page_title: Tacoma Arts Live
section_title: Pantages Theater
hierarchical_section_title: Tacoma Arts Live / Theater history / Pantages Theater
caption_attribution_description: English: The Pantages Theater in Tacoma, Washington
context_page_description: Tacoma Arts Live is a 501 non-profit organization located in the historic Theater District of downtown Tacoma, Washington. Encompassing the Pantages, Rialto, and Theatre on the Square, Tacoma Arts Live manages the largest complex of theaters between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Additionally, Tacoma Arts Live Conservatory and Education Department provide one of the largest performing arts education programs in Washington state.
  Since 1918, Tacoma Arts Live has been host to many famous figures and world-class artists such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Ronald Reagan, Hal Holbrook, Debbie Reynolds, Martin Short, Queen Latifah, Joan Rivers, Wanda Sykes and Colleen Ballinger/Miranda Sings.
context_section_description: The block now occupied by the Pantages Theater was once the site of a saloon, Tacoma's first library, and Tacoma's first department store. In 1908, William Jones of Walla Walla bought the block and razed the buildings. Soon after, Greek immigrant Alexander Pantages arrived in the northwest with dreams of owning a chain of beautiful vaudeville theaters across the country. Thanks to financial assistance from his mistress and business partner, "Klondike" Kate Rockwell, Pantages and Jones were able to raise the funds for the combination Jones Building and Pantages Theater, which cost $400,000.
  Construction began in 1916, and the new Pantages Theater, the second of the Pantages chain, opened in January 1918. Often regarded as the most beautiful, the Tacoma Pantages was designed by Seattle architect B. Marcus Priteca after an ornate theater in the Palace of Versailles. The Tacoma Pantages served as a live theater for only eight years before being converted to a movie house and being sold to RKO, at which time the name was changed to the Orpheum. In 1932, the theater was purchased by Will Conner of Tacoma and was known as the Roxy until the 1980s when it was renamed the Pantages Theater.
  A proposal to restore the Pantages as the cornerstone of a revitalized downtown area led to the restoration beginning in 1978 after the city bought the theater. On February 12, 1983, the Pantages Theater officially reopened, making 2005 its 22nd anniversary season, and its 87th birthday. Today it is the oldest of the Pantages Theaters still in operation.
caption: The Pantages Theater
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2011:12:23 23:09:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "280", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1042", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7012", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/131", "EXIF FNumber": "31/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:02:06 01:58:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:02:06 01:58:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "916", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}