Bijou theater plus#
The first floor design included bank and theatre plus one store. King, local resident, and the Los Angeles Engineering Co. theatres.first run esh from L.A."(The discerning reader may deduce that hyperbole is not the invention of the '80s.)Īrchitects for the Metropolitan Theatre were R.D. settings adequate to handle acts from the Orpheum, Pantages, and Hill St. ".seats range from mammoth divans to leather covered opera chairs.more than $10,000 invested in the rear of the theatre, for $20,000 Roberts Morgan pipe organ. Raved the Hermosa Beach Review, "The theatre has a beautiful entrance.underneath a marquee of rare artistic design, a tile lobby surmounted with Homan (sic) stones.jazzed plaster decorated in various colors.prominently arched and filled with expensive hangings.alcoves and costly paintings. and West Coast Theatres, a distributing company which already had a chain of more than 100 theatres. Well before the opening, the theatre building had already been leased to the biggest corporation of its kind, Venice Investment Co. Five Orpheum acts were offered, plus the feature, a novelty and a cooking comedy, and the extravaganza lasted till almost two a.m. On the big day, doors opened to a "great crowd which overflowed a block down the street." Stage and lobby were awash with flower tributes, sent by businesses of Hermosa Beach, the South Bay, even Los Angeles, Hollywood. His presence was not guaranteed however, and subsequent stories fail to mention that he appeared personally. Promotion promised the Metropolitan would open with a world premiere of a Hollywood product "CIRCUS DAYS" starring Jackie Coogan.
Bijou theater movie#
Grand opening set for June 27 was fully touted with promises of terrific vaudeville shows and visiting movie stars. A carefully orchestrated publicity program (probably written by the Review staff anyway) faithfully carried some news item every week. Second prize went for the name ARISTOCRAT (doubtless intended to harmonize with the city's motto "Aristocrat of Beaches".) The second winner chose to remain anonymous and donated the prize money, $5 in gold to the Boy Scouts. More than 500 contest entries were received, and indeed the name METROPOLITAN had been suggested by others, but Claudius' entry was first and hence the winner. METROPOLITAN THEATRE was a unanimous choice of the judges. Claudius, was winner of the $10 gold first prize. In the May 25, 1923, Hermosa Beach Review, winners were announced. In May of the same year a NAME THE THEATRE contest was called. In addition, the capitalization of the First Bank climbed from $50,000 to $125,000. The proposed theatre was to offer 1,200 seats, a $10,000 pipe organ, and the new building, 100 x 150 feet with a terra cotta front, would be erected over the present quarters of the First Bank of Hermosa. all in the "last word in modern construction." The new two story complex would offer banking rooms, offices, and a theatre. Adding two more lots to three already possessed by the bank, the site would total five city lots. A $200,000 theatre would be built by the First Bank of Hermosa Beach at the Southwest corner of 13th St. The project surfaced with a page one news story in the Hermosa Beach Review of January 19, 1923. Why not combine business and pleasure? Offer banking accommodation for increased circulation of money, and entertainment for the surge of new people. All these enterprises together could be expected to draw new people with new ideas, new money to spend, seeking new avenues of recreation. Iconoclasm! Golden State Silk Mills organization was capitalized at $1 million. Plans were to build a hotel south of the Pier on the WEST side of the Strand. Matteson and his coterie of business allies, other businessmen were expanding their enterprises too. At the time an inspiration to build a new bank-theatre edifice occurred to Ralph E.
It was a blooming, building, striving time.īetween wars, the City of Hermosa Beach was moving up, growing fast. University of Tennessee, Knoxville.By Doris Beaman with research by Carol Tanner Knoxville (Tenn.)-History, (Library of Congress Subject Headings) Photography of interiors, (Library of Congress Subject Headings) Theaters, (Library of Congress Subject Headings) The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It ultimately fell into a period of decline, but efforts by local preservationists helped to save and restore the theater. Over the years, it hosted many famous vaudeville and theater acts. Bijou Theatre opened as part of that hotel on March 8, 1909. Thompson, James Edward, 1880-1976 (Photographer) Photographs of Tennessee Cities Collection
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