1937 - 1983

One of Bondi’s lost architectural treasures is the 1937 Art Deco Kings Cinema on the Campbell Parade corner at Roscoe Street. The impressively sized theatre hosted 814 people in the stalls and 292 in the circle.

Matinées were shown every day except Sunday. Movie-going was a hugely popular form of entertainment in the early days of cinema. In 1919, Australia has 750 picture theatres, eight of which were in Waverley. Cinemas mostly featured American silent movies before the advent of the ‘talkies’.

Bondi and its neighbouring suburbs played a key role in the emergence of Australian film. From 1925, Cinesound set up studios in Ebley Street in Bondi Junction and became a pioneer of the industry.

Kings Cinema at Bondi was built in 1924 as the dance hall called the Casino De-Lux Palais. In 1929 it was damaged by fire and was rebuilt as the Rex Dance Hall.

In 1937, the architect Guy Crick converted the building into the Kings Theatre. Patron Barry Rocard, recalls the wonderful smell and cosiness of the cinema in the Art Décor surrounds.

Crick designed around 120 of Australia's Art Deco-style theatres in the 1940s and 50s. Among his most noted theatres was the Minerva at Potts Point, which was initially designed by Bruce Dellit, Bondi resident and sculptor for the Art Deco Anzac War Memorial in Hyde Park. In 1950 the Minerva’s name was changed to the Metro.

The Kings Cinema closed its doors in 1968 and was sold. The last movie shown was ‘Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows’.

It was then leased to the Hakkoah Eastern Suburbs Soccer Club before becoming the Creole Disco. Another fire left the building derelict for many years, until it was demolished in 1983. The apartment block The Breakers is now in the site.

Bondi legend has it that the feared Bondi crime figure Abe Saffron had connections with the theatre building. Some say Jimmy Anderson, another well-known Sydney criminal, set fire to the building in a vendetta against Saffron.

Images courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.