Bay Theatre
The Bay Theatre in Seal Beach was originally constructed and opened as the Beach Theatre, a single-screen movie house with 662 seats, in 1945. Fox West Coast Theatres purchased the theater in 1946 and renamed it the Bay Theatre. In 1975, the theater was purchased by Richard Loderhose, who removed some seats to install a 1928 Wurlitzer organ. After his death in 2008, the organ was sold to a church in Arizona, but the theater remained open until August 2012. The Bay Theater Foundation was formed in 2015 by locals to save the historic building, but its purchase by developer Paul Dunlap in 2016 is what has given the local landmark a new lease on life. Dunlap reportedly aspired to become another Bill Graham and open the next Fillmore. The Bay Theatre rather downscales that goal, but since its re-opening in January 2025, it has been well received by the community.
Seal Beach, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt