The Majestic Theater on First St. is wrapped in black netting. Is it a Christo sculpture or an early Halloween haunted house? Is this the beginning of a restoration of the beloved old theater or simply bringing the odd bits up to code. I asked City Manager Mario Giuliani who worked with the owner in the early 2000s to bring programing what was up. “That theater holds so much promise on cultural and economic vitality for our downtown. Unfortunately, the building has fallen into disrepair and requires a massive amount of work. The work you are observing now is rehabilitation to make the outside safe for pedestrians to walk past the building. Asked if it would be open at some point, he said, “I do not see any programming happening inside the building for a very long while.” What a lost opportunity as Benicia recovers from the pandemic and is dire need of new revenues.
According to the Benicia Historical Museum, “The Majestic Theatre in Downtown Benicia opened with great fanfare on February 23, 1920. By 7:30 PM – opening time – there were more than 1200 people waiting to be admitted, with only half of the people fortunate enough to get in at the first show!” It must have been something with marble, mirrors, golden drapes and genuine leather seats, all deep maroon and gold leaf glamour. What a thrill it must have been to see the original “Phantom of the Opera” with Lon Chaney there in 1927, the same year that the Carquinez Bridge opened.
Much later, George Winston played the Majestic as did Paula Poundstone who we now listen to on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” on NPR. Too read a fun, gossipy story about the Majestic as a romantic meet-up for teens and a full-day baby-sitter for local kids in the 1950s go to: https://beniciaheraldonline.com/for-benicians-majestic-still-stirs-memories/
Six years ago my friend Marialee and I attended a showing of Casablanca there. Had seen the movie a million times and could repeat all of the best lines —“ Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” We dressed in trench coats, collars turned up and fedoras tilted over one eye to set the mood. When Rick walked off into the fog with his arm around the local police captain brilliantly played by Claude Rains and said, ”Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” I decided then and there that this was a perfect movie. Such bravery such patriotism, such humor. The vintage ambience may have helped. Not sure if I was sitting in one of Vallejo Cinema’s Barca Loungers watching the movie over my feet that I would have been as moved.
Over at Benicia Fitness as I stand in the weight room pumping iron, I try to visualize the gym as a bus station. Yes, owner Joyce Rund who has worked there almost 20 years and owned the business for the past ten told me to contact Dr. Brian Passalaqua for the story. Brian’s great grandfather, one Nicola Passalaqua, immigrated from Italy to the U.S. and became a vegetable farmer with acreage in Benicia. Nicola’s eldest son Milo was working in a local grocery store when an opportunity to buy the property on the corner of First and East F St. presented itself in 1915. This was the beginning of the Benicia Vallejo Stage Lines which operated until 1956.
Hard to imagine buses spewing their exhaust as I strike a triangle pose in the bougainvillea filled patio and admire the murals. Milo needed $1000 for his first bus, but was turned down by the President of the Bank of Benicia, who had the unfortunate name of Mr. Crook, and was also the Mayor. Fortunately, Milo secured loans from the local brewer and the butcher. Not sure about the baker.
Soldiers during WWI and WWII used the Stage Line to get to their jobs on Mare Island. The roads weren’t paved in those days, so protective canvases were affixed to the sides of the buses to keep passengers clean,” Brian told me. Women exchanged their skirts for trousers as they went to work building ships as “Wendy the Welder” in WWII.
“The first gas I bought was from the general store and gas station down at First & ‘D’ Streets, across from the Union Hotel. It cost me 11 cents per gallon, “ Milo said, according to the Benicia Historical Museum. “Well that was my first business and it operated between Benicia and Vallejo for over 75 years.” He was their first bus driver but had never driven a car. By 1927 they had six buses. Greyhound Bus Lines had started in Minnesota the year before transporting ore miners to the quarries two miles away. They charged 15 cents/trip. Milo’s was a better deal at 10 cents.
1915 was also the year that California celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal by staging the massive Panama Pacific Exhibition at the Palace of Fine Arts. Some 11,000 paintings were shown in the main building alone. Perhaps Benicians took the Stage Line to Vallejo and then ferried over to the Exposition where they were introduced to the French Impressionists, and modern art for the first time. They would also have viewed the works of early California Impressionists who birthed today’s plein air painting movement now stronger than ever throughout the State and Benicia in particular.
Change is inevitable. Maybe one day we will walk to the Majestic and see a classic movie free from explosions and the resulting inner ear damage while popping Milk Duds or those yummy Hershey’s chocolate covered ice cream bon bons in our maws. Why were they discontinued?? Then on to Benicia Fitness for a round on the StairMaster or better yet, a nap.
I can dream, can’t I?
Letters From Benicia 