Egyptian Theatre Coos Bay Oregon

For almost 100 years, the Egyptian Theatre has been the largest movie/art house of its kind on the Oregon Coast. A long-time anchor in Coos Bay's downtown district, it has been a witness to the evolution of Oregon's largest coastal city and deepest port.

Entering the theatre is like taking a step back in time. Constructed in 1925, much of the Egyptian revival style and artwork - influenced by the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb - remain to marvel the public.

Per one of our experts on the theatre's past: "Nobody on the West Coast, nobody but Coos Bay has a virtually unchanged example of an Egyptian theater, built in the glory days of the form . . . and protected all these years.”

That distinction goes beyond the artwork: The theatre's wurlitzer sits intact and still operable as originally installed in 1925 by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. See the below video from one of our directors:

Brief Theatre History

Coos Bay's Urban Renewal Agency purchased the theatre on April 1, 2006 followed quickly by a contractual partnership with the Egyptian Theatre Preservation Association (ETPA) to manage it. The ETPA cleaned the building, erected a platform to protect the Wurlitzer organ from dampness, installed new projection and sound equipment, a new heating system, repaired the roof, rewired, repainted, and removed the mini-theaters from the balcony. Thanks to joint efforts, the theatre was also added to the National Register of historic places in

Thanks to its volunteers, the ETPA has maintained the theatre ever since through many challenges: recessions, covid and the rise of the streaming industry. People are constantly telling us about their memories of attending concerts or movies at the theatre - we are determined to keep that tradition alive!

We need your help to do so.

Some of the things we've been working on:

The theatre's **100th** anniversary! The funds from this gofundme will help us realize our dreams to bring one of the biggest parties to Coos Bay! We want to help the community celebrate 100 years of family-friendly memories. Raising funds for this is the main goal.

The theatre sits in one of the lowest points in its neighborhood, which causes the volunteers to do occasional water remediation. We're looking at some long-term solutions.

The curtain is original from the 70s! (How cool is that?) It unfortunately needs replacing.

Please donate whatever you can today!

You can check out our current event listings here: link to our events site

A much more in-depth history of the campaign to save and maintain the theatre is here

I am a board member for the Egyptian Theater. You can see my picture on the second link above with the rest of the board. If you have any questions, please ask!