[urbanlife]

A nice little write up about the Wunderland Milwaukie Cinemas.

http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/04/17/c...erland-2864383?lt_source=external,manual

CINEMA 69: From Victory to Wunderland

Three decades before it was unofficially rechristened Cinema 69, the Victory Theater opened in downtown Milwaukie, Oregon on August 18, 1942. This was the third in a chain of suburban cinemas in the Portland area owned and operated by local mogul Harry Moyer Sr.

Located on the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets, it wasn't as grand and opulent as nearby Portland's Bagdad or Broadway (which sometimes hosted gala, star-studded movie premieres). Compared to those immaculate palaces, the Victory was relatively small and humble, though the auditorium itself was one of the last new cinemas in the area to include a balcony. The theater's exterior was rather plain and unremarkable, its most noteworthy feature being the blazing-red neon V at the center of the marquee, proudly lighting up the intersection. A bit more care was given to its interior design…an art-deco architectural style popular during the previous two decades.

This was back when communities surrounding larger cities still maintained their own small-town identity, before urban expansion began erasing boundaries and stuffing the spaces between with as many businesses, schools, apartments, malls and factories as we could squeeze in. Today, nothing separates Portland from its outlining communities…it’s a constant barrage of traffic lights, convenience stores, offices, malls, industrial parks, shopping centers, gas stations, neighborhoods and strip clubs.