Moore Theatre, Seattle, Washington Poster

This would have to be from the theater's first few days, because it opened December 28, 1907. The Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. is a 1,419-seat performing arts venue located at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Virginia Street, two blocks from Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. It is the oldest still-active theater in Seattle. The Moore hosts a mix of theatrical productions, musical concerts of many varieties, and lectures. It is currently operated by the Seattle Theatre Group, which also runs the 2,803-seat Paramount Theatre. Built for Seattle real estate developer J. A. Moore in 1907 and designed by E.W. Houghton, the Moore was a lavish social venue for the Gilded Age elite of early 20th century Seattle. The Moore Theatre and the adjoining Moore Hotel, were designed partly to accommodate and entertain tourists visiting the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition; the Moore opened in time for the originally planned date of the Exposition in 1907. The theater was initially operated by John Cort, later founder of a major Broadway theater venue in New York. Excellent programming carried the Moore through the 1930s, but changes in entertainment gradually led to struggling to survive by the 1970s. The Moore Theatre and Hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The Moore became the Moore Egyptian, taking its moniker from a luxury cinema on The Ave in the District, which had been converted to a drugstore c. 1960. The Moore Egyptian rescued the theater with innovative programming, and became the cradle of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF, founded 1976). Dan Ireland and Darryl Macdonald were the leading talents in the success, but the Moore's owners declined to renew their lease. Ireland and Macdonald moved to a Masonic Temple on Capitol Hill, taking the "Egyptian" name with them. The Moore has hosted touring musicians and theatrical productions since the 1980s, currently seating about 1,400.