Oregon Theatre

Oregon Theatre
The theater's exterior in 2014
Oregon Theatre is located in Portland, Oregon
Oregon Theatre
Oregon Theatre
Location in Portland, Oregon
Address3530 Southeast Division Street
LocationPortland, Oregon, United States
Coordinates45°30′17″N 122°37′40″W / 45.5046278°N 122.6277533°W / 45.5046278; -122.6277533
OwnerMaizels family, including Gayne Maizels (1967–present)
TypeTheatre
Construction
OpenedSeptember 4, 1925 (1925-09-04)
ArchitectHubert A. Williams

The Oregon Theatre, or Oregon Theater,[1] was an adult movie theater in the Richmond neighborhood of southeast Portland, Oregon, United States. The theater was completed in 1925 and originally housed a Wurlitzer pipe organ and vaudeville stage. It would later screen Hollywood, art-house, and Spanish-language films. The building was acquired by the Maizels family in 1967 and became an adult cinema in the 1970s. It continued to operate as the city's longest running pornographic cinema and remained owned by a member of the Maizels family until 13 February 2020, when it went into foreclosure. It closed in early March 2020.[2]

The cinema has been described as "less creepy than most of its kind" and "out of place" along the newly developed Southeast Division Street. It has also been called "the last holdout of an era", referring to both the prominence of adult film screenings in the city during the 1970s and its status as the last property owned by the Maizels family. In 2004, the building was identified as an "Investment and Identity Site" and commended for having attributes valued by the community, such as quality architecture, local ownership, and orientation to the street.

  1. ^ "Historic Resource Inventory: 8-227-03530" (PDF). City of Portland, Oregon. May 1980. pp. 1–2. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2015. Note: Document accessible via the Oregon Historic Sites Database Archived 2015-01-01 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Shepard, Katie. (2020, March 6). Portland’s ‘porn palaces’ transformed the city into an X-rated haven. Now, its last erotic theater has closed. The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/06/portland-porn-palace/ Archived 2020-03-07 at the Wayback Machine

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