The Theatre has always been ‘family’ to the Takoma community. It was opened in 1924 by a community group called the Takoma Theater Corp., led by the then Mayor of Takoma Park, MD. They brought first-run feature films to one of Washington''s first suburbs. Two blocks from the old Takoma railroad station, it became one of the major locations for community and family activities, including the starting point for the annual Takoma Fourth of July parade, and weekly yo-yo contests.
The once enormous appeal and attractivenss of local neighborhood theaters and downtown movie palaces were drained in the decades following 1950 by new suburban malls, multiplex theatres, and television. The Takoma and other DC theatres, such as the Strand, Howard, Colony, Congress and MacArthur, became dark, and many were converted to other retail uses (more ...)
Subsequent efforts from the mid-1980’s to 2004 achieved some success in once again lighting-up the theatre and the adjacent commercial corridor -- just two blocks from the Takoma Metro station. The non-profit community group, the Takoma Theatre Arts Project, ably demonstrated the promise of the theatre as a performing arts venue. (more ...)
Community efforts to save the theatre from closure led to the first Takoma Park Folk Festival in 1978. Today this highly-popular event is still run by an all-volunteer community committee and showcases local performers -- the legacy of its founder, activist Sammie Abbot (Mayor Takoma Park, 1980-1985).
"I remember Sammie calling several of us over to his house for a meeting. . . . He said, ''We''ve got to save the Takoma Theatre, and here''s how we''re going to do it.'' [1]
Thirty years later. We’ve got to save the Takoma Theatre, and with your support we can do it.
A recent overview of Theatre history may be found in article by Diana Kohn, The saga of Takoma Theatre in three acts (Takoma Voice, Feb, 2010).