.
“Because of the increase of these incredible demands from Hollywood, the theater could no longer survive showing a movie for four weeks with just one auditorium,” Bombal said. “Because of that, they split the Tower Theater and theaters across the USA into smaller little cubes.”
From there the Tower Theatre grew in popularity across the city including the founding of Tower Records, which became a recognizable brand across the globe.
“Russ Solomon started his Tower Records business in what is now the Tower Cafe next door when that was his father’s drugstore,” Bombal said. “Of course, it went everywhere in the world. And their logo was the tower from the Tower Theatre. So suddenly the Tower Theatre, Sacramento’s logo is all over Japan. It’s all over Europe, it’s all over the world.”
Currently, local businesses still hold onto the ‘Tower’ brand, though those storefronts have nothing to do with the theater. Bombal said the tower is recognized for many reasons and it has become a part of many daily lives for Sacramentans.
The Tower Theatre represents a sense of pride in the Sacramento community and has kept generations of moviegoers going for more than eight decades.
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“Special films, the neighborhood, have called tower movies it’s almost the Sacramento phrase, it’s the catchphrase everyone in the area knows, ‘oh, that’s a tower movie,’” Bombal said.
One of the theater’s biggest challenges was surviving the COVID-19 pandemic. Tower Theatre general manager Dave Park said a challenge since the pandemic is the shift in viewing habits for people.
“A lot of people shifted to streaming,” Parker told FOX40. “So it’s been our job to kind of get people back into the theater.”
When the theater didn’t have any business because of the pandemic, Bombal said Parker was selling popcorn in front of the theater to get people to come by and having concerts outside to keep it open.
The Tower Theatre has turned to experiences people can’t get at home like organ music or showing classic films in black and white to keep history alive.
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“There’s a sense of history here,” Bombal said. “There’s a sense of tradition in a way. There’s a sense of generations, of people that have come through. There’s a warmth.”
Within the walls of the theater, there are more than eight decades of history captured, but its story continues to be written.
“You can’t find anything like this around anymore,” Parker said. “The fact that we’re still around, I think people should really treasure that, you know, and come back and keep it going.”
Parker told FOX40 he hopes more people come to support the theater for it to stay open for the next 85 years.
Click or tap here for more information on special events or programming at the Tower Theater.
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