By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag
A December 1928 photograph captures the Strand Theatre on Newport Avenue when it was only about 3 years old, its Mission Revival architecture standing prominently along one of Ocean Beach’s emerging commercial streets.
The theater opened Nov. 6, 1925, replacing the earlier Ocean Theatre and giving the growing beach community a larger movie house. According to the city of San Diego’s Ocean Beach Community Plan, The Strand became an important neighborhood landmark and helped spur development along Newport Avenue. The building was designated Historic Resource Site No. 561 on Dec. 20, 2002.
The Strand arrived at an interesting moment in American entertainment. Movies were evolving rapidly, and theaters were becoming gathering places as well as destinations for the latest films. The Strand served children and adults, with Saturday serials for younger audiences and new movies for evening crowds. A plaque on the building recalls the weekly screenings and the black-and-white sundaes sold at the neighboring Strand Sweet Shop.
For generations of Ocean Beach residents, The Strand was much more than a neighborhood movie theater. By the late 1970s, it had developed a following for its eclectic programming, including Friday and Saturday night screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It also showed films such as Woodstock, The Endless Summer, Gimme Shelter and Rust Never Sleeps, according to OB Rag’s retrospective on the theater.
The Strand faced one of its biggest controversies in 1982, when it began showing X-rated films. Ocean Beach residents organized protests and collected petition signatures opposing the programming. The city also pursued legal action over the screenings, which officials said violated restrictions on adult films near residential areas and other protected locations. In November 1983, The Strand returned to conventional movies, although protesters remained concerned that the X-rated screenings could resume.
Changing moviegoing habits eventually proved harder to overcome. The Strand closed in 1998, ending nearly three-quarters of a century as Ocean Beach’s movie house.
The building, however, was not finished without controversy. After it was sold in the early 2000s, plans to convert the former theatre into a tourist-oriented retail store prompted another round of community activism. Ocean Beach Grassroots Organization activists and other residents feared the historic interior would be gutted. OB Rag reported that nearly 200 letters supporting preservation efforts were collected and sent to the mayor.
Those efforts did not save the theater interior. The building was gutted, and Wings, a beachwear and souvenir retailer, opened in the space in 2003. The former theatre’s retail use continued, and the business today is listed as Breeza Beachwear at 4948 Newport Ave. The original movie-house interior is gone, but the building’s exterior survives, along with its historic designation.
The Strand’s story reflects the importance of neighborhood sheathes in Ocean Beach’s past and the challenges of preserving historic buildings as communities change. Although the movies stopped decades ago, the building remains a reminder of the community’s efforts to shape the future of one of Newport Avenue’s most recognizable landmarks.
Sources:
San Diego History Center — Early San Diego Theatres, including the Strand and its December 1928 photograph:
https://sandiegohistory.org/collection/photographs/Theatres/
City of San Diego — Ocean Beach Community Plan, historic context and Appendix C:
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/ocean_beach_community_plan-final_document_reduced_0.pdf
City of San Diego — Historical photograph of Newport Avenue and the Strand Theatre:
https://www.sandiego.gov/digital-archives-photos/newport-avenue-strand-theatre-ocean-beach-1958
OB Rag — “The Strand Theatre-Part 1: the Year the Porno Theatre Was Stopped”:
https://obrag.org/2010/09/the-strand-Theatre-part-1-the-year-the-porno-Theatre-was-blocked/
OB Rag — “The Strand Theatre of Ocean Beach – Part 2 – Memories from the Seventies”:
https://obrag.org/2010/09/the-strand-Theatre-of-ocean-beach-part-2-memories-from-the-seventies/
OB Rag — “Strand Theatre Building in Ocean Beach Is Up for Sale”:
https://obrag.org/2017/06/strand-Theatre-building-in-ocean-beach-is-up-for-sale/
Strand Theatre in Ocean Beach on Newport Avenue, c. 1928. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)
