Morro Bay movie theater has new family owners. Here’s what they have planned
The iconic Bay Theater in downtown Morro Bay has new owners with big plans for keeping the 81-year-old business the same while adding exciting new events.
In October, the Wilson family bought the North Coast’s only full-time movie theater from longtime former owner Mary Lou Jannopoulos, including the business and 8,810-square-foot building, which includes an apartment upstairs.
That means the Wilsons are the second family to own the 314-seat cinema in nearly a half century, an anomaly in this era of corporate-owned theater chains.
Cameron Wilson, who acquired the theater with his father and sister, said the family will continue the first-run, one-to-three-week engagements of contemporary movies.
“You can expect to catch the latest and greatest new movies, just like always (but) with a few diversions from that scheduling to facilitate extra-special events or festival-type weeks,” he said.
For now, the theater’s regular ticket price is $10, as it has been in the past, with Jannopoulos’ $5 Tuesday discount price also continuing.
Special series features movies with ties to SLO County
The first special event will be the “Salty Cinema Series” starting Friday, Jan. 19. A different movie will screen each night for one show only, with each selection having some sort of local tie to Morro Bay and the county.
The series headliner is a sneak preview of the new Beau Bridges movie “Camera,” which is set in Morro Bay, with some of the filming occurring in the seaside city. That screening happens Jan. 20.
Wilson expects filmmaker Jay Silverman will be there to introduce the movie and answer questions after the showing, as will the young star Miguel Gabriel and others. Bridges, however, won’t be available for the showing, Wilson said.
The film centers on a 9-year-old boy (Gabriel), unable to speak, who is befriended by a repair-shop owner (Bridges). The man fixes the child’s a broken film-format camera and teaches him that there’s more than one way to communicate. In the process, they help heal a fiercely divided fishing village.
Tickets for “Camera,” $10, are on sale now “and selling fast” at my805tix.com, Wilson said. All proceeds will benefit the Morro Bay High School Arts Department.
The film was submitted in competition for the 2024 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival in April.
Other movies in the Bay Theater’s “Salty” series include: Citizen Kane,” Jan. 19; “The Perfect Storm,” Jan. 23, the highest grossing feature at the Bay Theater; “Little Giants,” Jan. 24, shot in Arroyo Grande; and “Botso,” Jan. 25, about Botso Korisheli, local music teacher/artist.
New owners bring lots of entertainment experience
In the family’s “Hello, Morro Bay!” greeting on the theater’s website, the Wilsons identified themselves as “a family of film lovers and California natives with 40-year ties to the Central Coast. Morro Bay has always been a beautiful destination for visiting and vacationing, and we are so happy to call it home now.”
The Wilsons will work closely with Jannopoulos to “maintain the quality and value of the theater experience exactly as you have enjoyed it here for decades,” they said in the post. “Hopefully, any changes made will only be noticed for the better of your enjoyment and not felt in your wallets.”
Cameron Wilson lives in the apartment above the theater, while his sister Michaela Lusteg lives in Atascadero and his father in La Mesa (near San Diego).
Wilson, 36, is the managing, on-site partner. His longtime girlfriend Rachel Louie expects to join him in May, he said.
He talked excitedly about the family’s plans for the theater, pointing with pride to the concession stand’s new menu board.
“That’s my first addition,” Wilson said. He’s also added jerky bites from Morro Bay House of Jerky to the stand’s offerings.
Wilson and his sister “grew up regularly attending movies on the big screen,” he said, often seeing the latest blockbusters on holidays.
The Wilsons often visit historic movie theaters when traveling, he said, “so we’re thrilled to be a part of the preservation of this Morro Bay landmark.” They’re also members of the Theatre Historical Society of America.
One of Wilson’s favorite physical features of the venue are “the wooden vaulted ceilings … so spectacular,” he said. Another fave “is how the original movie screen from the ‘40s is still hanging up, in tatters, on the very back wall of the theater, hidden behind the current screen.”
He’s “so happy the wonderful staff wanted to continue working for us at the theater.” Wilson called them a “passionate and professional team,” especially Heather Jannopolous, who brings an “amazing work ethic and background” of 15 years working in her family’s theater business.
Assistant manager Leila Smith and facilities manager Sam Huckabee also stayed, as did some junior staffers.
Why family bought a movie theater in Morro Bay
The family “was thrilled to find the theater here was for sale,” Wilson said. “My parents met at Cal Poly in the late ‘70s and have taken us back this way from our hometown of San Diego for my whole life.”
Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in visual arts and filmmaking at UC San Diego in 2012. His film experience includes working for ArtPower! Film at UCSD, teaching video production to elementary and middle school kids and, for seven years, managing the workshop floor of a set-building fabrication shop in Brooklyn, New York.
He’s curated content for film festivals, organized special screenings, made his own short films, handled event coordination and learned basic projection and sound engineering skills. His large-scale, set-building experience included a 2020 “surreal-nightmarish-dreamscape set for a beautiful documentary called ‘Dick Johnson is Dead,” he said. It was released by Netflix.
Scott Wilson, an entrepreneur/business owner “recently retired (or so he thought) from a golf simulator company he started in 2009,” son Cameron said, but “his skills and management keep us in constant contact over the theater’s day-to-day operation. … He has been up here four or five times since we just closed (on the sale) in October (and) we discuss the business daily.”
Michaela Lusteg and her husband Skyler Lusteg have lived in Atascadero for a couple of years. She works at the Half-Way Station on Highway 41, but also lends a hand at the theater.
Wilson loves the location of his newest gig, he said.
“Morro Bay’s natural beauty is such a contrast from my previous environment in NY, so I’ve been loving watching the otters, riding my moped along South Bay Boulevard, and watching the waves by the Rock,” he said. “I also love camping and skateboarding, and there are so many great places to do both of those. (And) I love all my neighbors on Morro Bay Boulevard as well — so much good food and shopping!
About the Bay Theater
The historic Bay Theater, located at 464 Morro Bay Blvd., was constructed by the military in the early 1940s as a single-screen moviehouse to provide a diversion for service members.
The theater is open six days a week, closed on Mondays.
The box office and snack bar open 30 minutes before the earliest showtime of the day and remain open until the credits roll on the last show of the day. The doors close briefly between shows for cleaning.
Get details about what’s on the marquee and what’s coming at www.morrobaymovie.com or call 805-772-2444. The theater is closed on Mondays.
