Bellingham Then & Now: The Mount Baker Theatre

A long, cream-colored building accented in dark red dominates a street corner in downtown Bellingham. Uplighting on the tower changes color with each major performance at the venue, and rumor has it, a ghost of a bygone era resides within the walls and dark passageways. It’s the Mount Baker Theatre, the anchor of the downtown Arts District, and the only surviving jazz-era movie palace in the region. 

In 1927, the era of swingers and flappers, Ford Model As and home radios, speakeasies and phonograph records, the Mount Baker Theatre was built, one of five local vaudeville movie palaces of its day. Moviegoers walked through the doors on Commercial Street and entered a new world, a cinematic world of fantasy - a world where they could forget memories of World War I and the Depression. 

The lobby with its carved banisters, and the gilded accents and painted patterns throughout the building, still reflect the sumptuous style of the era - a Spanish-Moorish design aesthetic. Before the curtains open across the wide proscenium stage, the focal point of the 1517-seat auditorium is the imposing, multi-colored dome and chandelier holding court over the entire space. 

Today, the building and property is owned by the City of Bellingham and managed by a nonprofit organization, as part of a community effort in the 1980s to keep the theatre’s legacy alive. Comedy shows, plays, concerts, ballets, and musicals are held on the main stage or next door in the Walden Theatre. Many a young person today experiences the magic of the Theatre firsthand by participating in the Missoula Children’s Theatre hosted each summer. 

Every theatre worth its history has a resident phantom, right? Cold shivers, soft voices calling names, objects moved while the building is closed, and locked safes standing open are attributed to the ghost of Judy - a young woman who supposedly died in a boarding house where the stage now stands. 

Whether or not Judy truly whispers your name in the dark orchestra pit, or breathes a cold breath down your spine when the lights go down, one thing is for certain. The sumptuous finishes, the decades-long legacy, and the efforts of the local arts community keep this amazing place a central and recognizable landmark of Bellingham culture. 

Previously on Bellingham Then & Now: The Viking Union was designed by an award-winning architect who also had a hand in several other buildings on campus.

Next up on Bellingham Then & Now: The Leopold is going back to its roots as a hotel.

Sources

Flom, Eric. (2003). Bellingham’s Mt. Baker Theatre opens on April 29, 1927. HistoryLink. Link.

Wilde, Lorraine. (2019). “Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham: Historic Architecture hosts Current Headliners.” Be in Bellingham. Link.

Wilde, Lorraine (2017). “Mount Baker Theatre: Better Than Ever”. Whatcom Talk. via Mount Baker Theatre, Link. 

Images

Then: courtesy of the Mount Baker Theatre.

Interior: Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society. Via link. 

Now: Cooper Hansley

Blog copy by Tiffany Holden