The Granada Theatre is located in downtown La Grande, specifically at 1311 Adams Avenue, the main street in the historic center of the city. The building originally opened on September 18, 1917, as the Star Theatre. A major turning point occurred in 1929, when a fire damaged an adjacent property and forced significant repairs to the building. Following this period, the venue reopened under the name Granada Theatre, marking the beginning of a new era of film exhibition in La Grande.
The history of the Granada Theatre is closely connected to Francis A. “Gus” Greulich, an important local businessman involved with several theaters throughout La Grande during the mid-twentieth century. In 1928, Greulich and J. Donald Meyers acquired interests in local theaters and later became associated with the Liberty Theatre and other exhibition venues in the city. During the 1940s, Greulich partnered with J.E. “Ted” Jones through the Western Amusement Company, demonstrating how even small-town theaters became increasingly connected to larger exhibition networks and industrial business structures similar to those operating in Hollywood. As noted in contemporary archival sources, in September 1930 it was announced that the Arcade and the Granada were joining under the same company, INLAND THEATERS, INC., one of the first movie theater chains on the West Coast of the United States. In La Grande, Oregon, the company is widely known for purchasing and remodeling the historic Orpheum Theater in 1930, which they later renamed the Liberty Theatre. (1)
The theater reflects the broader evolution of movie exhibition in small-town America — from silent film screenings and vaudeville performances to sound cinema, multiplex theaters, and contemporary digital projection systems. Archival newspapers also reveal some of the technical difficulties associated with early sound cinema. One article published shortly after the theater’s reopening mentioned problems with the new sound equipment, demonstrating how the transition to talking pictures remained experimental and technologically unstable in smaller towns. (2)
The transformation was not only nominal but also architectural and cultural, as the theater gradually adopted a more modern cinematic identity. Promotions for productions such as Rio Rita emphasized that the film was “all talking,” “all singing,” and featured the “Western Electric Sound System,” demonstrating how sound technology itself became a major attraction for audiences during the early years of talking pictures. (3)
The Granada Theatre’s programming reflected the transition from silent cinema to sound films during the 1920s and 1930s. After reopening in 1929, the theater began screening Hollywood sound films, musicals, comedies, melodramas, and westerns from major studios, while also occasionally hosting local live entertainment and wrestling matches. Local theaters in La Grande also promoted cinema as family-friendly entertainment. In fact, advertisements for the Liberty/Arcade Theatre often emphasized that “no picture will be presented that could offend,” reflecting the conservative social values of the period. (4)
The most significant renovation came during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when the Granada Theatre was redesigned in the Streamline Moderne style, a late branch of Art Deco architecture that became popular in postwar America. The remodeling introduced the theater’s iconic illuminated marquee, which extended over the sidewalk and functioned both as advertisement and spectacle. Neon lights, stylized typography, and a smoother exterior façade helped transform the Granada into one of the most visually modern theaters in eastern Oregon.
Newspaper advertisements for the Granada Theatre relied heavily on spectacle, oversized typography, glamour imagery, and musical themes to attract audiences. The promotional design itself became part of the entertainment experience, reflecting how exhibition culture depended not only on films but also on visual marketing strategies. (5)
