California Theater

Fox West Coast Theatres opened the California Theatre on 15 August 1928, and its original Wurlitzer Style 216 pipe organ is still in the building. In early Hollywood the studios used it to test their films on real audiences before release, which is how San Bernardino saw King Kong and The Wizard of Oz before almost anyone else. On 28 June 1935 Will Rogers gave his last public performance on this stage. Seven weeks later, on 15 August 1935 — seven years to the day after the theatre opened — Rogers and the aviator Wiley Post were killed when their plane went down in Alaska. Staff and performers say Rogers stayed. The reports centre on a practice room that is persistently cold, where his figure has been seen through the small window in the door. The California still operates as a performing arts venue.