VENTURA, Calif. — A wallet lost 46 years ago was found during renovations of a California movie theater and returned to its rightful owner.
The Majestic Ventura Theater, first built in the 1920s, closed during the coronavirus pandemic and used the year-long shutdown as an opportunity to remodel, KEYT reported.
He climbed into the attic and found a little red wallet. It was filled with high school photos of friends, poetry and a Grateful Dead ticket from a 1973 concert. The theater posted a photo of a driver license that was found inside it as well and within days had connected with the owner.
“The other day one of our employees was changing out some light bulbs and the chandelier dropped a couple of inches, and we had to fix it,” Tom Stevens, who works at the theater, told KEYT.
Colleen Distin remembers losing the wallet in 1975. She said called the theater the following day but they said no one had found it.
“It is really wonderful, it really is,” said Distin. “I am kind of emotional.”
Inside were also photos of her mother, who died a couple of years ago.
“It is hard to explain the feeling that I had because it is kind of an emotional one and excitement,” Distin said. “I just really want to say thank you. The kindness just to reach out to me.”
It is still unclear how the wallet ended up in the attic.
“It’s amazing,” said Stevens. “I am so glad she found it, to see all those memories from that long ago.”