The Show Will Go On at the Chehalis Theater After Sale

At the recently sold Chehalis Theater, the previews are just beginning and the main attraction should be coming up in a matter of months. All that’s missing is the scent of fresh popcorn.

Under new ownership for the first time in 22 years, the historic Chehalis Theater now has itself a new operator. Debbie Hamilton, owner of the Dairy Dan Drive-In in Chehalis, recently leased the theater from Ralph Hubbert, who purchased the building from Daryl Lund late last week.

Hamilton, of Chehalis, grew up attending flicks at the theater, and she has long had hopes for restoring the venue back to its old glory. Now that she has leased the building from Hubbert, Hamilton plans to unleash her wildest dreams on the theater, which has not hosted a public event since 2008, she said. 

“We’re not really remodeling anything, just cleaning up a bit,” said Hamilton, whose goal is to be open and showing shows by the first weekend of August.

She knows it’s going to be a lot of work between here and there, and joked, “I feel like I should maybe put a cot in the office.”

One thing Hamilton will certainly not be doing is removing the cartoon paintings from the theater ceiling. She says that there has been a surprising outpouring of concern from the community regarding the colorful, if slightly out of place, depictions of popular characters from children’s stories. 

“The public is crazy about those things,” noted Hamilton.

“There’s probably a middle generation who believes that those things came with the original building,” laughed Hubbert.

Hubbert, of Chehalis, who now owns the building with his wife Rogette, said his motivation for purchasing the theater was simple. He “just wanted to save the old building.” 

His plans for renovation are simple as well. One of the first goals is to refurbish the original marquee.

“It just lights up the whole town when you turn it on,” said Hubbert. 

Other improvement plans include a new roof, fresh paint and updated bathrooms. 

“Other than that the building is really in great shape,” said Hubbert. He credited former owner Daryl Lund for keeping the bones of the building healthy.

To begin with, Hamilton says that the theater will only be open on weekends and she will not be showing any new movies. Instead, the theater will show second releases and anniversary movies. Ticket prices will vary depending on the associated royalty fees. Hamilton said she has also received a notable plea for live music, a suggestion that she plans to indulge. Seahawk Sundays on the big screen and live theater productions are other ideas that she is bouncing around.

Hamilton is planning a big “three event” opening weekend, but for now she is remaining mum on the exact plans. 

“I think the perfect weekend would be a Buddy Holly cover band with a car show out front and American Graffiti on the big screen,” she said. 

Although Hamilton remembers watching plenty of movies at the theater in her formative years, it is the final film she saw that really stuck with her. It was “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” and Hamilton says she would absolutely show it again.

Today the theater has seating for 285 patrons on the lower level, but Hamilton plans to add two-tiered seating in the balcony for annual ticket holders. She also hopes to offer a bevy of alcohol and food options for her customers.

Heading into the upstairs of the theater is like walking back in time as original carpet and wallpaper become visible and cluttered hallways hint at treasures hidden behind doorways and in secret passageways. 

Up in the projector room, which Hubbert called “the lighthouse,” antique equipment such as cutters, splicers, reels and canisters are scattered about. 

“Everything never left. All the projectors from year after year wound up here,” said Hubbert. 

The projector room even comes equipped with a commode and sink so the reel tenders wouldn’t miss their cue in the event that nature came calling.

“To have seen this thing in operation in 1938 must have really been something,” said Hubbert.

Although the old equipment was used for movie projection through 2008, the new incarnation will run on either DVD or Blu-Ray technology.

Historic Building

The two-story building that houses the Chehalis Theater was originally called the Beau Arts Building. Constructed in 1923, the building was purchased by Arthur St. John in order to house his Ford auto dealership, and the name was subsequently changed to St. John’s Garage.

The building was eventually reconfigured and reopened as the Pix Theater in 1938 with seating capacity for 653 people. 

Substantial damage was done to the building in the 1949 earthquake, but seismic forces were not enough to stop the theater. As they say in the business, “The show must go on.” At that time, there were two theaters on Market Boulevard, as the St. Helens Theater, which opened in 1924, operated on the south end of the street. 

In 1954 though, the St. Helens Theater closed and left the Pix as the only show in town. The Pix was renamed the Chehalis Theater that same year.

Movies continued to roll at the Chehalis Theater until it was converted to a Video Time rental store in 1988. It was during this period that the neo-nostalgic cartoon characters were painted on the theater ceiling. A false floor was also installed in the theater in order to level out the incline for displaying racks of videos.

The building was then purchased by Daryl Lund in 1994. For a while, the old theater housed a flea market, but then it was leased out and reopened as a theater and the false floor was removed. Those theater operations continued off and on for more than a decade before the final film was shown in December 2008.

For her part, Hamilton is excited to restart the theater tradition in her own way, noting that, “It’s such a great location. It’s always been a dream.”

The Chehalis Theater is located at 558 N. Market Blvd. 

•••

Historical records on the Chehalis Theater were compiled with the help of the Lewis County Historical Museum.