THE STATE THEATRE (Opened December 25, 1934; still in operation as a movie and concert theatre; reopened in Feb., 2006 after extensive renovation. Celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year.)
1037 J Street

This Art Deco movie palace, built at the height of the Depression, is the only remaining original downtown movie theatre. This year it is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Designed by renowned theatre architect, S. Charles Lee, it was one of several movie theatres designed for downtown Modesto by Lee, but the only one actually built.

The State, with its exquisite plaster murals on the interior walls that capture an Art Deco design incorporatng leaping gazelles and greyhounds, was Modesto's movie showplace. In the 1950s, it was the first to feature Cinemascope. This theatre hosted the world premiere of Jerry Lewis's "The Bellboy" in 1960 (undocumented).

When the chain that owned the State remodeled it in the 1960s, it was stripped of some of its grandeur, but the murals remained intact. While not suffering the dismal fate of the other downtown movie houses, it did later become an Hispanic film house before it was purchased and reopened to show art films, house concerts and occasional plays on a makeshift stage.

In 2005, a new group purchased the building and spent $2 million refurbishing the theatre to make it as grand as it had once been. A permanent stage was added (the theatre was never intended as a live theatre), along with dressing rooms and a state-of-the-art sound system. The murals were refurbished and the Art Deco treasure is once again delighting audiences as was intended by architect Lee.

Go to www.thestate.org for information about theatre events. Photos on this page are by Baird Photography and the Modesto Bee, as well as from the State Theatre website.

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