The 7th Street Theatre in Hoquiam will host a big-screen slideshow on Saturday evening about what life was like in that area in the late 1920s and early ’30s.
“This has been a great team effort,” said Mickey Thurman, vice president of the 7th Street Theatre Association. “With several of us searching through microfilm records and old newspaper articles, and researching statistical data from the era, it’s been a fun and educational experience for all of us.”
Photos from the Polson Museum and Jones Photo collections, as well as the Washington State Archives, will be shown. Trivia, news, statistics and facts gathered from numerous resources will also be part of the presentation.
John Larson, director of the Polson Museum in Hoquiam, organized all of the information and will narrate the slideshow, adding context to the content.
“I enjoy getting intimate with the individual photographs and all the details they contain,” said Larson. “A street corner sign, the maturity of a tree, the numbers on an automobile license plate — each can reveal much about the time and place a photo was taken.”
Among many other tidbits, the research uncovered some unexpected details about the theater’s ventilation system.
“All of the air in the voluminous atmospheric theater could be exchanged within 3 minutes, and the air intake was located specifically to avoid any drifting in of smoke, sawdust or cinders,” said Larson. “In 1928, Hoquiam’s numerous nearby sawmills belched out a continuous stream of such air pollution, and the 7th Street’s architect was adamant about audiences breathing fresh air.”
The second half of the program — part of the theater’s 90th anniversary celebration — will feature onstage interviews of past employees, followed by behind-the-scenes tours.
The presentation will begin Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 each, available in advance online (www.7thstreettheatre.com), at Harbor Drug and Crown Drug in Hoquiam; and at City Center Drug in Aberdeen.
photos Courtesy Polson Museum
photos Courtesy Polson Museum
