Tuesday Morning Takedown

An outward and visible sign...

The vertical marquee of Seattle’s historic Paramount Theatre came down on Tuesday, in cascading clouds of rust, grime and pigeon poop. With a large construction bucket and an even larger crane, ironworkers carefully dissected the old masthead in ten great pieces of rotting sheet metal, using cutting torch, pry bar and muscle, while a crowd of onlookers watched from the street. Perched above 9th and Pine when the theater opened in 1928, the decaying sign was beyond repair and had to be taken down before it fell down.

Demolition took roughly six hours to complete. At various points in the process, small fires began as the torch ignited miles of ancient cloth-wrapped wiring and decades of bird’s nests that filled much of the sign’s interior. On close inspection, remains of the original SEATTLE and corresponding neon cutouts remained visible beneath the current lettering, added when the theater was renamed in March of 1930.

March 1, 1928

Surprisingly, examination of paint samples seem to indicate the sign may once have been painted green! (Anyone have a pre-war color photo?) Original framework and three massive steel beams protruding from the building remained in place to support the newly fabricated replica, which should be installed by week’s end. Assurances have been given by The Sign Factory, that the new aluminum replacement will be identical and should last at least twice as long.

1929

This was also the last surviving part of the original marquee. The beautiful glass and cast-iron awning was replaced with the current ships-prow for the introduction of Cinerama in 1956.

Tracing for the pattern, June 20, 2009.

Bare bones

Silent Movie Mondays
Seattle Theatre Group presents the next installment in their popular Silent Movie Mondays series with Adventure Stories to Silent Classics, November 2. 9 and 16. Live accompaniment at the Paramount’s 4/20 Publix 1 Wurlitzer will be performed by returning house organist of the Oakland Paramount Theatre, Jim Riggs.