Cinemagic opened as the Palm Theatre in 1913, and was than the Hawthorne Theatre in 1915. Both of these theatres have entries on the OTP website. The Hawthorne Theatre was renamed the Star Hawthorne in 1934. They showed 10 cent double features anytime, everyday. They showed films such as Hold ‘Em Jail, Night of Terror, Last Frontier, Morning Glory and Lady for a Day. It was renamed the Zephyr Theater and bought by Vernon Kelso and the opening day was Friday, August 20th, 1937. The Zephyr had special bills such as showing ‘The Great Delmar’, hypnotist, alongside the film Her Husband's Secretary. It also presented Merill Lee Gabeel the magician, alongside showing the films Gods Country and the Woman and Turn Off the Moon. The Zephyr closed on January 9th, 1938. On April 5th, 1938, the Zephyr was renamed the Plaza Theatre and bought by C.J. Hanzlick. It was reported then that the theater had 465 seats, which has since changed. The Plaza showed films such as Calling Dr. Kildare, Her First Beau and Missing Daughters. Then, it was renamed The Fine Arts Theater in 1957. I am unsure who owned the theater at that time. The Fine Arts was remodeled and bought by Webber C. Harrington in 1963. In 1977, the Seven Gables Theaters Chain of Seattle bought the Fine Arts. The Seven Gables “was a historic Seattle-based independent art house cinema circuit founded by Randy Finley, which specialized in foreign, independent, and cult films from the 1970s through the 1980s.” The Fine Arts showed foreign and independent American films, alongside arthouse or out of the mainstream films. The film The Gods Must Be Crazy ran for several months there. The Fine Arts Theater closed in mid February 1986 due to the Seven Gables opening the KOIN Center Cinemas, and they were overwhelmed by their amount of cinema ownership. There were 290 seats in the Fine Arts, but the Columbia took it down to 200. It was bought by the Columbia Theater Company, which turned the cinema into a cultural center that showed live theater productions. The Columbia Theater Company opened in September of 1986 and made the space available to other local theater and dance companies. The Columbia also held adult and children's acting classes.
Finally, Gary Fine bought and renamed it Cinemagic Theater on June 1st, 1991 and it opened with 239 seats. Fine owned the Guild Theater in downtown Portland for 10 years before Cinemagic. Fine re-did the theater with a wide Cinemascope screen, at 20 feet high and 30 feet wide, alongside a sub-woofer sound system. For the grand opening, Fine showed Star Wars: A New Hope in 70 mm surround sound on Friday, August 23, 1991 at 7:30 pm. It was the first screening of the film since 1982. Fine acquired Star Wars by reaching out to George Lucas himself, who approved the screening under the conditions that the proceeds from the one night only showing will go to Youth Resources, a non-profit that helps underprivileged children in Multnomah County. Cinemagic showed two movies per week, one from Wednesday through Saturday, and one from Sunday through Tuesday. The tickets were $5 for adults and $3 for children.
Cinemagic was then bought by Chuck Nakvasil in 2013 who switched the theater to digital projection, until 2021 when it was sold. It was bought by two Cinemagic employees, Nicholas Kuechler and Ryan Frakes. After COVID, Cinemagic reopened on July 29th, 2021 with The Green Knight. This is after it briefly reopened to show A Quiet Place: Part II. The co-owners redid the theater with beer taps, a new marquee and fixed the theaters audio to Dolby 7.1 Surround sound. The theater has shown many movies in 70 mm. Cinemagic has also been one of the venues for the Portland International Film Festival, such as in 2012. Now, Cinemagic is a ‘rep theater’ programming things such as a Nicholas Cage and pig themed double feature series, as well as the owners favorite film, There Will Be Blood. On the first Friday of every month, Cinemagic does VHS night, showing 1980s and ‘90s films on VHS with the VHS trailers included, and some of these films have never been released in a different format. On the last Monday of every month, Cinemagic does a movie quiz in the theater, quizzing patrons on movie music, clips, quotes and facts. The ticket prices at Cinemagic are now $10 for general admission and $7 for students, military members and seniors. Cinemagic has shown films such as A Clockwork Orange, My Fair Lady, The Wind and the Lion, The Batman, Little Miss Sunshine, The Substance and Swiss Army Man.
