Venetian Theatre

About

Venetian Hillsboro, last known as the Venetian Theatre & Bistro, is a former movie theater and performing arts venue in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon, United States, which since 2022 has been in use by a venue named Venetian Hillsboro. Formerly the Town Theater, the building re-opened in 2008 after more than a decade of inactivity and revitalization plans. Built in 1888 as a bank, mayor Orange Phelps converted the property into a theater in 1911 and in 1925 converted it into a two-story Italianate building with a larger auditorium. Prior to renovation the theater was owned by the city of Hillsboro who purchased it from Act III Theatres.

When it underwent renovation and reopened in 2008, a jointly owned restaurant now occupied part of the space. The theater and restaurant closed in April 2017 in connection with a planned change of ownership. The theater's closure ultimately became permanent. The early 2017 sale fell through, and the building remained closed indefinitely. A new buyer purchased the building in April 2020 and indicated his plans to reopen it with a new restaurant but to convert the theater space into a ballroom. The restaurant opened in November 2020, with the name Venetian Hillsboro. By that time, the seats been removed from the former theater space and its gradual conversion into a ballroom was underway. The Venetian restaurant opened and closed numerous times due to COVID-19 restrictions in the state of Oregon, and then again following the January 2022 fire in Downtown Hillsboro. Following a brief reopen in March 2022 and its eventual closure in July 2022, the owner took focus to reviving the business with rentable spaces as a venue.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.