Mount Baker Theatre, Historic performing arts venue in Downtown Bellingham, United States.
Mount Baker Theatre is a Moorish–Spanish style performing arts venue in Downtown Bellingham, Washington, designed by Robert Reamer. Its main stage seats 1,517 people, with an orchestra pit five feet below the stage for 25 musicians. The building also contains the Encore Room and the smaller Walton Theatre.
Construction began in fall 1926 for Pacific Northwest Theaters Inc., which then ran 36 movie palaces, and the theater opened on April 29, 1927, with the film Slide Kelly Slide. A Style 215 Wurlitzer organ was installed in April 1927, and electric signage followed on April 25, 1927. In November 1931, manager Art Hile and cashier Olive Keener were robbed of $800 at gunpoint.
The venue maintains its original Hope-Jones Wurlitzer organ and uses it regularly during performances. Visitors can experience the warm, full sound of the instrument filling the spaces, connecting to the era when such organs were central to theater experiences.
The theater sits in the heart of Downtown Bellingham and is easy to reach on foot from the surrounding streets. Arriving a bit early gives you time to look around the lobby and settle into your seat before the show begins.
The theater still has its original Hope-Jones Wurlitzer organ, which is played during certain performances. Theater organs like this one were once common in American venues but working examples are now rare.
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