Majestic Bay Theaters, Cinema in Ballard, Seattle, United States.
Majestic Bay Theatre is a three-screen cinema at 2044 NW Market Street in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. It reopened in 1998 as a triplex after renovation of the former single-screen Majestic, later the Bay, which had operated since 1914. The rebuilt house combines the two earlier names.
Opened in 1914 as The Majestic, it was later renamed The Bay and operated until 1997, when it closed as the oldest continuously operating movie theater in the United States. A 1970 fire started by a cigarette in a standpipe damaged its east wall but was quickly extinguished by the Ballard fire department. Renovated in 1998, it became a triplex combining both former names as the Majestic Bay Theatre.
The name combines the theater's original 1914 name, The Majestic, with its later name, The Bay, adopted when the renovated triplex reopened in 1998. Before closing in 1997 it had operated as a Disney outlet around the 1970s, showing the major Disney features alongside non-Disney films.
The entrance sits on the Ballard street frontage, with the three auditoriums reached from a single lobby. The 1998 rebuild replaced the original single screen, so seating is split across smaller rooms; check which screen your film is in before buying. Parking is in the adjacent lot off the side street, the same lot where a dropped cigarette started the 1970 fire.
A cigarette dropped into a standpipe in the neighbouring parking lot set fire to the theatre's east wall in 1970, shortly before a showing. The Ballard fire department put it out before serious damage, and the next screening went ahead. The rebuilt 1998 cinema joined the old names Majestic and Bay.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,073 contributors worldwide.