Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1916)

2582 ACCESSORY NEWS SECTION Vol. 14. No. 16 . ^ Building and Furnishings Five Picture Theatres in San Diego^ California The Plaza and the Cabrillo, Located Next Door to Each Other, Are Like the Siamese Twins, from Their Proximity and Management Under One Head — The Theatres Face a Magnificent Park, Lined with Huge Pahns — Other Three Houses Have Many Points of Appeal FIVE representative theatres in San Diego, Cal, are the Plaza, the Cabrillo, the Broadway, the Superba and the Pickwick. The first two are " twin theatres," located right next door to each other. They are owned by the Plaza Amusement Company. The Plaza measures fifty by one hundred feet, and was built about three years ago, of concrete, steel and wood. It faces a striking municipal fountain in a magnificent city square. Tropical palms cast their shade on the frequenters of the park, but fail, however, with all their suggestion of coolness to compete with the comfortable interiors of the Plaza and the Cabrillo, offering right across the way inducements for the people to come in and be amused while forgetting the beating sun outside. The ventilating is done with straight exhaust fans. The Plaza is heated, too, strange as it may seem to those living in colder climates. While the mercury gets pretty high during tlie -day in the southern part of California, it takes a quick tumble after The Cabrillo and Plaza, the " Twin Theatres " at San Diego, Cal. sundown, and the sudden chilliness makes a little heat very acceptable. Hence the Plaza has a steam heating plant for the comfort of its patrons. The seating capacity of the house is five hundred on the main floor, with three hundred in the balcony. The booth is equipped with two Power's 6-A machines, which throw the pictures on an aluminum or silver leaf cloth screen. The general interior decoration consists of tan and gold. A Photoplayer is the musical instrument in use at the Plaza. In the lobby, ten by twenty feet, there is an effective program board for making known the pictures on the current bill. An automatic ticket selling machine has been installed in the booth. The shows are continuous from 10 a.m. until 10.30 at night. Five and six reels are run off for each performance, and the admission charge is ten cents for matinees ; the same price prevails in the evening. The Plaza is located in the heart of the business district, and employs twelve people. Newspapers and billboards constitute the advertising methods of the management. Very elaborate electrical effects make the front of the Plaza a spot of blazing light after dark. The Cabrillo, the friendly competitor next door, is also characterized by a magnificent display of electric illumination in front. Not only does the management believe in attracting notice to the theatre by a blaze of light, but it makes a strong appeal to the ear in the form of cathedral chimes in the lobby. Nobody misses this — except deaf persons, but they cannot escape the intention of the manager to get them inside, for there is the light-flooded lobby refusing to be ignored. So really the only people passing not marked as possible patrons are the unfortunate afflicted with loss of sight and hearing at the same time. The Cabrillo is a nine hundred seat house — six hundred chairs on the main floor and three hundred in the balcony. The theatre was erected two years ago and is located on a plot fifty by one hundred feet. The ventilating is conducted by a Buffalo Forge system. The seats were put in by the Wisconsin Seating Company. Two Power's 6-A projectors are in the booth, the length of throw is eighty-one feet, and the pictures are shown on a plaster and zinc screen. The decorations of the interior are in tan and blue. Lobby advertising is made effective by the use of an illuminated brass and art glass program board. The lobby measures ten by twenty feet. An automatic ticket seller has been put in the lobby booth. A continuous performance begins at 1.00 p. m., with a six reel show offered at ten and twenty cents in the afternoons ; the admission prices remain the same in the evenings. Fifteen people are necessary to keep the Cabrillo in smooth working order. Fox, V-L-S-E and General Film have been furnishing the pictures at this theatre. Like the Plaza, the Cabrillo attractions are advertised in the daily papers and on billboards in conspicuous locations. The Broadway is another San Diego house catering to the public by up-to-date methods and showing worth-while pictures. It uses Paramount and Pathe films and runs six hours a day, charging ten and twenty cents in the daytime and raising some of the seats to thirty cents in the evening. Besides using newspapers and billboards for the advertising of current and coming attractions, the management drives through the streets an auto with transparencies when making known the showing of an unusual feature. A National cash register and ticket printer facilitates the sale of tickets. The lobby, twenty by thirty feet, is made the center of attraction by displays of striking paper and photographs of well-known players. The house seats 930 people. An Erneman machine throws the pictures on a plaster screen ninety-six feet away. The Superba Is Another San Diego Theatre of Importance The Superba, controlled by the Broadway Amusement Company and built in 1911, is a cement structure, eighty by eighty feet, and seats 916 on the main floor ; there is no balcony. An exhaust fan and a system for " washing the air " keeps the Superba ventilation in perfect condition. A furnace heats the theatre and indirect lighting illuminates the auditorium. The throw is seventy-eight feet. A Power's and a Simplex machine constitute the "machinery" in the projection booth; the screen is canvas. A Peerless Photoplayer furnishes the music for the picture in the Superba. A National cash register and ticket printing machine is in the ticket booth. Five shows a day are given at an admission price of ten cents in the afternoon and ten and twenty cents in the evening. The theatre is located in the business section and uses Triangle service. The newspapers and billboards are made use of freely for advertising the pictures shown at the Superba. The last of the five, but not the least, if for no other reason tb.an its Dickens' name, the Pickwick, 1035 Fourth street, draws {Continued on page 2584)