Six years ago, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater was evicted from its longtime Echo Park home and the search for new digs eventually landed them at a former church on York Blvd. in Highland Park.
It was the perfect find. Originally, the venue was a vaudeville and silence film cinema. There's still the old ticketing booth, the high ceiling, the raked seating, said Mary Fagot, co-executive director of the marionette theater.
The BBMT crew brought everything with them. "When I say everything, I even mean down to, you know, little balls of dust that were found in the corner that we put into jars and brought over as, you know, thinking we needed to bring all of the magic of the old space," Fagot said.
They got right to work making themselves at home after relocating in 2019. The first several months, Fagot said they focused on sprucing up the interior to get it "show ready" — like building a proscenium, laying down new carpet, giving it a paint job.
How they brought the theater back to life
After spending some 5 years bringing the inside of the theater back to life, the BBMT crew turned their attention to the exterior, in particular, the theater's vintage marquee — with a grant from the Pasadena-based Perenchio Foundation.
"We did historical research, we looked back to what would have been here in 1923 when The York Theatre first opened," said Fagot, referring to the venue's original name.
The marquee restoration included fixing the lightboxes and working with local designer Escott O. Norton, whose specialties include working on historic cinema houses in the area.
Next up was the neon. After all, what's a respectable theater marquee without that extra bit of industrial light and magic. For that, the team worked with the firm, Signmakers.
"The skills is very hard to find to build with traditional neon — so hand-bent glass neon gas, not LEDs, not the fake stuff," said Fagot.
About the iconic sign
Ornamenting the tip of the sign is a neon mascot tooting on his trumpet.
"'Toot' is a character that's been with the theater historically for a very long time. At the old theater, we had a Toot figure on the exterior of the building," said Fagot. "So we thought it was really important to harken back to the old location to include Toot on our new marquee. Different design, but same character."
To mark the restored marquee's debut, Bob Baker Marionette Theater will hold an open house for the public on Oct. 6. That night, the theater will officially flip on the lights — which will stay on every night after.
"We see the marquee as this beacon on York Blvd. that symbolizes something about our neighborhood, but about us in particular," said Fagot. "We're saying, 'we're in LA to stay.'"
Open house
- Location: 4949 York Blvd., Los Angeles
- Date/time: Oct. 6, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
- Cost: Free
