Blue Mouse Theatre in Proctor District, Tacoma
The Blue Mouse Theatre (1923) (originally known as Blue Mouse Jr.) is a small second-run movie theater located in the Proctor District in the north end of Tacoma, Washington. It is Washington's oldest continuously operating theater (a few blocks from the state's oldest bowling center), opened November 23, 1923.
When it was designed in the 1920s was promoted as being one of the finest suburban theaters and was referred to as "Blue Mouse Jr." to distinguish it from the larger downtown Tacoma theater of the same name. The "A spectacular melodrama" The Green Goddess may have been the first "picture show" shown on the theatre’s "silent screen". The theater was successful and in 1932 was purchased and renamed to the Proctor Theater. In 1972, it was re-purchased again and renamed the Bijou in 1980, but struggled to compete against area multiplexes and was threatened with becoming an office complex.
It was saved in 1993 by 17 activists and preservationists (the Blue Mouse Associates) who bought and restored "the building's original Craftsman-style timbers, stucco, pillars, marble terrazzo and original mahogany doors." The group renamed it back to the Blue Mouse Theatre and it has become a community attraction, showing popular movies on a second run basis. The theater is partially supported by generous community donations. Tacoma glass artist Dale Chihuly designed neon blue mice "seen scurrying across the marquee" for the 221 seat theater. It is located at 2611 North Proctor Street in Tacoma.
On January 13, 2010, this Blue Mouse Theatre location was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States.
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