Mount Baker Theatre (MBT) has been bringing entertainment from around the world to Bellingham (and the entire Bellingham region) since 1927. Today, it hosts world-class, culturally-diverse live theater, dance, celebrity, and music performances that come to beautiful Bellingham from across the globe.
More than 90 years ago, MBT was a luxurious movie palace built with an exotic Spanish Moorish design meant to transport its small town patrons to another time and place. Sadly, it is the only survivor of five built in the Bellingham-area at the time. In 1978 the building was placed on the National Historical Record and in 1984 the community rallied and saved it from demolition by developing a partnership between the City, County, and the community. Since then MBT has operated as a city-owned facility managed by the Mount Baker Theatre Corporation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Over $14 million in capital improvements have transformed this living machine. The theater’s interior is breath-taking and its exterior iconic.
You can't have a building with this much history and not have a ghost or two! Rumor has it that the theater is haunted by a friendly ghost named Judy, along with other spirits. Although some sightings have been correlated with the consumption of adult beverages, others have gone unexplained. A safe in a former office turned storage room was mysteriously closed and no one knew the combination. After many, many years the room was being cleaned for renovation and the safe was suddenly discovered open!
Another time, a couple reported seeing the spirit of a big black cat at the bottom of the stairs back stage. Later research discovered that in the late 1930s, a traveling circus had performed at the theater and a black panther had died in the room.
