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Historic place

Tower Theatre

425 NW 23rd St, Oklahoma City, OK

A Streamline Moderne movie house with a pipe organ that went adult in 1989, closed in 2000, and came back as a music venue in 2016.

📅 1937–present🏛️ TheaterStill here
Open on the mapSlide back to 1937

The story

The Tower Theatre opened July 15, 1937, on NW 23rd Street, designed by architect W. Scott Dunne in a Streamline Moderne style. It had 1,500 seats on one screen, an ornate auditorium with a complete working stage, a pipe organ, and scarlet waterfall stage curtains. It was renovated in 1953 and 1968, and operators included Cooper Foundation and Warner Bros.

According to Cinema Treasures it closed as an adult movie theater in 1989, briefly reopened as a live music venue in the 1990s, and closed again in 2000. A commenter questions the adult-theater detail. It reopened in April 2016 as a live music venue, with some use for film festivals.

What's There Now

It operates as a live music venue.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

The auditorium had scarlet waterfall stage curtains and a pipe organ.
It was renovated in 1953 and 1968.
The building stood closed between 2000 and its April 2016 reopening, per Cinema Treasures.

Nearby history

Blue Note Lounge

2408 N Robinson Ave · 429 m away
A Route 66 lounge whose neon sign went up in 1961 and which the state historical society calls one of the city's oldest

Dolores Restaurant

33 NE 23rd St · 871 m away
Ralph and Amanda Stephens named this drive-in for their daughter in 1930. Duncan Hines recommended it in 1941, and it cl

Boulevard Cafeteria

525 NW 11th St · 1.5 km away
A cafeteria that opened in 1948 on Classen Drive and moved across the street in 1975. It closed in December 2015, ending

Chicken in the Rough (first restaurant)

2429 N Lincoln Blvd · 1.7 km away
The Osbornes opened a nine-stool drive-in on Route 66 in 1936. It grew to seat 1,100 before the state capitol complex to

Oklahoma City University School of Law

800 N Harvey Ave · 2.0 km away
OCU bought the building in 2012, and its law school moved in beginning in 2015.

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

200 NW 5th St · 2.3 km away
A $14.5 million federal office block opened in 1977 and stood for 18 years, until a truck bomb ended it on April 19, 199

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Sourceshttps://www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/11609