PINE OPENS
January 1, 1938PINE OPENS
1st Manager
October 12, 1938Ken Piercy 1st Manager
The Pine Cone Cafe Opens
October 12, 1939The Pine Cone Cafe opens up to serve food & ice cream to theater going customers.
Pine Theater Temporarily Closes
October 12, 1971Pine Theater temporarily closes because of rowdiness.
Theater Closed Permanently
October 12, 1980Theater closed permanently due to an easement dispute of the existing exit built in 1938 as a back emergency door the theater was forced to stay closed until the Mehrabi family came along. Crook County was left without a movie theater until…..
Mr. & Mrs. Mehrabi Purchased the Theater
October 12, 2006Mr. & Mrs. Mehrabi purchased the theater with the intention of reopening it to show movies when our son then age 3 starts school. Easement dispute was disclosed to us however we had worked out an agreement with the neighbors (so we thought)
Back Exit Requirements
December 12, 2006We needed only 17 inches to have an approved back exit. Again the contract holder of the northern property would not allow it. History of issues between land owners. But we were new owners ready to negotiate.
Fire Corridor Exit Solution
February 12, 2007After public outcry Crook County Building department came up with an emergency exit solution called A Fire Corridor!
Deconstruction of Building Begins
May 12, 2007Deconstruction of the inside started, three years earlier than planned! because the Town WANTED/needed A MOVIE THEATER!
Property Taxes
October 12, 2007Property Taxes show up, 6 times higher than expected because of the imporovemtents. (building was almost condemned) and only paid $800 for 25years.
Theater Opens with Free Movie
December 19, 2007Theater (soft) open at 7pm with a FREE movie to the public for 2 days! We Played Narnia.
Comedy Nights
January 1, 2008Comedy nights where held the night before BEND Comedy Competition THERE WARM UP LOCATION AND THEY ASKED TO DO IT AGAIN!
Beer & Wine Serving Permit
October 12, 2008We acquire a beer and wine serving permit from OLCC.
Campfire Girls Karaoke
October 12, 2008Campfire Girls Spooky Scary Karaoke. (Sell out)
CCHS Basketball Fundraiser
October 12, 2008CCHS basketball fundraiser was held (showed the BCS bowl game)
Fashion Show Fundraiser for Kids Center
October 12, 2008A Fashion show fundraiser was held for Kids Center
Kids Center Sponsored FREE Movie for Kids
October 12, 20082008-2009-2010-2011-2012-2013 Kids Center sponsored a FREE movie for the kids of the area.
Comedy Nights
January 1, 2009Comedy nights where held the night before BEND Comedy Competition THERE WARM UP LOCATION AND THEY ASKED TO DO IT AGAIN!
Plans for a Second Screen
October 12, 2009We had plans drawn up for a 2nd screen. We needed to release more new movies and the studio rules kept us from getting them.
Twilight New Moon Midnight Showing Repeatedly Sold Out
October 12, 2009Released Twilight New Moon Midnight showing sold out over and over.
Slightly Profitable, Two Years Running Smooth
December 12, 20092 YEARS OPEN RUNNING SMOOTH and a bit profitable even at $6 ticket, All ages All showtimes! 2010 Oregon Civil War game was held by The Crook County Foundation (sold out)! We hoped to do this event every year!
Comedy Nights
January 1, 2010Comedy nights where held the night before BEND Comedy Competition THERE WARM UP LOCATION AND THEY ASKED TO DO IT AGAIN!
Moved into Apartment
May 12, 2010We moved into the theaters loft apartment to save money as our family home.
Approved Plans and Permits
October 12, 2010We were able to submit plans to the city planning commission to build the 2nd screen on top of the building. It was approved! We need a height variance for 5 more feet. The current height limit is 35 ft. Second story need to be 45 ft and even though the city was going to be changing it soon we are in a hurry again to complete by 2010 Christmas. So we paid for the special permit so the town could have better movies. We had to move out also.
Read moreMidnight Showing Sold Out!
October 12, 2010Midnight showing of: Twilight Saga Eclipse SOLD OUT
2nd story 2nd screen construction starts!
November 26, 2010DONE IN 3 MONTHS 🙂 THANK YOU TO ALL LOCAL (IN TOWN) CONTRACTORS
First Movie Plays on the Second Screen
February 18, 2011The first movie to play on the 2nd screen is True Grit. Sold out!
Popcorn Price Increase
May 12, 2011We raised the large popcorn price to $4 because the cost of oil went from $40 – $60 a can. Old Mill charges $7 for the same size large popcorn.
Horseshoe Walk of Fame Campaign Started
March 12, 2013The Horseshoe Walk of Fame campaign started. If we didn’t raise the money it would all be returned from an escrow account set up at Wells Fargo to buy a personalized horseshoe. It wasn’t going well. People didn’t understand.
Film Going Away by End of 2013
March 12, 2013We got official word FILM IS GOING AWAY BY THE END OF 2013 We already had restoring loans, more taxes, and extra electrical expenses and with our profit margins purposely set low another loan was out of the question. We and about 3,000 other mom and pop theaters needed to raise funds over night! The digital conversion was a mandate from Hollywood studios it seemed to be THE END! The town of Burns (population 2,800) had raised their funds in 3 months for one screen 55k with the help of a hard working kid as his Senior Project and the Harney County Foundation helping to take funds. We knew we could do this in Prineville ALSO (population 11,000). However the PINE is not a non-profit and raising funds is hard. We got extra creative to SALE something! Ali had a wonderful idea. Add a point of interest in downtown and take care of some ugly side walk we had in front of the theater-raise and raise funds! Brilliant!
Read moreCrestview Cable Helps Save the Theater
May 12, 2013Crestview CABLE calls and says they want to help “we can’t lose our theater!” They put themselves out there to receive smaller donations from the citizens and their customers. People that wanted to see the theater to stay open but couldn’t afford a $400 horseshoe. NOTE: WE DID NOT WANT TO TAKE (SMALLER DONATIONS) WE COULD NOT RETURN IF WE HAD TO CLOSE BECAUSE WE DIDN’T GET ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY DIGITAL PROJECTORS! Crestview Cable raised 7 (Community Supporter) Horseshoes!
Read moreCommunity Comes Together to Save Pine Theater
June 12, 2013BLNKSLATE.com Travis Holman walked in to tell Oniko he was going to help! As a newcomer to Prineville he needed to go to the movies locally. He started www.savethepine.com a Twitter account and then a kickstarter.com campaign. He helped to communicate what we were having a difficult time saying it’s a mandate and we will close. The Central Oregonian did more articles. The Bend Bulletin helped out the local news stations came out a few times then radio interviews some of it was very fun but scary because we didn’t think we’d make it at this point. The Kickstarter.com campaign failed and the PEOPLE wanted there PINE! Then we sold a few GOLD HORSESHOES bigger price tag.
Read moreFundraising Update
August 12, 2013By August we raised 86k and qualified for a short term loan to purchase the digital. We still had 27 Horseshoe’s for sale.
Horseshoe Sales Save the Theater
October 24, 2013Only 5 horseshoe’s left we made $105,000 in SALES. The cost to buy projectors, booth equipment and install came to $110,000 the bank fee’s to get an SBA loan was an extra $13,000 it has been a very long year! But we made it! We love knowing THE PEOPLES love of the theater SAVED THE THEATER! The PINE will continue to support the community with family friendly prices and give $2000 worth of gift certificates DONATED directly to fundraisers yearly and special priced showings to elementary schools and all the other stuff my husband gives out without asking his accounting department me! It’s all apart of living here and we appreciate it! The supportive letters and emails have been very awesome… We hope to please everyone! Our customers are #1 Thank you
Read moreHorseshoe Installation Update
November 12, 2013Hope to be Installing of the SHINNY ENGRAVED HORSESHOES soon!
Raised Ticket Prices
November 21, 2013General Admission Ticket Raised to $8.00 Still lower than all theaters in Central Oregon. Hollywood Movie Studios take a % of ticket price charged. This helps us get the movie’s on the release date. November some FOOD prices raised .50 the cost have gone up too much to ignore it anymore or absorb it anywhere else 🙁
Read moreMay Horseshoe Walk of Fame
October 12, 2014May Horseshoe Walk of Fame was complete and installed under the Historical Marquee.
Management / Ownership Changes
January 1, 2017Some management/ownership changes are being made but the PINE � lives on.
Running Smooth
January 1, 2018Running Smooth
Running Smooth
January 1, 2019Running Smooth
COVID-19 Mandatory Shut Down
March 12, 2020COVID-19 mandatory shut down of theaters.
Online Entertainment with Local Bands
May 12, 2020Tried online ENTERTAINMENT VENUE. Had a few local bands play within in Brown’s rules!
Movies Allowed Briefly
August 12, 2020Movies allowed to start showing briefly but no new run was available.
Closed
November 12, 2020Closed until we can be fully operational.
Fully RE-OPENED without COVID Restrictions
July 12, 2021Always cleaning!!! Recived the COIC grant and caught up the property taxes. Our son runs the “front end of the house” as they say in show business. THE SHOW MUST GO ON!
Theater For Sale
October 1, 2021Pine theater is officially listed for sale September 2021 after Successful summer of movies! Zillow
Read more