Holly Theatre
Medford's Historic
A Palace for Art & Culture
The Holly Theatre was a cultural icon of Medford’s lively downtown for nearly 60 years. Designed by renowned architect Frank C. Clark in a Spanish Colonial Revival Style, the Holly was the first grand movie palace in Southern Oregon built for “talking pictures." Like many grand movie palaces of its day, the Holly was larger than life, replete with a highly decorated interior, a prominent neon blade sign and marquee, and lavish draperies and furnishings. The interior featured an exuberant color scheme inspired by the streets and canals of Venice using a unique interplay of hand-painted elements and multi-colored lighting systems.
At the Heart of Downtown Medford
Construction on the Holly Theatre began just weeks after the 1929 stock market crash that led to the Great Depression. The Holly opened its doors on August 29, 1930 for a showing of the comedy/musical “Hold Everything” starring Joe E. Brown. With an original capacity of 1,200 (which at the time was one-tenth of Medford’s population), the theater was known for its quality acoustics and clear sightlines. While mostly used to screen first-run movies, the theater was built to accommodate a wide variety of artistic productions including vaudeville, theater, and live music. Notable performances over the years included a sold-out recital by famed contralto Marian Anderson in 1940, and the first ever non-Shakespeare play “You Can’t Take It With You” presented by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1938. Although Medford was home to four other theaters in 1930, the Holly is the last remaining movie palace in the region still standing as originally built.
Changing Times
The Holly closed its doors in 1986 at a time when changes in the movie industry forced many downtown, single-screen theaters to shutter. To prevent the theater from being torn down, the Art Alfinito family purchased the building in the mid-1990s. The Holly was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, but continued to remain empty and fall into disrepair, eventually being condemned due to a failed ceiling truss.
A Vision for the Future
In 2011, the JPR Foundation, the non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Southern Oregon’s NPR affiliate, Jefferson Public Radio, purchased the Holly with the goal of saving this important local landmark and creating a new cultural venue for the region.
Since the project began, community volunteers led by the Holly Restoration Committee have raised nearly $13 million from over 3,300 donors to return the Holly to its original 1930 look and feel while adding state-of-the-art technical capabilities.
The project was completed in early 2025 thanks to the work of hundreds of construction workers and local specialty artisans, fulfilling a promise to bring the Holly back to life as a tribute to Medford’s past, a catalyst for economic development, and a place that provides new cultural and entertainment opportunities today and for future generations.
The Holly is managed by Jefferson Live, a self-supporting division of the JPR Foundation, which also manages its sister Cascade Theatre in Redding, CA. With 1,008 seats, it is the largest indoor performing arts venue between Eugene, OR and Redding, CA.