Oriental Theatre, Movie theater in East Portland district, United States
Oriental Theatre was a movie theater in East Portland featuring Italian Renaissance exterior design and a spacious auditorium beneath a large dome. The venue held 2,038 seats and was decorated with an elaborate Eastern-style chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
The theater opened on December 31, 1927, as a major event featuring silent films for the community. Financial difficulties forced closure in 1969, leading to the loss of its interior decorations and equipment.
The interior spaces blended artistic elements from India, Indochina, and China, created by designer Adrien Alex Voisin to transport visitors to distant lands. This exotic approach reflected how theaters of the era used decoration to offer escape and imagination to their audiences.
The building is located in the East Portland neighborhood and can be found by walking through the local area. Since it no longer operates as a theater, visitors can only view the exterior architecture from the street.
The auditorium walls featured life-sized plaster statues of elephants, apes, fish, and mythological creatures throughout the space. Red glowing eyes from these figures illuminated above the screen before each show began.
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