Egyptian Theatre
229 S. Broadway,
Coos Bay,
OR
97420
229 S. Broadway,
Coos Bay,
OR
97420
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 30 comments
Three cinemas opening on May 12th, 1976. Grand opening ad posted.
These are all of the Egyptian. A version of this sign will be installed as part of the canopy and marquee project. Can’t put anything across the street.
I added three
30's -40’s photos of the Egyptian sign that spanned the street. Still searching for other info on it. And whether Broadway was originally Main Street. I will delete the photos if it turns out it was for another business called The Egyptian in Coos Bay.Beautiful proscenium and all else. Nicer than the Egyptian in Los Angeles. That has been ruined and only the ceiling is original and elaborate. Coos Bay is lucky to have this gem.
Finally made a visit to see ‘Halloween’ on Halloween night. I think the only other move I saw here was The Fugitive in 1993 on the main screen. Real happy to see the end result after years of fund raising and repairs, and they still have a few more projects to finish. But at least they are open for business again and can bring in some money.
Overall, I would give the decor an A+, it looks like a grand movie palace once again.
But as a film venue, and this is not the only means of entertainment here anymore. I would give it a C grade. Unfortunately, the last operator to run this theater placed a restriction on movies in order to have the Egyptian not compete with his other multi-plex in town. So they are left to p[ay the retro card, which is not a bad thing. However, the movies are projected off a DVD. Which means the film image does not take up the whole screen, the audio kept dropping out every now and then. And the disc paused for about a minute, which maybe was an overall indication of the quality presentation. Plus, since Halloween was filmed with very little light sources in some scenes, those shots were dimmer compared to a newer Digital projector. I hope I’m not being too not picky, just wanted to be fair in my critique. I’m still looking forward to coming back for a concert someday.
According to the website, grand re-opening is scheduled for Friday, June 20.
Is it open for business yet?
Last week the EPTA held another successful fund-raising event, on their way toward the $200K match to grant money for the $750K goal needed to complete the structural repairs and get the Egyptian back opened for business by 2014. This theatre is in good hands and will come back better than ever. Worth the wait!
Great picture,chuck.
This theater will be celebrating its 85th birthday on November 19 and 20, 2010: View link
Went to the Egyptian tonight to see National Lampoons Vacation. A grant for new lights justcame through and they were testing them tonight! Good to see so much love and work still going into this gem.
Showing a movie from a DVD is perfectly legal as long as the studios are informed and a “ use fee ” is paid, generally around $200.00 or less depending on the movie in question.
35mm equipment is very expensive and many older films have to be played in a reel-to-reel style which requires 2 projectors.
Considering the cost of a ticket and the vintage of the films being shown a DVD projector is perfectly reasonable.
Demoliton has begun on the two mini-theaters that take up the balcony of theater with the goal of returning the Egyptian to a theater with a usable balcony which would add about 300 more seats. Work is being done by inmates from the Shutter Creek Correctional Facility.
Is there any hopeful news of a reopening…soon?
I went to the Cleopatra showing on Sunday, it was wonderful to be back in the theater! Also to see Lee on the pipe organ and all for $3. What a deal! Maybe some old silent movies along with the organ would bring back a few memories and maybe a few new ones!
Why didn’t they go with professional 35mm projection equipment? Projecting home video DVD’s is copyright infringement. I hope they make it clear in their advertising that they are not projecting films, but rather they are showing videos.
The Egyptian is open now and is having a first showing on 27 Oct 2006.
They have a new DVD projector and will be showing films that are at least 5 years old.
The film this evening is Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks.
http://www.egyptian-theatre.com/
Enjoy
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The Friends of the Egyptian Theater and the City of Coos Bay have re-lit the Egyptian Theater. It had gone dark after it was closed but it’s coming back to life! They have held several fundraisers in an effort to revive the now city owned theater. Downtown Coos Bay looks much better now.
Well, Coming Attractions is attempting to come into the already fine Centralia-Chehalis, Washington market to ruin my friend Daryl Lund’s wonderfully restored single screen Chehalis Theater (featuring top-notch projection & sound) and the stadium seating Yardbirds 3 Theater by opening a 10 plex. Daryl has spent lots of his own money restoring, upgrading, and modernizing both theaters. The Chehalis was an old Tom Moyer theater that was run down and had closed in the early 80’s. The Yardbirds theater was a dump that was run into the ground by Regal Cinemas. Daryl took it over and completely redid everything there and converted the auditoriums into stadium seating. There’s also a wonderfully run McMenamins theater called the Olympic Club in Centralia. Now Coming Attractions wants to build a 10 plex here and destroy the business of these already fine theaters. A 10 plex would be way too many screens here. Even here in Olympia we are going to have way too many screens. Presently we have a new 16 plex run by Regal that opened back in August. Now we are adding a 14 plex from Century Theaters and an independent 12 plex from the Cafarro Company.
first run films, that opened to the Egyptian, many weeks after they had, to the Pony, to see if it truly was a loyalty issue. These films did more business at the Pony, in their last legs of their runs, then they did at the Egyptian.
Now the city comes along and offers to purchase the theatre, from CA, for what is half of what is owed on the property. Could you sell your home for $400k when you owe $800k? Not likely.
In closing, I’d like to add that the expansion of the Pony added 25 jobs, and with the Egyptian closing, no jobs were lost. CA didn’t take the high road and simply lay people off.
So, don’t buy the hype, and don’t believe the one sided reporting of the local rag, The World newspaper. There are two sides to every story, and its time that we as the residents actually take a long look in the mirror at the REAL reason the Egyptian closed..because WE stopped going. You don’t see empty restaurants staying in business very long, and when you can’t even cover ½ of your operational costs, you don’t have much a choice. Regal Cinemas used to operate both Cinemas, spent NOTHING on them, and then ran for more money in the big cities. I think its time we actually appreciate what is being done by CA…bringing the first run big screen to the small areas of Oregon, that no one else would touch.
the distributors happy, and the patrons too. The studios were not happy with only being able to play 7 screens between the two cities, Coos Bay and North Bend. As CA couldn’t expand the Egyptian, there was no choice but to expand the Pony. Even after, CA tried to play first run films, first run art films, and late run films at the Egyptian. The public didn’t come to the Egyptian anymore! I attended a showing of the Robert Redford film, an Unfinished Life, when it opened at the Egyptian. In addition to me and my companion, there were 2 other people in the house! Plus, and to unfortunately be blunt, the local peoples of the region on the majority lack the sophistication to desire to see art films. CA then even moved films
Secondly, his claim that CA should have “just taken better care” of the Egyptian is misleading. The Egyptian is a historical landmark, which means that you must have any changes of any type approved, and any changes that would alter the state of the location at the time of its historial inception would not have been approved. A good example of this is that the theatre was not fully handicapped accessible, with all restrooms being upstairs. CA attempted to get an o.k. to install downstairs bathrooms but this was turned down.
Thirdly, the movie business is very competitive. To continue to bring first run films to small and medium markets in Oregon, CA must keep
Id like to respond to Ken Laytons comments above. I apologize in advance for the length of the postings, but it is necessary for completeness.
First of all, Mr Laytons statements with regard to the Aberdeen Theatre are false. Aside from the fact that Coming Attractions didn’t build it as he claims, the theatre is doing very well, and the company recently extended its lease at that property. I’d like to add that if not for CA coming in and keeping that theatre opened, the entire mall complex where the theatre is located would have gone under, thereby costing around 200 jobs to the local economy.
The Egyptian Theater was the heart and soul of downtown Coos Bay. When it closed permanently as a movie theater on Sunday, November 27, after 80 years in business it hurt the area and the residents. Let’s hope the plans for the City of Coos Bay to buy it and in conjunction with the Little Theater on the Bay run it as a live venue work out.
“Coming Distractions” theatres sure throws away money. They built that 10 screen crap-plex (South Shore) in Aberdeen, Wash. that’s just barely staying open. That area cannot support that many screens plus all the jobs being lost there due to two large lumber mills closing now. So now they throw up an 11 screen in Coos Bay. Are they crazy? They’ll never make it —– too many screens in that area. They should have kept the Egyptian and taken better care of it.