A history of the silver screen in Layton City

The Ritz was a $35,000, 496-seat theater at 96 North Main. It operated from 1941-1968.
 Today, the same the building houses Harvest Bread Company.

LAYTON City has no shortage of movie theaters today — with 26
screens available in two different theater complexes  (as of — but it wasn’t always so.
From 1968-1980, Layton didn’t even have an indoor movie theater.
All it had for that 12-year span was the outdoor Davis Drive-In.
Here’s a short history of the silver screen in Layton:
Some early Layton business records are sketchy, but Layton City’s
first theater was believed to be the La’Tonia (also called “La Tonia”), on South Main Street. It opened in 1914 and featured silent movies at first, with a live accompaniment.
In 1936, it was renamed the Roxy Theater and likely closed soon
after.

The Latona Hall and Motion Picture Theater was the second big
screen business in Layton.
When the Layton Auto Company moved elsewhere, the building at
52 North Main was remodeled. Kowley Drug came along in 1924 and occupied the front section of the building. Theater goers could get ice cream and treats from the drug store as they exited the theater.
The building also hosted socials and weddings.
This theater closed in 1968, though the drug store remained there
until 1980.

                                        A Layton Theatre ticket from 1966.
                                                         (From the Heritage Museum of Layton's Collection.)



Layton’s third theater, the Ritz, was a $35,000, 496-seat theater at
96 North Main. It opened on Sept. 20, 1941 and was managed by
E.G. King. This theater had sloping floors and moveable, padded
seats. (The building was originally occupied by the Becker Saloon.)
Movies would play each evening, with matinees on Saturdays and
Sundays.
The Ritz closed down in 1968, a victim of the television boom.
Today the building houses the Harvest Bread Company and it leveled out the old sloping floor.
Layton's fourth theater was the Davis Drive-In. It opened in 1945
near Angel and Main Street after World War II. The twin-screen
theater closed in 1992 and was torn down in 1993 to make way for
commercial development. The drive-in's demise was due to a national trend of decreased interest in large outdoor movie screens. Today, Kohl’s department store and other businesses occupy the former Drive-in’s space.
Layton also briefly had two drive-in outdoor theaters. The Layton Drive-In, about 600 North Main Street (where Chuck E. Cheese is located today) operated six years only, from 1950-1955.

Layton's next theater was Cinemark Movies 6, opening in the early
1980s shortly after the Layton Hills Mall was built.
Located just northwest of the mall, it was joined by the $1.5
million, 1,800-seat Cinemark Movies 10 complex in December 1990.
This was remodeled and expanded again to become the Cinemark
Tinseltown USA at the Layton Hills Mall, 740 West 1500 North, in
May 1997 with 7 additional screens and about 1600 seats.
In the mid-1990s, a separate new 9-screen theater, just a half-block
northeast of Cinemark, was constructed at 728 West 1425 North.
For some years, this theater boom gave Layton the most screens of
any town north of Salt Lake City, though their names changed over
time.
In more recent years, the two theaters were renovated to top-of-the
line seating and sound systems, with other amenities.
For example, in the fall of 2013, plush red, power recliners with
plenty of personal space seating were added to the AMC Loews
Layton Hills 9 Theater. Also, an expanded concession menu and
reserved seating were also new amenities.

Sources: http://utahtheaters.info/ and “Layton, Utah” history
book, by the Kaysville-Layton Historical Society, Deseret News
Archives, Ogden Standard-Examiner Archives.