Opened: January 7, 1949 as a first run arthouse for Westates Theatres / Hatch & Blackman. The initial film was "The Mozart Story" with the grand opening broadcast over local station KXLA. The photo, reproduced on the Cinema Tour page about the theatre, is one that appeared in the 1949-1950 edition of "Theatre Catalog," published by Quigley Publishing.
The building is on the south side of the street between Altadena Dr. and San Gabriel Blvd. The Uptown Theatre is four blocks to the west and the former Esquire Theatre is a block to the east.
Architect: Clarence J. Smale designed the building. The auditorium features an arched Lamella roof, a style of construction using short pieces of wood in prefabricated segments bolted together in a rhomboid pattern.
The specs on the project from the 1949-1950 "Theatre Catalog." The original interior color scheme was sunset red and green with the theatre's proscenium called a "pie-crust frame." The building cost was $80,000 with an additional $29,500 spent on equipment. Thanks to Cinema Tour for reproducing the "Theatre Catalog" items.
Seating: Originally 748, all on a single level. Later it was down to 650.
Projection: Motiograph AAA heads, Motio Mirrophonic sound, Ashcraft C-70 lamps.
Matt Hormann, in Part 2 of his now-vanished 2011 Hometown Pasadena article "Ghost Theaters of Colorado" discussed a 1952 censorship battle:
"When the theater announced it would show Japanese film 'Rashomon,' a 1951 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film, city officials objected, and Pasadena Mayor A.E. Abernathy, stated that he didn’t think the city should be 'opened up to a certain type of foreign film.' A strangely archaic notion today, until 1961 Pasadena had a film censorship board, and any film shown in the city had to meet the approval of a panel of censors, and be issued a certificate stating that it was family-appropriate.
"Films could be arbitrarily pulled from theaters if they did not meet the panel’s standards. It took a letter of complaint from Westates Theatres, testimony from a prominent Pasadena art critic, and a strong protest from the Colorado’s owner, Terry McDaniel, before Rashomon was eventually approved by the censors—a process that took several weeks."
"Films could be arbitrarily pulled from theaters if they did not meet the panel’s standards. It took a letter of complaint from Westates Theatres, testimony from a prominent Pasadena art critic, and a strong protest from the Colorado’s owner, Terry McDaniel, before Rashomon was eventually approved by the censors—a process that took several weeks."
The theatre's art policy was soon abandoned and forgotten. When the Esquire opened in the 60s, it was acclaimed by the L.A. Times as Pasadena's first art house.
The Colorado was later operated by Fred Stein's Statewide Theatres. Loew's took it over in November 1967 and advertised it as as Loew's Colorado. General Cinema got the theatre in June 1972 when they took over the southern California Loew's houses. Century Cinema Circuit took over in November 1973. They were a new company headed by Fred Stein and his son Robert and no relation to Ray Syufy's Bay Area-based Century Theatres.
Century actually owned the building and when they headed into bankruptcy in late 1976, Seattle-based Sterling Recreation Organization bought some of their assets, including the Colorado. SRO took over in October 1976. When they got out of the southern California market in June 1985 they sold their houses to Pacific Theatres. It was acquired by Laemmle Theatres in 1986.
Closing: The Colorado was closed by Laemmle in 2001. Matt Hormann commented:
"As the years progressed, wear and tear took its toll on the theater, and as with the Esquire, the opening of the Playhouse 7 signaled the inevitable end of the Colorado. The theater went out with a bang, however. Foreign film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' played for six weeks straight at the end of 2000, selling out shows two hours in advance, and, according to a Laemmle spokesperson, becoming 'the biggest hit in the history of the theater.' In January 2001, the Colorado shut its doors for good."
Status: It's now a church called the Pasadena City Church, formerly the Pasadena Christian Center.
Interior views:
A lobby view from the 1949-1950 "Theatre Catalog," via Cinema Tour.
The auditorium with its "pie-crust" proscenium. It's a photo from the 1949-1950 "Theatre Catalog" appearing on the Cinema Tour page about the Colorado.
A 2013 view of the auditorium. Photo: Facebook.com/PasadenaChurch
A roof detail near the screen end of the building. Photo: Facebook.com/PasadenaChurch - 2015
A curious view to the rear. Photo: Facebook.com/PasadenaChurch - 2015
More exterior views:
1979 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images site for this view looking east. Note the added metal cladding on the facade.
1981 - A photo shared by a contributor going by the name of Hoppy that appeared on the now-vanished site Webshots.
1983 - Thanks to American Classic Images for this photo.
1997 - The theatre under Laemmle management. It's a photo appearing on Cinema Treasures, a post from that site's contributor Marcel.
2009 - A terrazzo view. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for her photo. For more great photos from this ace theatre explorer see her various Theatres albums on Flickr. This view of the churched version of the Colorado is in her Theatres - California album.
2010 - Checking out the marquee soffit and the rest of the facade as fancifully redone by the church. Photo: Bill Counter
2010 - The facade from across the street. The church gets points for uncovering the upper part of the original facade and doing a more interesting marquee and display case treatment than the theatre had in its final decades as a film house. Photo: Bill Counter
2010 - A photo from Matthew H. on Yelp.
2011 - A view west. Photo: Google Maps
2015 - A nice shot showing off the trim around the doors and display cases. Photo: Google Maps
2019 - Banners on the marquee for a new name. Photo: Bill Counter
2024 - The Pasadena Fire Department in action for "a small structure fire." Thanks to Dave Lessig for spotting the February post on the Department's Facebook page.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page for some nice comments.
Thanks to the Cinema Tour page on the Colorado for the research on the dates for the Colorado's many different operators. In addition to the items appearing here, the page has some 2003 views from Scott Neff. Ignore the 1997 photo -- it's from the Academy Theatre.
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Two movies that I recall seeing at the Colorado in the 1980s were "Xanadu" with Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton John, and "Malcolm" the story of the Melbourne tramcar enthusiast.
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