Friends of Historic Forest Grove Digital Exhibits

Star Theater Forest Grove

A tight picture of the entrance of the Star Theater located on Pacific Avenue just before Council Street. The theater was built in 1912 and was Forest Grove’s first theater. The building is made of concrete and brick. There is a partial column on each end of the entry with a movie poster on each one. The movie is THE RED CIRCLE which came out in 1915 starring Ruth Roland and Frank Mayo. The entry has two sets of double doors, one on each side of the ticket booth in the center. There are stand alone posters by the doors on the left. A sign on the ticket window CHILDREN OVER % MUST HAVE TICKETS and another sign MATINEE TO-DAY 2:30. Two large signs advertising THE RED CIRCLE hang from above the entrance with a sign in the middle SEE IT HERE TO-DAY 5 AND 10 cents. Mr. Chapman who was the piano player during the silent movies is on the left, Neil Hoffman is seated with a snow sled and Carl Hoffman is standing on the right. Owner Fred Watrous gave the theater to his son Don. Don would invite a kids into the projector room. He was also known to hand out tickets to those he thought couldn’t afford to go to the movies. The theater became the Grove Theater and then became Theatre in the Grove for community theater.

circa 1915

Motion picture theaters

Motion pictures

Theater

Local & State History

Forest Grove, Oregon

photographic postcards

English

FHFG_pic0041

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Watrous Family collection, Friends of Historic Forest Grove

Still Image