The Neptune Theatre , formerly known as U-Neptune Theatre , is a performing arts venue in the University District neighborhood of Seattle , Washington , United States. Opened in 1921, the 1,000 capacity venue hosts a variety of events, including dance and music performances, film screenings, and arts education. It was primarily used for screening classic films prior to a 2011 renovation. In 2014, the theater and building were designated a Seattle landmark .
27-514: The Neptune Theatre is operated by the non-profit Seattle Theatre Group , which also operates the Paramount Theatre and Moore Theatre . It is one of several venues that host the annual Seattle International Film Festival . The Neptune Building, which houses the Neptune Theatre and several small businesses, is described as a "vaguely Renaissance Revival style", three-story building with
54-469: A brick facade. Its north facade, facing NE 45th Street, has a prominent marquee with the word "Neptune" in neon lighting ; the final letter "e" in the marquee is stylized as a trident that appears to pierce the other letters. It was designed by Henderson Ryan , a Kentucky-born architect who also worked on the Moore Theatre and Ballard Carnegie Library . The interior of the Neptune Theatre features
81-472: A nautical theme, with a central concession stand shaped like a boat , marble finishes, and statues of Neptune . The "U-Neptune Theatre" was opened by the Puritan Theatre Company on November 16, 1921, featuring the silent movie Serenade and seating an audience of 1,000 people. The theater was built with a Kimball orchestral theater organ , which was removed in 1943. By the end of the 1940s,
108-627: A soft opening in June; the official opening in September was marked by a screening of Rocky Horror . The building was nominated to become a city landmark in 2012. The Seattle City Council passed an ordinance in 2014 designating the Neptune Building as a city landmark, levying certain protections on the property. Paramount Theatre (Seattle) The Paramount Theatre is a 2,807-seat performing arts venue located at 9th Avenue and Pine Street in
135-566: A 2,807-seated theater or a general admission event by separated levels. The Paramount Theatre has an original installation of the Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. The organ is a 4 manual/21 rank Publix 1 style organ and is one of only three remaining original organs of this style. Jim Riggs has been the house organist for the Paramount, accompanying the Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays series. The organ
162-529: A grand movie palace in practically every major city in the country, many erected between 1926 and 1928. In late 1926 or early 1927, Paramount Pictures decided to build in Seattle. Led by its president, movie magnate Adolph Zukor , Paramount Pictures invested nearly $ 3 million for construction. It hired Rapp & Rapp , a Chicago-based architectural firm, to design the theatre building. Seattle resident B. Marcus Priteca , an established architect of movie palaces in
189-479: A performing arts and music venue in addition to a movie theater. The 2011 renovation saved the building from demolition for the adjoining U District Link light rail station on NE 45th Street. Sound Transit was forced to re-engineer the station to avoid the theater building, and to underpin the Neptune's foundation. After the theater's 2011 renovation, its first act was Pacific Northwest musician Mark Lanegan at
216-525: A safe deep water harbor, located roughly in the city's Pioneer Square district. They named this new frontier "Duwamps". In the late 1850s, present day downtown Seattle became the main residential outskirts of the city. After the Great Seattle Fire , the business district was moved to the area. Several of the city's hills around downtown were regraded starting around 1876. With about 65,000 people living in Seattle's core neighborhoods as of 2015,
243-638: A voter initiative. These restrictions were dramatically loosened in 2006, leading to the increase in high-rise construction. This policy change has divided commentators between those who support the increased density and those who criticize it as " Manhattanization ." As of 2018 , Downtown Seattle has 82,000 residents and 300,000 jobs, including 48,000 added since 2010 in the Denny Triangle area. The downtown area has 71 million square feet (6,600,000 m ) of office space, representing 79 percent of citywide inventory and 55 percent of commercial properties in
270-520: Is Sodo ; and on the west by Elliott Bay, a part of Puget Sound . Belltown , Denny Triangle , the retail district, the West Edge, the financial district, the government district, Pioneer Square , Chinatown , Japantown, Little Saigon, and the western flank of First Hill west of Broadway make up downtown Seattle's chief neighborhoods. Near the center of downtown is the Metropolitan Tract which
297-417: Is a replica of the original iconic sign, but uses LED lights. The Paramount Theatre was also used to hold televised auditions for the sixth season of America's Got Talent . Downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington . It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on
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#1732877147663324-470: Is owned by the University of Washington ; prior to 1895 it served as the location of the university's campus. Downtown is Seattle's financial and commercial maritime hub as well as its center of nightlife and shopping. The downtown shopping mall Westlake Center is connected to Seattle Center by a monorail . Downtown Seattle's Columbia Center has 76 floors, a greater number than any other building west of
351-567: Is presently maintained by a group of volunteers from the Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society . It was renamed the Paramount in the 1930s. On December 2, 1972, Black Oak Arkansas recorded a concert here that provided four of the seven songs on the band's 1973 album, "Raunch 'N' Roll Live." As of 2009, the Paramount has a new sign out front. The 1940s Paramount sign originally used 1,970 incandescent bulbs, which were eventually replaced by 11-watt fluorescents . The new sign
378-571: The Harvard Exit Theatre in Seattle. The company renovated the theater with a new sound and projection system, hoping to bring out the venue's "long-sought potential". Landmark renovated the theater again in 1994, replacing seating and adding a Dolby Digital and Sony Dynamic Digital Sound system, along with a 16 mm film projector. In 1991, the theater set a record by playing The Rocky Horror Picture Show every week for 14 years, longer than any other movie had played in Seattle. By 1993, it
405-778: The Mississippi River (although there are taller buildings in Texas and California ). Smith Tower , in the Pioneer Square area, once held the title of tallest American building west of the Mississippi. Other notable buildings are the 1201 Third Avenue (formerly the Washington Mutual Tower), Two Union Square , Nordstrom 's flagship store , Benaroya Hall , the Seattle Central Library designed by Rem Koolhaas , and
432-617: The downtown core of Seattle , Washington , United States. The theater originally opened on March 1, 1928, as the Seattle Theatre , with 3,000 seats. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 9, 1974, and has also been designated a City of Seattle landmark . The Paramount is owned and operated by the Seattle Theatre Group, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit performing arts organization which also runs
459-590: The 1,768-seat Moore Theatre in Belltown and the Neptune Theatre in the University District . Initially it was built expressly for showing film and secondarily, vaudeville . As of 2009, the Paramount is operated as a venue for various performing arts, serving its patron base with Broadway musical theatre , concerts, dance, comedy, family engagements, silent film and jazz. It is one of the busiest theatres in
486-463: The 1920s, designed the building's adjacent apartments and office suites. The Paramount Theatre is the first venue in the United States to have a convertible floor system, which converts the theater to a ballroom . Therefore, the maximum concert capacity can hold up to 3,000 fans with the main floor serving as an unreserved standing room area while keeping the seats in the balcony regardless of either
513-732: The Seattle Main Post Office (also known as the Midtown Post Office ) at 301 Union Street at Third Avenue. Seattle City Hall is located at 600 4th Ave, adjacent to the King County Courthouse . Downtown is serviced by the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel , which carries Link light rail trains between Westlake and Chinatown–International District. The terminus for the Seattle Center Monorail
540-508: The United States and the core of activity in the area. The neighborhood had dozens of street clocks in the early 20th century to advertise businesses; by 1950, only 24 were left in the entire city. As of 2024 , downtown has four remaining street clocks. After abandoning " New York Alki ", the Denny Party moved across the then-named Duwamish Bay in April 1852 to a low level marsh situated with
567-674: The city. Office construction continues apace in Downtown Seattle, with 6.4 million square feet (590,000 m ) planned to open in 2019, along with 161 projects. Downtown Seattle is the largest employment center in the Puget Sound region , with an estimated employee population of 243,995 in 2013, accounting for half of the city's jobs and 21 percent of King County jobs. Several Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Downtown Seattle include Amazon , Nordstrom , and Expeditors International . The United States Postal Service operates
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#1732877147663594-503: The downtown area's population is growing. Downtown saw a 10 percent increase in the number of occupied housing units and an 8 percent increase in population between 2010 and 2014, outpacing growth in the city as a whole. As of the end of 2014, there were 32 apartment and 2 condominium projects under construction, representing over 5,000 units. In 1989, building heights in Downtown and adjoining Seattle suburbs were tightly restricted following
621-581: The main building of the Seattle Art Museum (built 1991, expanded 2007), the main facade of which was designed by Robert Venturi . Downtown parks include Westlake Park , Freeway Park , and Victor Steinbrueck Park . The Olympic Sculpture Park was completed on the Belltown waterfront in January 2007. Downtown is also home to the landmark Pike Place Market , the oldest continually operating farmers' market in
648-439: The north and east by hills , on the west by Elliott Bay , and on the south by reclaimed land that was once tidal flats . It is bounded on the north by Denny Way, beyond which are Lower Queen Anne (sometimes known as "Uptown"), Seattle Center , and South Lake Union ; on the east by Interstate 5 , beyond which is Capitol Hill to the northeast and Central District to the east; on the south by S Dearborn Street, beyond which
675-399: The region. During the 1920s, particularly before the first sound films, or "talkies", were invented in 1927, vaudeville and silent movies were the dominant form of national and local entertainment. Seattle alone had more than 50 movie palaces, the finest grouped together on 2nd Avenue. To achieve the broadest possible distribution of its films, Hollywood-based Paramount Pictures constructed
702-478: The theater was renamed the Neptune, given a small renovation and changed ownership. The theater went through several management changes during the coming decades, suffering from erratic bookings and poor equipment. It was kept afloat in the 1970s by showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show , a cult classic film. In 1981, the Neptune came under the ownership of the Landmark Theatres chain, which also owned
729-655: Was one of four U.S. theaters which had played the show the longest, according to the National Rocky Horror Fan Club in New York, one of several U.S. theaters playing it in a midnight movie format. Landmark lost its lease in 2010 to the Seattle Theatre Group , a non-profit organization that also operates the Moore Theatre and Paramount Theatre . The Neptune was closed for a $ 700,000 renovation in January 2011 and re-opened on September 25, 2011, becoming
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