Stanford Theatre Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Stanford Theatre
Construction
Stanford Theatre's marquee at night
Address	221 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94022
Coordinates	37°26′43″N 122°09′46″W / 37.445208°N 122.162666°W / 37.445208; -122.162666
Owner	David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Type	Indoor theatre
Opened	June 9, 1925 (1925-06-09)
Renovated	1987-1989
Architect	Weeks and Day

The Stanford Theatre is a special movie theater in Palo Alto, California. It's known for showing classic films from the past. This beautiful theater was built in the 1920s. It looks like an old palace with designs inspired by Persian and Moorish styles.

Today, the Stanford Theatre mainly shows movies made between 1910 and 1970. They often have fun film festivals. These festivals might focus on different types of movies, or celebrate famous directors like Alfred Hitchcock, or actors like Bette Davis and Cary Grant. Many people who love classic movies in the United States choose to watch them at the Stanford Theatre.

The theater also has a huge musical instrument called "The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ." This special theatre organ was made by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. It's played live during breaks in the movies. Sometimes, it even plays music for silent films, which are movies without spoken words!

History of the Stanford Theatre
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History of the Stanford Theatre

Building the Classic Theater

The Stanford Theatre was designed by architects Weeks and Day. Construction began in 1924 and cost about $300,000. When it first opened on June 9, 1925, it showed a movie called I'll Show You the Town. The theater was very big, with space for about 1500 people. It even had a special organ with pipes that could make sounds like trumpets, flutes, and many other instruments.

A New Beginning for the Theater

By the 1960s, the theater was not doing very well. The original organ had been taken out, and the inside wasn't kept very clean. Many people didn't want to go there anymore.

But things changed in 1987. After the famous dancer and actor Fred Astaire passed away, David Woodley Packard held a film festival of Astaire's movies at the theater. It was a huge success! This made David Woodley Packard's father, David Packard (who helped start Hewlett-Packard), agree to buy the old theater.

Restoring the Stanford Theatre

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation bought the theater in 1987 for $7.7 million. They spent another $6 million to make it look new again. The restoration took two years. They looked at over 5,000 drawings to make sure the colors matched the original design.

Part of the restoration included finding a new organ to replace the old one. They found parts from different places, like a 1926 organ console from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and 1928 pipes from Loew's Theatre.

The theater had another update in late 2017. It got new paint, new carpets, and the seats were fixed with new padding and soft mohair covers. It reopened in December 2017 with a showing of The Wizard of Oz.

Today, Cyndi Mortensen manages the Stanford Theatre. The Stanford Theatre Foundation, led by David Woodley Packard, runs the theater.