Address
602 W 2nd Street
Antioch
California
Pacific
94509
United States
On November 1, 1928, El Campanil Theatre opened its doors to the City of Antioch and the Diablo Valley. At the time it was referred to in news reports as “the most pretentious building in Contra Costa County.” Built, owned and operated by Ferdinand Stamm and Ralph Beede, El Campanil (the tower of bells) is Spanish in both name and architecture. As with many theatres of the era, El Campanil originally offered an audience chamber of approximately 1,100 seats, as well as a limited stage and “back of the house” areas to support vaudeville entertainment. Folklore abounds to this day about the famous celebrities who performed there, and who left their autographs on the dressing room walls. El Campanil was also a single screen cinema, with what was “state-of-the-art” projection capabilities in 1928. Located in the heart of downtown Antioch, along the waterfront and in what is now known as the Rivertown Business District, El Campanil was owned and operated by the Stamm family for 75 Years, or until 2003.