The Grand Theatre Center for the Arts

Grand Theatre
Center for the Arts
715 Central Avenue
Tracy, CA 95376
209-831-6TKT (6858)

The four buildings on the corner of Central Avenue and Seventh Street originally included two early hotels, retail space and Tracy’s original firehouse, constructed in 1900.

The Grand Theatre opened in 1923 as a vaudeville theatre and the centerpiece of downtown Tracy. Its theatre organ was shipped from Los Angeles and its opera seats from Chicago. Its Art Deco tower and marquee, which was designed by prominent San Francisco architect Alexander Aimwell Canton and added in 1939, has become a visual symbol for Tracy. Built before the era of amplified sound, the theatre had both an elegant, classical interior and a highly desirable, intimate character.

The silent film, "Heroes of the Street" starring Wesley Barry, Joe Butterworth and Marie Provest was the first motion picture shown at the Grand Theater.

The theatre building closed in 1977 and was used as a storage facility for the next two decades.

In 2002, the City of Tracy purchased the Grand Theatre and the adjoining properties and hired the architectural firm of ELS Architecture and Urban Design of Berkeley, Calif. to develop a renovation design for the new arts center. McFadden Construction Inc. of Stockton was awarded a $12.2 million contract to build the center and broke ground in June of 2005.

The Grand Theatre