The kids had so much fun on the weekends.”įrom 1979 to approximately 1981, the theatre was known as The Cove, and showed popular surf movies as well as numerous screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And on Saturdays, there were special shows for the kids with prizes. “It was a beautiful theatre with red velvet curtains,” she said. Bibee worked at the theatre’s box office and helped people to their seats. “For 20 cents, we could see a newsreel, a cartoon, and two shows,” she said. The Hermosa Beach Review described the Metropolitan’s ornate design as “jazzed plaster decorated in various colors … a beautiful entrance under a marquee of rare artistic design.” Theatre patrons were surrounded by expensive wall hangings and pricey paintings, and sat on sofas and leather opera chairs while enjoying listening to the Robert Morgan pipe organ.īesides movies, the Metropolitan featured vaudeville and comedy acts.īrenda Bibee, former Hermosa Beach resident, recalled going to the theatre in the late 1940s with her older siblings. Vaudeville shows and stage acts, popular for that time period, were frequently held at the theatre. Other classic films screened in the Metropolitan’s early years included She Done Them Wrong, featuring Mae West, and The Little Giant, starring Edward G. Several novelty acts performed, and it’s said that the enthusiastic crowds finally emptied out of the theatre well after 2:00 in the morning. Detailed plans were drawn up for a 1,200-seat structure housing a $20,000 pipe organ, and a contest was held to name the new theatre.įor the Metropolitan’s grand opening, the ornamental, Neo-Classical style theatre premiered Circus Days, starring Jackie Coogan, who later became a resident of Hermosa Beach.
#BIJOU THEATRE SEATTLE CHILDRENS MUSEUM MOVIE#
Fifteen years after Hermosa became the nineteenth incorporated city in Los Angeles County, a local banker, Ralph Matteson, had the ambitious idea to build a movie theatre in Hermosa. In 1923, it was big news when the local paper announced that a $200,000 theatre would be built at the southwest corner of 13 th street and Hermosa Avenue – the only one of its kind for miles around. Construction of the Metropolitan Theatre in 1923.
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