Once there were movie theaters everywhere in Berkeley, from the giant UC theater on University Avenue to the tiny two-screen Telegraph Repertory Cinema (TRC) upstairs from a laundromat near the corner of Dwight and Telegraph. At one time during the 1960s and 1970s Telegraph Avenue between Parker and Durant boasted no fewer than five screens, running movies every night.
There were movie theaters strung out along Shattuck, and on the streets spreading east from it. The Northside Twin on Euclid near Hearst is now part of LaVal’s. There were two theaters on Solano, the Albany and the Oaks.
And there were four screens at the Rialto theaters on Gilman Street.
Today, the Elmwood on College Avenue is the only privately owned movie theater still functioning in Berkeley. The BAMPFA can be considered a second theater, but while a priceless asset the community and the world, it is part of the university.
Berkeley is close to becoming a Cinema Free Zone!
This site is dedicated to maintaining awareness of the wonderful movie theater screens that were once ubiquitous throughout the United States and are rapidly disappearing.
The Berkeley Cinema Free Zone sticker is simultaneously a protest item and a comment on the City of Berkeley’s penchant for attempting to ban everything under the sun, starting with the nuclear free zone initiative. In this case, it’s not as if anyone ever took a stand to rid the city of Berkeley of movie theaters. The demise of the silver screens has progressed for many different reasons, and continues, leaving gaping holes in what was once a thriving movie-going culture. The Cinema Free Zone sticker parodies this trend while bemoaning the loss of so much of the community’s cinematic heritage. It serves as a reminder of a glorious past. Whenever you see one, think back to a time when movies were everywhere.
In the hope to save some of this past there is a valiant attempt to halt demolition of the shuttered United Artists theater on Shattuck Avenue. In April 2025 the City of Berkeley voted to allow the building’s demolition to proceed.
Save the UA Berkeley has a website. Help if you can, before it’s too late.
Theaters throughout the United States are disappearing. We will attempt to add photos of every theater now defunct we can obtain through the life of this site. Thank you for your suggestions.
Sticker is 3" x 5"
Links to sites and article chronicling stories of defunct and endangered theaters, and keeping hope alive: