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Rex Theatre - Aeolian player w/ pipes
Tacoma, Washington
3809 S. Yakima Ave
 
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Rex Theatre, c.1935
 
According to Soren Anderson, writer for the Tacoma News Tribune, the Rex had a checkered history. Built in 1919, the 650-seat theater was first converted to a church back in 1958. Then it was known as the Tacoma Calvary Temple. By 1980, it was a theater again - a controversial one. Owner Roger Forbes turned it into a porno house. Irate members of the community picketed the place, and in June 1980, the county prosecutor charged Forbes with violating state obscenity laws.
 
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Rex Theatre building, now the Restoration Christian Ministries, c.2001
 
Jeff Fox of Bellingham recalls an Aeolian player in the balcony of the Buckley-King funeral home at 1002 S. Yakima Avenue in downtown Tacoma. On the fallboard was a stop tab slot with 3 divisions that would hold approximately 12 tabs. The tabs were gone. A staffer said that the piano was originally in a small theatre and that the Rex was a possibility. The staffer also said that there was originally a small cabinet of pipes. This instrument does not appear in the Junchen opus lists.
 
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Rex "Playtime" Theatre, June 16 1981. Photo courtesy Jeff Fox
 
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Jeff Fox with the modified Aeolian player in the Buckley-King funeral home, late 1970s. Note the added tab slots on the fall board. Courtesy Jeff Fox.
 
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Aeolian piano roll #89675 "Espana Waltzes" stamped with "Rex Theatre." Courtesy Jeff Fox


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