60 Years Later, Beaumont Finally Gets A Movie Theater

BEAUMONT, CA — Movie-goers have something to celebrate starting May 21. That's when the 12-screen Cinema West theater is scheduled to open in Beaumont.

And if films are your life, the location at 1491 E. Second Street is hiring.

As of Friday, the Cinema West at San Gorgonio Village was looking for an assistant manager and a theater floor staffer, according to the company's online career portal.

The Beaumont city council and planning commission gave the green light early last year to build the theater, and it's been a long-time coming.

According to a document posted by the Banning Library District, the city's last theater was the Beaumont Theatre at 450 Sixth Street. It's now the Beaumont Antique Mall

"The theater was built and owned by C. L. 'Jimmy' and Ida Mae James, who came to Beaumont about 1937. There was no information available as to when the theater actually opened but there was an ad for it in the 1944 Banning High School yearbook. It apparently closed down in the late 1950s," the library document states.

According to the document, a description of the theater from the 1944 Banning High School yearbook reads:

“The Beaumont Theatre is the newest theater in the San Gorgonio Pass. Just built in the last few years, it has some of the newest of equipment. Jimmy James, the theater’s manager, is one of the nicest people we of the annual staff met on our tour. He took us through the theater and pointed out such things as the softest of upholstered seats, air conditioning for the comfort of the public and the soundproof feature which shuts out loud noises of trucks and cars. The reason for the soundproofing, explained Mr. James, is that the theater is so very conveniently located on highways 99, 60 and 70.”

After the theater closed, it became a roller rink for a short time. The floor had to be leveled to fix the incline that once accommodated theater seats. Portions of the building were used for small businesses, and the place was known as the “Theatre Arcade," according to the library document.

After the roller rink, the building was used by Deutsch Company and later became a motorcycle shop, the document continued. Around 1989, the Beaumont Antique Mall moved in.

Read more about the "Movie Theaters of the San Gorgonio Pass" in the library document here.

Keep up with Cinema West opening here.