Bay Theatre

paulnelson on August 28, 2012 at 11:34 am

The idea of still using an elegant waterfall curtain in front of the screen should be used more often in new theatre construction. The MB does just this. It is the most beautiful new theatre in Seattle along with the Cinerama downtown. They have a nice curtain too.

lostmemory on April 21, 2009 at 6:57 pm

Here are two 1982 photos:

Photo1

Photo2

lostmemory on February 25, 2007 at 3:19 pm

This is a recent night view of the Majestic Bay Theater.

kateymac01 on May 6, 2005 at 2:14 pm

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Oct. 12, 2000:

“The Bay — which has been a Ballard landmark since 1915 and has laid claim to being the oldest continuously operating theater in the country — has not really been preserved.

It was so structurally deteriorated that the developers found it impossible to renovate. It’s essentially a brand-new, $5 million triplex in the same location, with all the amenities of the new millennium theaters, including stadium seating, a state-of-the-art sound system and computerized ticketing (major credit cards accepted).

But the new theater is also very much an architectural tribute to the old one and a kind of museum of the kinder, gentler moviegoing experience of the past.

Owner Ken Alhadeff told the P-I last month that his intention was to ‘build the nation’s finest neighborhood theater — a theater with a soul.’ In a sense, he’s betting on a high-touch reaction against the gigantic megaplexes that have now taken over the movie-exhibition business, to the point that the big chains now are closing down their less profitable multiplexes with only three, six or eight screens."