[2] Walter Eugene Tebbetts is listed as "the promoter who persuaded Weatherly to build a theatre," and was the first lessee and manager of the theater.

The Oriental utilized Asian influences from India, Indochina, and China and included "columns on each side of the screen", said to be based on the Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

There was a huge stylized face over the proscenium arch, "which had a wide open mouth baring fangs and eyes lit by red lightbulbs that would glow demonically before a show began" and "on the side walls and over the arch were life-sized plaster elephants, as well as apes, fishes, and mythological creatures, seemingly ready to pounce off the wall.

"[3]The lobby and mezzanine were decorated with Hindu deities and "the main staircase leading to the balcony was flanked by a pair of huge dragons," while the auditorium was topped by a vast dome, lit indirectly by 2400 light bulbs, as well as a 2,000-pound (910 kg) "tree-sized Far Eastern style chandelier"[3] including 3000 light bulbs in seven colors, costing $7000.

"[2] The Historic American Buildings Survey noted the "remarkably early extensive use of neon lighting" in the sign and sheet-metal marquee.

[2] Portland mayor George Luis Baker dedicated the theatre, proclaiming he had "seen more expensive houses, but never a more beautiful one.

[2] In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a local theater company presented a summer season of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas in the Oriental.

[2] Lobbying to save the theatre began by at least 1959, and after Clayton Weatherly died in May 1969, the heirs decided to sell, despite a "premium lease" offer that was made.

[2] The Oriental Theatre was demolished in February or April 1970, making room for parking at the Weatherly Building.

[2][5] It was lamented as an "amazing old theater was tragically demolished to make way for another parking lot, an irreplaceable loss for the city of Portland".