Jack Tillmany, the creator of this collection of film negatives and author of the books Theatres of Oakland, Theatres of the San Francisco Peninsula, and Theatres of San Francisco, wrote this about Oakland’s Senator Theatre:

At the September 1926 opening, a parade of 5 floats and 30 decorated automobiles glided past the West Coast Senator at 3856 Telegraph Avenue. The mayor lauded the theatre industry for its contribution to the prosperity of Oakland and Irma Falvey,organist at the Grand Lake, gave a recital. Alexander A. Cantin was architect for the two-story edifice that featured twin minarets, four stores, and a big parking lot next door that patrons could use without charge. According to the press, the theatre represented an investment of $300,000, exceeding that of each of the other eight theatres built in Oakland that year except for the Grand Lake.

(credit: American Theatre Architecture Archive, Theatre Historical Society of America)