A Clover Theater Timeline
More than seventy years of small-town movie history, gathered into a single view — the key dates in the life of Cloverdale's Clover Theater.
The Milestones
- March 28, 1950 — The theater opens as a new 450-seat, single-screen house built in the Streamline Moderne style, replacing the town's older cinema. Read about the building and its marquee.
- January 1969 — The theater is renamed the Clover Theatre, taking its name from the town of Cloverdale.
- Late 20th century — Like single-screen houses everywhere, it adapts to television, the multiplex, and home video; for a period it screens Spanish-language films for the changing community.
- February 4, 2000 — The Clover expands into a small multi-screen cinema, with additional auditoriums built adjacent to the historic 1950 hall.
- June 2013 — After the building has gone dark, a new owner launches a community crowdfunding campaign that raises more than $60,000 in just five days to fund a revival.
- July 27, 2013 — The revived Clover reopens with a free public screening and a ribbon-cutting, backed by a nearly quarter-million-dollar investment in modern digital projection. See the full revival story.
- August 2, 2013 — The Clover Art Program launches, bringing independent and foreign films to a rural audience.
- 2013–2019 — For its revived decade the Clover is the only movie theater between Santa Rosa and Ukiah, pairing new releases with classics, opera, and ballet.
- March 2020 — The theater closes with every other cinema in the country as the pandemic halts public gatherings.
- October 2021 — After eighteen months dark, the Clover reopens into a changed moviegoing landscape.
- Mid-October 2023 — The Clover screens its final films as attendance falls short of what the building needs to stay open.
- November 6, 2023 — The Clover Theater closes permanently, ending more than seventy years as a fixture of downtown Cloverdale.
Further Reading
Much of the building's early history is documented by volunteer researchers at Cinema Treasures.