Comments on: Bondi’s Picture Theatres

By: bondimermaid

bondimermaid — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 02:20:45 +0000

Hello Geoff

Thank you for visiting Bondi Banter and I’m sorry for such a tardy reply to your comments.
Such wonderful childhood memories of attending the picture theatre in Bondi.
So very special and back when it was obviously a much smaller community.
How fabulous that you were able to engage in some commerce up and down the aisles before the lights went out!

bondimermaid 🙂

By: bondimermaid

bondimermaid — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 13:59:50 +0000

Hi Mike
Thank you for sharing these gorgeous memories of going to see movies in Bondi picture theatres. How special that you met Hopalong Cassidy!
How lucky too, that your mother obviously loved going to the movies also and that you have those special memories of going to Kings every Friday night with her.
Sorry for only seeing your contribution now, almost a year after you wrote this…for various reasons, I didn’t post nor check the blog for some time, and then had to fix some issues with it (files were corrupted).
Great to have your contribution included now.
Thanks
bondimermaid 🙂

By: Geoff Thomas

Geoff Thomas — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 10:53:35 +0000

I was born in 1942 and lived in Dover Heights. From around age 12 onwards we absolutely loved catching the double decker bus along Military Road to Bondi Six Ways movie theatre every Saturday afternoon. In those days comics such as The Phantom and many others were essential buying for us young boys. Before the lights went out we would go up and down the aisles selling our second hand comics for reduced prices and did well! When the lights went out I vividly remember all the kids letting out a huge roar of excitement as the cartoons which always preceded the movie of the day cane on. Tom and Jerry and the like we’re often on and the main feature was often a western with Randolph Scott, Hoppalong Cassidy, Tom Mix etc.After a wonderful afternoon my brother and I would walk up the up the main road to our Aunties place where our parents would be visiting. Wonderful childhood times!

By: Mike Dillon

Mike Dillon — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 04:12:56 +0000

I was born in 1943 and was a great fan of Hopolong Cassidy and saw all his movies and had a Cowboy outfit I wore and had a holster and a 6 gun and he came to Australia and we met him at the Trocodero in George street.
My brothers and I frequented 6 ways Hoyts Theatre every Saturday afternoon for years.

My mother and I visited Kings every Friday Night from when I was 9 to 14.5 – I went to Bondi Beach school and then Wellington St and then Cleveland Street – I loved Bondi Baths and learnt to swim there.
I can recall visiting the Coronet to see the original – The Magnificent Seven’ in 1961 and saw many MGM movies in the Metro.
Left Bondi when I married a Bondi Girl in 1970

By: bondimermaid

bondimermaid — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 13:34:46 +0000

Hi Noni

Thank you for coming to Bondi Banter and for providing your wonderful contributions here. I apologise for taking so long to have your comments up and approved. I had to leave attending to this blog for a while.

But I love the memories that you shared here about going to the movies. I grew up very close to Six Ways, and often think about what it must have been like with the picture theatre there. By the time I was born, that picture and many others in the area were no longer in operation.

I was not aware of the outdoor films shown at the Pavilion back then, but again, I have wondered about if this happened many times. I love the fact that there was an open air drive-in cinema there!

Noni, thanks again for visiting!

bondimermaid 🙂

By: Noni Brown

Noni Brown — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 04:53:07 +0000

Bondi Six Ways Theatre (1923 – 1959) – After opening in 1923 and being operated by the Betts family, this cinema was acquired by Hoyts in 1937. Located at the six ways intersection at Bondi, on the corner bounded by Hall St, O’Brien St and partly Glenayr Ave. It screened its last program in 1959 and was later demolished. Published by Waverley Library from sources in the Local History Collection, 2008.

Bondi Beach Kings Theatre (1937 – 1969) – Opposite the beach in Campbell Parade, on the corner of Roscoe Street, the Bondi Beach Kings Theatre started life as a dance hall before being converted to a cinema in 1937. It closed in 1969 and became a club and disco.

By: Noni Brown

Noni Brown — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 01:21:15 +0000

Ken Cook’s Pacific Open Air Drive-in Cinema at the Bondi Pavilion Auditorium opened on Friday 12 Oct 1951. Films commenced after dusk. People who did not have a car could watch the films seated in reclining cane chairs. The whole area was enclosed in a hessian screened wall. Anyone could smoke. Mothers took babies in prams which were parked in an area away from the lighting.

By: Noni Brown

Noni Brown — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 21:09:23 +0000

I grew up in Bondi for the first 18 years of my life and recall the theatres mentioned above and the mother’s rooms. Our mum loved the movies and we went whenever we could. I have seen no mentioned of the outdoor films shown at the Bondi Pavilion?? We sat in old timber and canvas deck chairs in an area surrounded by what I recall was potato sacking screening. The films were shown after dusk. I left Bondi in 1964 but I’m sure it was in the 1950s. When I was a teen I remember sitting in the back rows at Six Ways with my “boyfirend” holding hands, kissing and cuddling. My most vivid memory is seeing a scary movie about a black cat that turned into a panther. Walking home to Lucius St on m y own (I was 12 or 13), up the back lane off Lamrock Avenue, a black cat started following me.. when I ran it ran. It’s eyes glowing yellow (just like in the movie) by the time I got home I was hysterical!! We used to love going to the scary movies around that time.

By: bondimermaid

bondimermaid — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 03:26:45 +0000

Hi George
I do remember that the Creole was burned down. I was a young teen at the time.
Not a nice memory to have of Bondi. Lucky no lives were lost. But it sounds like this is what happened to the old King’s Cinema building then. Destroyed by flames rather than developers 🙁 and as you say, an audacious act indeed!
Thanks for adding to the post here.

bondimermaid 🙂

By: George Utley

George Utley — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 12:37:26 +0000

The Kings Cinema/Creole nightclub was not bulldozed by the developers, at least not initially. It was burned down by Jimmy Anderson as part of his ongoing vendetta against Abe Saffron. I was at the beach that afternoon, and it’s still the biggest fire I have ever personally witnessed. The flames rose way above the building. Quite audacious of Jimmy to stage an arson attack on Campbell Parade on a sunny weekend afternoon.