The Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Project

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Paul Turner Oral History Interview. June 24, 2015

Paul Turner Oral History Interview

Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.

June 24, 2015

Location:  Darkside Cinema, Corvallis, Oregon.

Paul Turner (b. 1961) is a former OSU student in English who has founded and operated two independent cinemas in downtown Corvallis - The Avalon and The Darkside. A student journalist while at Oregon State, Turner has spent the majority of his working life managing and operating movie theaters, beginning with his first job as an assistant at the Woodburn Drive-In (where he lived in an apartment located under the screen) and including a decade running the Kuhn Cinema in Lebanon, Oregon. In a decidedly colorful interview, Turner discusses his life-long affection for movies, his associations with OSU, the births and evolutions of The Avalon and The Darkside, and the many memorable moments that have arisen over the course of a career spent working in independent theaters.