The historic Columbia Theatre, located in St. Helens, Oregon first opened its doors and began operations in the year of 1928. The Columbia Theatre was a single-screen, around 400-seat Theatre when it first opened. The original owners owned the theatre until 1963 when Jim Svoboda's father bought the Theatre. It was then turned over to Jim who had some previous experience owning Theatres. He was someone who lived through the great depression and knew what it was like to go through financial struggles, making him very generous in donating to various causes over his life.
Jim made a renovation to the theatre that changed the old chairs out with "rocking" style chairs. The capacity of the theatre remained at about 400 seats.
The Columbia Theatre has undergone multiple updates and renovations, with the most notable coming after the Covid-19 pandemic. The Theatre has been very loved by the residents in the St. Helens area over the course of its life, causing them to help the theatre survive the pandemic. In the year 2020, the theatre had to close because of Covid-19 restrictions and there was a lot of concern on if the theatre was going to make it or not. The owners ended up making a "concession drive-in" where people could drive up and buy take-home concessions in an effort to help raise money for the theatre. New/Current owners, Lance and Leah Tillotson saw this as an opportunity to not only keep the theatre running, but enhance the experience by making various upgrades to the theatre.
The theatre received a new screen, sound system, and wider, more comfortable seats. This upgrade reduced the capacity from over 400 chairs to just over 200, cementing the idea that Lance and Leah were valuing the comfort of guests.
St. Helens, Oregon is a small town in Northwest Oregon that has a very interesting history, especially in regards to film and movies. St. Helens sits in Columbia County and has a population of about 14,437 (last updated 2023). The most notable, is the Disney movie "Halloweentown" that was filmed in St. Helens. Now every year, St. Helens has a Halloweentown celebration in October with a haunted house and various tours around the town. There are also lots of decorations from the movie that are displayed all over the town. Another notable film shot in St. Helens was the movie "Twilight" at the "Swan House" in St. Helens.
