Bay Theatre
15140 W. Sunset Boulevard,
Pacific Palisades,
CA
90272
15140 W. Sunset Boulevard,
Pacific Palisades,
CA
90272
3 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1948, the S. Charles Lee-designed Bay Theatre was twinned in the mid-1970’s. The Bay Theatre was closed in late-1978 and was converted into a hardware store by 1980.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
The twinning of the Bay Theatre took place in 1972. The house reopened as the Bay Twin on August 24, according to Boxoffice Magazine’s September 18 issue that year. The owners had the theater’s interior entirely stripped and rebuilt, rather than merely splitting the original 1100 seat auditorium with a wall. The new twin auditoriums each had 400 seats.
Here are some photos taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/ybhm9uy
http://tinyurl.com/y9sdlul
http://tinyurl.com/y8pclj5
It had – from 1954 thru 1956 – attended many a Saturday afternoon
matinee at the Pay Theater. 25 cents was all I needed!
Remember seeing “20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA”, “ROMAN HOLIDAY”,
“THE ATOMIC KID”, “TOBOR THE GREAT”, “THE CREEPING UNKNOWN”, “BAD
DAY AT BLACK ROCK”, “THE PONY SOLDIER” plus many more. To start
everything going, four LOONEY TUNES. Butter popcorn & a coke was
just 25 cents. Great memories as a baby boomer. I really miss that
theater! Regards,
Bob Sides E-mail
Back in the mid-‘70s, whoever booked films into the Bay came up with some great double bills, terrific mixes of old and new flicks. So with “Old Dracula” you got Corman’s “Pit and the Pendelum.” With “Rollerball” came “Barbarella.” Aldrich’s “Flight of the Phoenix” was shown too, tho I can’t remember with what. And two years after I missed its initial release, the Vincent Price chiller “Theatre of Blood” screened with “Young Frankenstein.” (The booker must’ve liked “Blood” because the previous summer it played with AIP’s reissue of “Born Losers”!) Other memorable bills before and after the twinning: a screaming kid-filled matinee of the nature opus “Toklat,” “Planet” and “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” “Tales from the Crypt” and “The Ra Expeditions” (!), “Marathon Man” and “The Enforcer,” “King Kong” ('76) and “Two-Minute Warning” and, on my last visit, “The Driver” and “High Ballin’”. So, a much- belated hats-off to the programmer at this modest but very-missed neighborhood hardtop…
The Bay Theater closed its doors for the last time on September 10, 1978. The last films to play were “Saturday Night Fever” and “The One and Only” in theater 1, with “Freaky Friday” and “Hot Lead, Cold Feet” in theater 2. I think I saw every movie at the Bay that you mentioned in the post above, Larry
Great photos posted by Ken Mc 11-20-05.
BTW, Lisa Weho and others: Did anyone happen to attend the midnight fright show hosted by TV horror host Seymour (actor Larry Vincent) in early ‘72? He showed Corman’s “Premature Burial.” I got to sit in the front row, a few seats away from Mr. Vincent, and it was a blast. My first midnight movie! During his opening remarks he said he’d invite selected attendees to come onstage (for what purpose, I can’t imagine) but it didn’t happen. At least he stayed to watch the film (quite raptly, as I recall) and signed autographs in the lobby after the screening. Fond memory: a few greedy kids kept cutting in line, wanting multiple signings, but Mr. Vincent was thoughtful enough to make sure every kid got one. And it was damn near 2 a.m. Now there’s a class act.
I was an assistant manager at the Bay in the late 50’s/early 60’s and remember it well. The projectionist was Sam Shanley and he lived not far from the theater and had been there forever. I recall that Ronald and Nancy Reagan were customers, as were several Hollywood notables. Because of its location, it was also a favorite site for sneak previews which drew many of the actors, directors, producers and the like, On more than one occasion, we did not know the name of the film to be previewed until hours before it screened. The popular hangout was the Hotdog Show, across Sunset from the theater.
I grew up in the Bay Theater. Every saturday there was a kid’s matinee. It was a wonderful time. What a shame that it’s closed.
I grew up in Santa Monica and remember going to this theatre once in a while. The last time I was there was in 1977 for a Double Feature of Islands in the Stream and Fun with Dick and Jane, both of which I remember seeing First Run at the National Westwood.