Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D138255-9
Date(s)
- 1963-04-30 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
About 300 Tacoma firemen, Pierce County Civil Defense workers and volunteers fought for hours to quell the massive fire that destroyed the four-story Music Box Theatre on April 30, 1963. Originally known as the Tacoma Theater, the building at the corner of South 9th & Broadway had been a city landmark since its grand opening in 1890. The audience of about 100, there to watch an early evening show of Hitchcock's "The Birds," exited the theater without panic after smoke was discovered. The cause of the fire was determined to be a burned out bearing in a ventilating fan. There were only three reported injuries, none to the movie patrons. The theater was demolished later in the summer. (TNT 5-1-63, A-1+)
Music Box Theatre (Tacoma); Fires--Tacoma--1960-1970; Fire fighters--Tacoma--1960-1970; Fire fighting--Tacoma--1960-1970; Theaters--Tacoma--1960-1970;