![]() Less than a block down the sidewalk, the Bijou featured vaudeville, too, but with more variety, including some famous national acts. On Gay Street, the Grand featured vaudeville. KHP’s historian Jack Neely looks back at what was going on at the Bijou roughly a century ago: “By 1916, Knoxville supported several small movie theaters, but the stage shows still drew the biggest crowds. KHP is proud to share an episode of Knoxville Chronicles with Jack Neely: Bijou Theatreproduced by Knoxville Weekend. Humes, and his wife, Margaret (later Margaret Cowan Humes Ramsey, may have intended it as a residence, but after Thomas’s death, opened it as a hotel. ![]() It has a deep history dating back to the very early 1800s when Irish immigrant Thomas Humes built what we now know as the Lamar House, the front part of the Bijou Theatre. Old theatre photos from a bygone era are displayed, and if you close your eyes, you can almost hear the melodies of the pipe organ and the applause of an appreciative audience.A true Gay Street icon, the Bijou Theatre is Knoxville’s oldest and one of the city’s most beloved theatres. Two red, worn, leather seats remain on display at the Hermosa Beach Historical Museum, along with other theatre memorabilia such as posters and handbills of the various shows from years gone by. The detailed façade has been preserved, and the interior space is now used for commercial/retail purposes. Retrofitting was completed, and refurbishing began on the exterior. The Hermosa Beach Historical Society swung into action, and the building was eventually designated a historical landmark in 1999. Discussions were held to level the building and replace it with a parking structure. The elegant Art Deco building was almost demolished due to the need for retrofitting to meet the state’s earthquake requirements. The building’s ornate exterior has been largely refurbished. Rumor has it that some former Bijou patrons regularly smuggled in alcohol to enjoy during their movie viewing, although this cannot be confirmed. The Bijou may also be remembered for how easy it was to smuggle in a taco-burrito from Diana’s Taco Burritos at the end of Pier Avenue, also now gone. The name changed again to the Bijou, and it became known for eclectic film screenings consisting of foreign films, art pictures, and other lesser known releases – movies that were otherwise impossible to see in the South Bay. The view of the North side of the theatre. There were also the occasional punk rock band performances, a huge hit with the emerging local punk rock crowd. 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. 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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