The Thunderbird Motel sign is one of the first sights you seen when approaching Ellensburg from the north. That was literally and figuratively a good sign. Every Labor Day weekend Ellensburg hosts the largest rodeo in Washington. The town also has a very small Sears. Are there many of those left?
That Grand Central sign in the last photo had me perplexed. It looks like it belongs atop a middle school. The entrance sort of looked like the building might have once been a movie theater, but all the windows would argue against that. Then again, old theaters can easily be converted to church spaces. On the other hand that's clearly an old movie theater right next door behind the tree on the right. Nobody would put theaters in adjacent buildings would they? These are the thoughts and questions one has while driving where towns are fifty miles apart.
As usual, Cinema Treasures has the answers. The Grand Central was a movie theater, operating under different names since at least the 1940s. Here's a picture from 1980. The theater in the background was last known as the Audion. It opened in the 1880s, presumably as an Opera House. After closing in the 1980s it is now Ellensburg Embroideries. There you go, more information about Ellensburg movie theater history than you thought was possible to know.
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