埤頭富山戲院

Pitou Fushan Theater

May 1st, 2024

The former theater from across the main road running through this part of Pitou.

Fushan Theater was established in the late Japanese colonial era to provide entertainment for Japanese soldiers at the nearby airbase in Pitou, Changhua. It continued to operate into the post-war period but went out of business long ago, at some unspecified date. Since then the building has been converted into a supermarket, most recently operating as a branch of the Fresa Supermarket (主婦生鮮超市) chain. Although it might not look like it from the outside, this is almost certainly the original theater building, or perhaps a second-generation building constructed on the same site, as it displays architectural features more common to the post-war period than the late Japanese colonial era.

Stepping inside the supermarket a curved balcony can be seen overhead, with a false ceiling blocking the view of what is almost certainly a projection room on the second floor. A hidden door near the entrance almost certainly leads upstairs to the projection room, but the manager did not allow me to have a look after I asked. They were, however, quite happy to confirm the identity of the building, but even they weren’t sure when it had been converted.