Like other theaters, the Old Town Music Hall went silent during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. However, despite the loss of its longtime owner last year, the El Segundo cultural landmark is back, and it’s as silent as ever.
“We weren’t sure we were going to reopen. If it weren’t for the support of the audience the theater wouldn’t be able to stay open. But now we’re coming back with a silent movie, which is what this theater specializes in,” said James Moll, one of the board members of the nonprofit theater, which after being closed for more than a year will reopen on Sept. 19 with a screening of the 1926 Douglas Fairbanks silent classic “The Black Pirate.”
But don’t expect things to be too quiet because also back to accompany the film is the theater’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ.
“That’s how they provided sound for movies in the 1920s and we’re opening with a 1926 movie accompanied live by an organist on the pipe organ just like they did it back then,” Moll said.
The theater screens silent movies as well as others with sound made up to the 1960s and will follow its opening weekend with a Sept. 25 screening of “The Wizard of Oz.” And through October they will be screening a series of classic monster films.
The mighty theater
Housed in a 1921 building that was originally the home of the El Segundo State Theater, the Old Town Music Hall was opened in 1968 by Bill Coffman and Bill Field.
According to Moll, the two local musicians were looking for a place to install a 1925 Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ, which they purchased in the 1950s from the Fox Theater in Long Beach.
Once they found a home for the organ, the venue stayed open consistently, showing silent and other older films and hosting music shows for 53 years until March 2020 when it had to close due to COVID-19.
“Bill (Field) always remained optimistic, he’d run the theater through thick and thin. There were lean times when he had to put in his own money to keep it going so when COVID hit and the theater had to close he knew the theater would make it. He was more optimistic than we were,” Moll said.
Coffman had passed away in 2001, while Field, who had been managing the theater on a daily basis, passed away three months after the theater closed in 2020 due to ongoing health issues.
But inspired by Field’s optimism about reopening and their own love for the theater, Moll, along with fellow board members Angie Hougen and Danny Tokusato, worked to make sure the theater would survive.
“Bill basically dedicated his life to the theater. The theater came first, it even came before me,” said Tokusato, who was also Field’s life partner.
“He was not happy of course about the closing, but he was very optimistic and looking forward to a reopening. There was no doubt in his mind that it would happen, it was just a matter of when,” Tokusato added.
During the venue’s closure, the trio, who work as volunteers, continued raising funds for the theater with a Gofundme campaign to keep paying for rent, maintenance and the theater’s new ventilation system.
While the reopening will be a time to celebrate, for those who knew Field it will also be a bit of a bittersweet moment.
“I’m very happy and also very sad because I know Bill is not going to be there,” Tokusato said. “But he would want everyone to come and celebrate and throw a big party,” he said.
Old Town Music Hall
Where: 140 Richmond St., El Segundo
Hours: 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Tickets: $12 for general admission, $20 for silent films, $10 for seniors
COVID-19 protocols: Masks must be worn at all times unless eating or drinking.
Information: oldtownmusichall.org
