Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
I made this short documentary about a place I loved. Much has changed since 2000. The two Bills have passed but the theater remains!
Old Town Music Hall began in the 1960's when two musicians, Bill Coffman and Bill Field, purchased the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ from the Fox West Theater in Long Beach, CA, and installed it in the quaint 188-seat El Segundo State Theater, originally built in 1921.
©2000 by Mark McLaughlin
The Old Town Music Hall – located in El Segundo. Bill Coffman and Bill Fields operate this movie theater, which presents vintage films every weekend. But the centerpiece of entertainment is the 1925 “Mighty Wurlitzer” which sits center stage. Bill Coffman turns to the massive console before every screening to play music from the same era as the soon to be seen film.
The Wurlitzer is loud- designed for the vintage movie palaces, which could seat 2,000 people; it now plays in a small room with around 150 seats. The curtains behind the organ peel back as Coffman plays to reveal the rattling animation of organ innards. Every pipe, drum, bell and horn is painted in day-glo colors, illuminated by black light. On the screen, the words to the songs appear on projected glass slides for an old-fashioned sing along.
I made this short documentary about a place I loved. Much has changed since 2000. The two Bills have passed but the theater remains!
Old Town Music Hall began in the 1960's when two musicians, Bill Coffman and Bill Field, purchased the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ from the Fox West Theater in Long Beach, CA, and installed it in the quaint 188-seat El Segundo State Theater, originally built in 1921.
©2000 by Mark McLaughlin
The Old Town Music Hall – located in El Segundo. Bill Coffman and Bill Fields operate this movie theater, which presents vintage films every weekend. But the centerpiece of entertainment is the 1925 “Mighty Wurlitzer” which sits center stage. Bill Coffman turns to the massive console before every screening to play music from the same era as the soon to be seen film.
The Wurlitzer is loud- designed for the vintage movie palaces, which could seat 2,000 people; it now plays in a small room with around 150 seats. The curtains behind the organ peel back as Coffman plays to reveal the rattling animation of organ innards. Every pipe, drum, bell and horn is painted in day-glo colors, illuminated by black light. On the screen, the words to the songs appear on projected glass slides for an old-fashioned sing along.
