I don’t know when I first visited the Stanford Theatre or what movie I first saw there. What I do remember is sitting with my grandmother and great-grandmother sharing a tub of popcorn and a large Coke between the three of us. Every time we went to The Stanford they made a point of telling me how lucky we were to have the theater in our town, and how grateful I should be that Mr. Packard had preserved the building to continue showing these films. I didn’t really know who this Mr. Packard was, but I listened, and then angled for a box of candy to go with our popcorn and Coke.

In the years since, I have seen many films at the Stanford Theatre: well-known classics (Casablanca), personal favorites (Gigi), silent films (The Mark of Zorro), talkies; some in black and white (Rebecca), others in Technicolor (The Wizard of Oz). For me, the Stanford Theatre is what tells me I am in Palo Alto, that I am home. For seven bucks I can sit in the same seat as my great-grandmother when she was my age and be transported to a different time, to a different Palo Alto. If that isn’t movie magic, I don’t know what is.

Theater manager Cyndi Mortensen sitting in one of the venue’s 1175 seats, prior to showtime. (Photo by Charles Russo)

Opened on June 9th, 1925, the Stanford Theatre premiered its first film — I’ll Show You The Town — and quickly established itself as an illustrious venue in downtown Palo Alto. Built in the neoclassical style with Persian and Moorish influence, the theater originally cost $300,000 to build (this would be approximately $4,274,982 in today’s dollars, not taking into account the current real estate market).

In the 1920s attending the theater included taking in the News of the World, a comic short, a vaudeville act or two, and (as they were silent films) an organist.

By the 1980s the Stanford Theatre’s glory had waned in both popularity and polish. Things looked grim as a ‘For Sale’ sign graced the marquee. Thankfully, David Woodley Packard (son of Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard) stepped in to preserve the venue and its legacy.

Looking to find out more about this quintessential Palo Alto location, I tracked down Cyndi Mortensen, the manager of the Stanford Theatre, to discuss the venue, its benefactor, and the exceptional programming. We caught up with Mortensen during the day as the theater sat empty, waiting for the patrons to fill the seats and experience that movie magic.