BeeKay Theater

The story of the old movie house and its incredible journey is as unlikely and heart-warming as any Hollywood film. It began during the Great Depression when two Tehachapi businessmen, Frank Baumgart and Leo Kanstein, decided to build a movie theater to entertain the local population.

The two entrepreneurs combined the initials of their last names and spelled them out to form the name BeeKay and opened the doors in 1936. Local residents streamed in to watch double features of black-and-white movies and animated shorts. The BeeKay was a hit.

“The movie marquis outside was the only neon sign in the valley and people would drive by just to marvel at the lighted sign,” explained Pat Gracey, a longtime Tehachapi resident and local historian who spoke at the Saturday ceremony.

The movie theater soon became a landmark of the downtown. The years went by and while other businesses came and went, the BeeKay persisted — the solid building even withstood the 1952 Tehachapi earthquake with very little damage, though most of downtown was destroyed.

Through it all, the BeeKay continued to show movies, which of course changed with the times and became colored (both the film and the language used).

(Story by Jon Hammond for the Tehachapi News)