Palm Theatre, San Luis Obispo

The Palm Theatre, located at 817 Palm, San Luis Obispo, California, is an independently owned and operated movie theatre which showcases a variety of independent, foreign, arthouse, and mainstream cinema. The Palm Theatre was the first movie theatre in the United States to be run by solar energy.

Jim Dee is the owner, operator, and founder of the Palm Theatre. Dee graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from California Polytechnic State University in 1975. While at Cal Poly, Dee began to DJ for Cal Poly's campus radio station KCPR. During this time, Dee and a fellow student began to hold movie showings at a small local theater and called their program "Cinema Zoo". His interest in cinema led him to open a small movie theatre off Osos street in 1979 called The Rainbow Theater. After 10 years of operation, Jim Dee closed The Rainbow and opened the Palm Theatre. Dee is a founder and annual participant in the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, and in 1999 he was awarded the King Vidor Lifetime Achievement award for his dedication to the festival.

Dee currently hosts a weekly radio show called “Take Two,” on KCBX Monday nights from 6:30-7:30 with Bob Whiteford. The weekly show is centered around the two men discussing their cinematic tastes and other movie related topics.

The Palm Theatre is located in a section of downtown San Luis Obispo, California that was formerly a small, yet thriving “Chinatown.” It stands next to a small Chinese restaurant and across from the historic Ah Louis building.

The booming Chinatown came as a result of the discovery of gold in California. By the year 1852, over 20,000 Chinese left their home country and arrived in San Francisco. When the promise of gold faded, the Chinese immigrants began to establish businesses and provide services in the communities they had settled in. San Luis Obispo became an important stomping ground for Chinese immigrants due to its location approximately halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. A first-generation Chinese immigrant named Wong On (later Ah Louis) established a store on the northeast corner of Palm and Chorro in San Luis Obispo in 1874 and in 1875 began a labor contracting business. The Ah Louis store was the first Chinese owned store in the county, and began selling general merchandise and herbs as well as serving as a bank, counting house, and post office for the Chinese working for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1872, the store became the center of the one block area locals began to refer to as Chinatown.

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