The 5th Avenue Theatre, James Q. Clemmer’s new movie palace, opened [?] 23 or 24? September 1926, in downtown Seattle. The 5th Avenue Theatre was a first-run house and featured a Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ, which served the theatre from 1926 through 1969. Seattle organists Warren Wright, Berthold Lindgren and Betty S. Hilton performed there. By circa November 1929, the theatre had been sold to Fox West Coast Theatres, with James Clemmer continuing as theatre manager (through at least December 1929), and was known as the Fox 5th Avenue Theatre.

Showing 1-4 December 1929, The Kiss (1929); 5-6 December 1929, Romance of the Rio Grande (1929).

The theatre was controlled by Hamrick-Evergreen Theatres circa 1936.

The 5th Avenue Theatre still exists today, and still exhibits its beautiful original ornate Chinese interior decor. The theatre is a popular venue for live theatre touring companies in Seattle.

References: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1 December 1929, pp. 6E, 8E; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3 December 1929, p. 9; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4 December 1929, p. 15; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5 December 1929, p. 9; Variety-19291106 p. 10 : Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society website : with additional information provided by Larry Mayer.