THE NIGHT THE GOLDEN STATE THEATER BURNED DOWN
The City of Riverside, California began a monthly film Festival at the Historic Fox Theater which hosted many movie premiere's over the years including the first showing of David O Selznick's "Gone With The Wind". The first film to be shown in the newly formed Friday night movie Festival in Riverside at the FOX Theater was to be "Cinema Paradiso".
The show started around 7PM and ended at about 9PM. During that time period the Golden State Theater in the next block toward the Mission Inn Hotel caught fire.
When I left the FOX Theater I could see all the Fire Trucks in front of the Golden State Theater, as the fire was in its' infancy. I was informed a fire had started in the building 2 weeks earlier and it was obviously arson. They assured me they could put it out and save this very Historic Golden State Theater.
Sadly, that was not the case as someone called in and told the Fire Dept. to do a controlled burn on the Golden State Theater building. That simply means to keep the existing fire in control and burn the building down so they would not have to tear it down. The Golden State was one of the most Historic Theater's in California and one of the oldest.
Sadly, only a parking lot is now where the Golden State Theater (aka Boring Opera House) once stood. Oddly, another Historic Film was shown at the Golden State Theater around 1915, D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of A Nation".
That is what happened in the movie "Cinema Paradiso". The movie Theatre in the film burns down at the end.
Oddly, the same thing was happening in the next block while I sat and watched "Cinema Paradiso". A very sad night to remember.
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