Bijou Show House
82 1st Avenue SE,
Beach,
ND
58621
82 1st Avenue SE,
Beach,
ND
58621
3 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Functions: Movies (Classic)
Previous Names: Bijou Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Feb 15, 2007 — Astrological premonition saves Bijou
Squared front building in red brick but very plain, retail stores on each side of the very tiny entrance. Box office is on the exterior right front with just two doors on the entrance. This small town theatre is located on 1st Avenue SE and 1st Street S. The Bijou Theatre seats 297 and opened on November 15, 1923.
The Bijou Theatre has a very small lobby with the concession built into the back wall of the auditorium and still has the original Manley popcorn popper and also has the original “Buttercup” butter dispenser. The sound system has recently been updated with a Dolby CP-50 stereo sound system. It was closed by summer of 2016. It was reopened in December 2020.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
This may not be one of the most impressive theatres on your list, but I can guarantee you that many a love of movies was born here, including my own. Beach is a very small town and lucky to still have a movie theatre when you think about it. I can still remember riding my bike to the Bijou in the warm summer evenings and the free Christmas movie they offered. We would walk from the nearby elementary school and settle in for a holiday film and a box of candy. I have fantastic memories of this little theatre and all the wonderful movies I saw there. I continue to go to the movies very frequently and I believe I can trace my lifelong interest to my experiences at the Bijou Theatre in Beach, North Dakota.
The Bijou Theater in Beach,ND is now closed. It closed in early June with the final picture being “Cars”. The owner is an elderly widdow who is becoming ill and could no longer take care of it or find a buyer/manager while it was still open. Her father constructed it in the 40s and her and her husband started running it in the mid 50s. It is for sale. I will post the full article as soon as I find it.
The theatre was purchased February 2, 2007. Plans are to reopen mid-March, 2007. Contact number is 701-872-2444.
I am pleased to say that the Bijou is BACK, as of March 17, 2007, and very much in the business of showing movies. There is much left to do but already we have a web site www.beach-movie.com webmastered by KLAR of Dickinson, ND. The sound system has been upgraded from the single center Cerwin-Vega D-32B speaker and Cerwin-Vega B-36A subwoofer to a stereo system employing two new JBL EON 15-92s along with the previously installed JBL surround sound system. Though the North projector was modified to accept a Christie three platter system, both projectors are still capable of running separate reels. A reverse-red light reader was installed along with a processor upgrade to a DSP-60S. The sound is such a marked improvement old time patrons are surprised and delighted. A proscenium stage has been added and is being finshed to allow for visiting live acts and presentations. Many other modifications are in process and it is my hope that the theatre will be good to go for many years to come.
We are seeking replacement parts for the Manley popcorn machine.
If I remember correctly, the projectors in the booth are Brenkert…
I like the website, even though it hasn’t been updated in a couple of months. Where exactly is the beach in this part of North Dakota?
Back in the middle forties they ran NO movies on Wednesdays.
The Beach Theatre goes back as early as 1926. So it was open long before the 1940’s unless the original theatre was replaced at the same address as the current theatre.
Status should be closed. Website down, phone disconnected. Facebook page indicates theatre was for sale in May 2015.
WE ARE OPEN!!!! My wife and I purchased the theater early in 2018 and finally started showing movies, from DVD, in December 2020. We now have a new to us projector and server. Not the latest and greatest but its working for our community.