I first became aware of the
neighboring nonprofit theater to the
Traverse City State Theater, known as Bijou
by the Bay, during my last summer in the northern city region of
Michigan. Named after the French word
Bijou which translates to ‘little gem’, this 150 seat theater is both small and
yet a perfectly sized companion theater to the grandiose and oversized Traverse City State Theater comparatively. Upon looking up the showtimes for the Traverse City State Theater which
included programs for their recently held Traverse
City Film Festival, I discovered much of the programming for the festival
was shared between these two single-screen auditoriums. What I wasn’t aware of was that much of the
more mainstream programming went to the Bijou
instead as the State Theater due to
deed restrictions on the State Theater
entailing it could only show films that opened in less than 200 screens in the
US. Part of a collective upstate
restoration of the film scene in the upper-peninsula spearheaded by filmmaker
Michael Moore compounded with donations by Richard and Diana Milock, the once
dormant Con Foster Museum which was
built by President Roosevelt’s Civil
Works Administration in the 1930s soon reopened in 2013 as the Bijou by the Bay. 
Located by the former Clinch
Park Zoo which was recently renovated as a new tourist attraction just a few
hundred feet from Traverse Bay, it’s impossible to enter the Bijou by the Bay theater without
catching a scenic glimpse of the Grand Traverse Bay and the pavilion at Clinch
Beach, giving moviegoers quite the eyeful to see before even setting foot in
the lobby. The theater marquee with its
bright neon lit lettering and blue and white lightbulbs promises an old fashioned
Hollywood experience and the quaint little lobby with its locally made snacks
and bakery items make for a charming little theater experience. That’s nothing compared to entering the auditorium itself, which seems to have inherited the Clinch Park Zoo roots from previously. Inside the auditorium to the left and right rear channel speakers are two giant bird nests housing a fake owl, a fake bald eagle and along the sides of the blue wall murals of the Traverse Bay with seagulls and swans roaming about are tree branches with even more mock up wildlife adorning the walls. While not being much bigger than some of the smaller auditoriums at the Royal Oak based Main Art Theater, there’s so much to look at from an interior design perspective you will end up appreciating the deliberately small venue arrangement.
Like the State Theater, the Bijou by the Bay is armed with a state of the art projection system with high quality image and sound presentation, giving viewers a flawless DCP presentation. For anyone interested in donating to the theater, there are several ways you can leave your name behind including a chair plaque, private screenings, a brick sponsor or just have your name show up on the screen before any feature presentations begin. Most unusual of all though is the location of the restrooms. While most theaters including the State Theater place their restrooms in the lobby, the bar or otherwise outside of the main auditorium, the Bijou by the Bay theater has theirs located behind the front of the screen. This means you can use the restroom area as an emergency exit and/or return to the screening without having to open any doors or shine any distracting daylight on the theater screen as with most auditoriums. It’s a unique design I haven’t seen in many theaters and am hopeful more single-screen venues adopt this practice. Overall, as an ongoing seeker of new theatrical venues with a keen interest in each and every offering they have compared to other competing auditoriums, the Bijou by the Bay is a cute little theater with comparably exacting technical standards set by the neighboring State Theater with an interior design that hasn’t forgotten the history left by the Clinch Park Zoo or taken away from the grand view of the Traverse Bay. Very highly recommended theater I’m looking forward to attending again one day!
- Andrew Kotwicki