Majestic Bay Theatres

 

8/21/26 Majestic Bay Theatres, Ballard

Opened in 1914, the Majestic (and later Bay) Theatre used to be a single-screen neighborhood theater in Ballard for decades. Although I don’t recall seeing any movies there, I remember it as the Bay, probably in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Renamed the Majestic Bay, it was rebuilt as a modern multi-plex in 1998, where it continues to screen first-run and older movies.

When I sketched it last week, the Majestic Bay was showing “The Odyssey,” “Spider-Man” and other first-runs. One marquee promoted “Retro Night,” which was featuring “Snakes on a Plane.”

Although the blue lighted sign is probably original, the rest of the building has a contemporary look. It was difficult to find a good composition that was unobstructed, but since I’m not too fond of the building anyway (other than the sign), I went across the street to sketch it behind a tree. (Trees make such great compositional obstructions when I’m not interested in sketching a building, which is almost always. Now you know my secret: When I don’t want to sketch something, I just look for a tree to block it.)