The Crest Theatre is a historic

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

located in downtown

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

History

It originally opened in 1912 as the Empress Theatre, and at that time was used as a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

palace. It later became the Hippodrome. On September 14, 1946, the Hippodrome's marquee suddenly fell to the pavement below, killing a bystander, Mrs. Jessie Shirley Potter, 41, of Alta, who was crushed beneath the marquee. Joseph Brady, 40, was struck a glancing blow and sustained a skull fracture, broken collarbone, permanent brain injury and loss of hearing in one ear. Damages of $176,334.50 were sought by Potter's family and by Brady in superior court. Shortly after the tragedy, in 1949, the building was completely remodeled and revamped to its current form as the Crest Theatre. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was one of the premier first-run movie palaces in the Sacramento area. As the decade turned to the 1970s, it was reduced to mostly sub-run fare. In the early 1980s, the Crest closed down for a time while several attempts were made to revive the theatre in many forms, including a dinner theatre. Finally, by the end of 1995, the Crest was completely refurbished and today its main auditorium (which has been left in its post-1946 unaltered state) is a multi-purpose theatre showing classic revival and specialty films, occasional live shows and lectures. Two additional, smaller cinemas were built adjacent to the original site around the time of the remodeling. The two subterranean theaters were closed in the 2010s and replaced by Empress Tavern in 2015.

Events at theatre

The Trash Film Orgy

The Trash Film Orgy is an annual event extending through six weeks in the summer, with occasional Halloween and Christmas shows. It features cult cinema, live stage shows, live bands, local films, carnival-type games, a lounge, and audience participation. Live guests are occasionally featured and have included filmmaker Ray Dennis Steckler, actor Sid Haig and others. The current ownership has stopped hosting this event.

Sacramento French Film Festival

The Sacramento French Film Festival, founded in 2001, is an annual event held in July at the Crest Theatre. It celebrates the present as well as the rich history of French cinema featuring new releases and rarely seen classics. It is the only festival dedicated to French cinema in Northern California and one of only two on the West coast.

Sacramento Jewish Film Festival

This is a film festival that takes place annually at the Crest. It is now in its 10th year. The two co-founders are Margi Park-Landau and Sid Heberger, the manager of the Crest. Park-Landau wanted to create a place closer to Sacramento where Jewish films could be shown. All the films shown at the film festival relate to the Jewish experience in one way or another. Guest speakers, live music, and a nosh are all part of this two-day event.

Sacramento Film and Music Festival

The Sacramento Film and Music Festival is an international submission-based film festival combined with local programs for both filmmakers and musicians. In 2008, the festival expanded to ten days with all programs hosted at the Crest Theatre. For its 12th year, in 2011, the festival has divided into two seasonal events: WinterFEST in January and SummerFEST in August, with both events continuing to include all genres and lengths of film. J Street Film Festival

Concerts

Crest Theatre has hosted numerous concerts with bands such as X,

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New wave music, new wave, blues, and country music, country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Gramm ...

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

, Dinosaur Jr.,

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes ( , ; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian singer. He gained a following in 2013 when he posted song covers on the video-sharing platform Vine (software), Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manage ...

Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...

Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") is a Mexican American rock group, rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional ...

, and

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerable s ...

. And for years, the Crest hosted the Artists Fashion Show when Sacramento's most outrageous artists put together a fashion show of handmade costumes built on an individual theme for each show. All ticket sales went towards fighting AIDS. The Artists' Fashion Show was also sponsored by On the Wing magazine which was a local arts paper showcasing what was going on in Midtown.

References

External links

Official Crest Theatre websiteThe Trash Film OrgySacramento French Film FestivalSacramento Film and Music Festival
{{Authority control 1912 establishments in California Buildings and structures in Sacramento, California Culture of Sacramento, California Tourist attractions in Sacramento, California