The Beach Theatre was opened Thanksgiving 1945, with 662 seats. It was taken over by Fox West Coast Theatres in June 1946 and was renamed Bay Theatre from June 17, 1946. It was purchased by Richard Loderhose in 1975.

After removing some of the seats, he installed a 1928-built Wurlitzer organ that he had purchased in the early-1960’s from New York City’s Paramount Theatre. It is called “the largest Wurlitzer pipe organ in any operating theatre in the world today”.

The theatre showed independent, foreign, classic and silent films with organ accompaniment. Seal Beach, with a population of 25,100, is mentioned in an unauthorized biography of Steven Spielberg as being his favorite place to see foreign movies while he was enrolled at nearby Cal State Long Beach in the mid-1960’s.

The Bay Theatre was closed after Mr. Loderhouse passed away.  His heirs sold the pipe organ to a church in Arizona. The theatre was put up for sale and purchased by the new owners in 2016 with plans to renovate & restore the building to its Fox West Theatre design motif.  Expanding its use to include plays, comedy, concerts and movies being the goal. A new Yamaha Nexo sound system for live performances, Chauvet pro Series spotlights, and Chauvet Rouges for wash.  The theatre is now state of the art with a nostalgic design feel.