The Liberty Theatre marquee on Commercial Street in Astoria

Astoria’s Liberty Theatre, rescued by its town, now earns its keep

ByDana Whitcomb

Photo: Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Liberty Theatre opened in 1925, part of the burst of construction that followed the 1922 fire. It was built for vaudeville and silent film, with an Italian Renaissance interior and murals of Venetian canal scenes, and it was one of the larger theaters on the coast.

It ran as a movie house for decades. By the late 20th century, the auditorium had been cut up and the building had fallen into disrepair, a common fate for downtown theaters once multiplexes arrived.

A long restoration

A local nonprofit, the Liberty Restoration group, bought the building in the late 1990s and spent more than a decade raising money and restoring it in phases. The work brought back the original auditorium, the murals and the marquee, and the theater reopened in stages through the 2000s.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the downtown historic district, and its corner at 12th and Commercial is one of the most photographed in town.

Why it matters downtown

Theaters are not simple businesses. Ticket sales rarely cover the cost of an old building, and the Liberty relies on donors, memberships, rentals and grants. Its value to Astoria shows up elsewhere. A concert night fills downtown restaurants and bars, a film festival brings out-of-town visitors in the off-season, and the storefronts in the theater building provide retail space on the busiest block in the city.

Local arts groups, school programs and touring acts all use the stage, which gives the theater a schedule that runs year-round instead of only in tourist season.

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