Wharf Theater, Entertainment venue in Monterey, California.

The Bruce Ariss Wharf Theater is a musical theater on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, California. The building, put together partly from three barracks buildings bought by Ariss, holds an art gallery and an office off the main lobby, with room for shops on the first floor.

The first Wharf Theater opened on Fisherman's Wharf on May 18, 1950, with the play "Happy Birthday" and sets built by founder Bruce Ariss. A fire destroyed it on December 31, 1959. After a 1960 reopening as The Old Monterey Opera House a few blocks away, the current theater opened on December 3, 1976, with Guys and Dolls.

The theatre's name honours Bruce Ariss, the artist and friend of John Steinbeck who designed and built the set for the opening production of "Happy Birthday" in 1950. After the 1959 fire, it reopened in 1960 with "West Side Story" at a refurbished site, and in 1963 was renamed The Old Monterey Opera House. Under manager Stacy Meheen it stages musicals such as Sweeney Todd in 2018.

The theater stands on Fisherman's Wharf, across from the restaurant site once owned by Angelo Di Girolamo, one of its founders. It is a few blocks from the former Monterey Theater building where the company performed in the 1960s. Shows run in the evening, so plan to arrive before curtain.

The theater's present building dates from 1976, when Bruce Ariss enlarged a too-small Fisherman's Wharf site by buying three barracks buildings and reusing them as building material. The complex also held an art gallery and an office off the main lobby, with room for shops on the first floor.