Hoyts Six Ways Theatre
Six Ways,
Sydney,
NSW
2026
Six Ways,
Sydney,
NSW
2026
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Located in the famous Bondi Beach district of Sydney. The Six Ways Theatre opened on 24th August 1923 and was operated by the Betts family. In 1937 it was taken over by Hoyts Theatres.
Hoyts Theatres closed the Six Ways Theatre on 8th August 1959. It was demolished and a petrol service station was built on the site.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This giant cinema is 1600 seat THE BONDI BEACH SIX WAYS which was one of 3 cinemas in the Bondi area built from the same plan; it closed about 1960.. The others were: THE BONDI STAR with 2160 seats closed 1977, THE WOOLLAHRA HOYTS: 1500 seats closed 1959, each were on a trilangular block of land and the cinema built very cleverly in a diamond shape within the triangle, with a foyer on the angle left over. Inall cases there was a roof garden over this street foyer accessed from the upstairs. they were all very good cinemas but the STAR was the most colossal and had a snazzy Deco update in 1938……it became the flagship in the 50s-70s with every major FOX release on first run showcase. The other two were very second run. Paul Brennan .au
Hoyts Six Ways theatre was closed in 1959 and promptly demolished for a petrol station. The theatre is a few blocks from Bondi Beach.
It was also designed by Charles Bohringer in the “Adam "style. It was parlt refurbished in 1948. Many of the original features were retained. It was also part of the old E.L.Betts chain of theatre sold to Hoyts in 1927. It was built in 1924 complete with rooftop Wintergarden with trellis. An ideal respite for smokers !
The photograph taken December,1959 by the late John Alfred just prior to demolition.
I remember this theatre very well as a child. We moved to BOndi in 1947. In those days Hoyts Six Ways had a Saturday morning Childrens Cinema Club. The manager, a huge man with a pencil moustache, used to come onto the small stage in front of the screen with a microphone and stand and there’d be some community singing (words thrown onto the screen)along the lines of “Here we are again, happy as can be, all good friends and members of CCC! There’d be birthday notices and things like a "Bob-apple” contest where kids from the audience would have to stick their heads into tin bowls of water and use their teeth to pull out as many apples as possible. A couple of years later there was a grand re-think in policy. The Saturday morning show was replaced by a conventional matinee with three serials, loads of cartoons and a big picture. My mum used to give me sixpence to get in and threepence for a bag of Smiths Chips. She and my dad and their friends used to go there every Saturday night. In the habit of the day, regulars, like them, had tickets reserved automatically. They didn’t even have to ring to confirm that they’d be coming! Me and my mates were keen patrons of “Sixies” – as we called it – in our teenage years right up until I went to work in Bathurst in 1958. When I came home on holiday, I found nothing but a demolition site. That must hv been in 1959. I read somewhere that the theatre had been designed in a circular layout to fit in with the triangular corner on which it was built. I’ve often wondered how they fitted in the screen and the back-screen gear – and if there was a stage of any sort. I guess there must be a plan of the building somewhere.
I also remember this theatre. I was in Bondi only a few weeks ago and walked past the old site. I had not thought about this theatre in years.
My mother worked there in the milk bar in the early 50s. She used to roften run the portable counter that they set up n the foyer at interval. I remember that they women used to wear yellow uniforms.
Often I would go to the Satyrday afternoon matinees for kids while she worked. I would sit with the kids of the other milk bar workers. Kids would read comics before the films started and swap them as well. i got into trouble for swapping my new shiny comics for some very old and much repaired comics. I wasn’t allowed to take comics with me any more!!
Dad and I would go out to collect Mum some nights when she worked. We would catch the bus from Taylor Square and watch the end of some of the movies before coming home with Mum on the bus.
The Hoyts Six Ways Theatre screened it last programme on 8th August 1959.
Some years ago, visiting Sydney I was browsing in a Pitt Street bookshop and came across a wonderful publication re old picture theatres. This included plans of many, including Hoyts Six Ways – which was designed as a sort of diamond to fit the triangular corner site of its location. Does anyone else have any knowledge of this – or any other books relating to this subject? I’m based in LOndon, so any on-the-spot research is limited to the internet, I’m afraid.
map and photo are for 20 miles inland