Photo Essay: Bob Baker Marionette Theater Company Bids Farewell to Their Home of 55 Years

Ever since I moved to LA nearly eight years ago, I've been preparing for this day. The closure of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater was always a clear and present danger.

When you know something's going to be taken away, you try to not get very attached.



 But the urgency of experiencing as much of it as you can before it disappears makes any attachment you forge even stronger than it would've been otherwise.



It's been a rollercoaster, even while Bob Baker himself was still alive—the theater company falling into debt, continuing to lose money, not be able to pay the mortgage—but we thought the theater had been saved and that the puppets and their masters were in LA to stay.



And they are, but they're losing the building they've called home since 1963 to a condo development—despite the fact that it was designated a Historic-Cultural Monument. That, however, does not guarantee any salvation for the building.



The theater at 1345 West 1st Street wasn't Bob Baker's original home. After all, when he moved in, he was already 20 years into his career. But it was built to his exact specifications—and it hasn't changed much in 55 years.



It's also where Bob and his team did the majority of his work—the sketching, backdrop painting, scripting, and soundtrack selecting.



It's also where at least two decades' worth of marionettes were fabricated—costumes sewn, hands and feet carved, faces painted.



Since Bob's death in 2014, the young puppet enthusiasts who took over have transformed the inside of the theater...



...into a kind of museum tribute to Bob and his work.



You can walk around and examine plenty of puppets not featured in the current show...



...in both the lobby and the ice cream room.



On Friday, we had the chance to say goodbye to them all, before they're packed up and moved (or not) to the as-yet-undisclosed new location.



In the meantime, Bob Baker Marionette Theater the troupe will perform its Nutcracker at Pasadena Playhouse—and after that, they'll become a roving band of puppeteers for a few months while they pack away all the puppets and Bob's archives.



For the final day that the theater was open, the puppeteers brought out some of their favorite stars of the puppet shows...



...as well as some puppets I've never seen in the 10 or more shows I've attended.



The day after Thanksgiving, among the puppets that were brought out of the closet and paraded around were a pardoned turkey, a snake oil salesman...



...a monkey riding a giraffe...



...and a working model of a Pinocchio marionette that Bob had designed and fabricated for Disney.



Pinocchio isn't the only collaboration between Bob and Walt—Bob also did the puppets for Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. 



His marionettes of Jiminy Cricket and Minnie Mouse were sold at Disneyland for decades. Although Bob didn't make the marionettes sold at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater gift shop, I had to buy one for myself as a souvenir.



The imminent departure of the troupe from the theater also opened up the backstage area for wider public access during the Best of Bob Baker farewell show.



Although I'd been backstage four years ago, it was during the run of Fun With Strings...



...which means I hadn't gotten to see the monkeys...



... or clowns from Circus.



And I hadn't gotten up close and personal with the dancing carrot (though I had met Mrs. Broccoli and a tomato from Revolt of the Vegetables at a gallery show).



In the three weeks before the final performances at Bob Baker Marionette Theater, I attended no less than four shows...



...the Halloween Spooktacular on Halloween...



...the Best of Bob twice...

...and a final time, during the open house, on that last day.



I didn't just get choked up. I found myself full-on bawling.



A little girl next to me was fighting with someone I presume was her grandmother, asking to leave and saying, "I'm too old for this!"



I chimed in with, "I'm 43, and I'm here by myself." The woman with the little girl said, "I'm in my 70s, and I'm loving this!"



Maybe that little girl will come around one day. But when she does, it won't be in this magical, outdated, haunted theater.



It'll be somewhere else, someplace some people will consider a major upgrade.

But no matter how good that next place is, the real spirit of Bob Baker lives on in the puppets and strings and costumes and hands of the puppeteers that give them life.

Wherever they are, Bob's legacy lives on.

The magic will follow.

Places have meaning, but places aren't everything. Buildings burn and crumble after earthquakes. Humans heartlessly tear them down.

As long as the puppets are saved and still get brought out on stage, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater will survive.

Related Posts:
Photo Essay: Behind the Scenes at Bob Baker Marionette Theater
The Art of Master Puppeteer Bob Baker, Upon His Passing

Photo Essay: The Wonder of Bob Baker Marionette Theater's Window Displays at the Santa Monica Pier Carousel (Updated)

Last updated 3/1/21 9:24 PM PT—video embed from Bob Baker Day added at bottom.

Updated 1/31/21 7:39 PM PT—nighttime photos added at bottom. 

Because of the pandemic, I haven't been able to get inside the circa 1916 Looff's Hippodrome, the building that houses the Santa Monica Pier Carousel. 

In fact, it's been pretty hard just to get outside of it, with the Pier closed to the public on certain weekends and holidays to prevent overcrowding and infection-spreading.

    

But last week, I finally got to check out the "Windows of Wonderment" exhibit in the carousel building's windows—a retrospective of a handful of Bob Baker Marionette Theater's stringed spectaculars. 

Photo Essay: Bob Baker Marionette Theater's Grand Opening in the Former York Theatre [Updated for 2026]

[Last updated 4/13/26 7:20 PM PT—Bob Baker Marionette Theatre announced today that it was on track to buy the former York Theatre, rather than just leasing it. A letter from the co-executive directors announced that the puppet theater company has already raised 90% of its building purchase goal in just over a year, further stating: "...We know from experience that the key to the continuity of BBMT is ensuring that we can continue to operate from our physical space—and that true security can only be had through ownership." Another fundraising push aims to take them across the finish line, so they can truly be—as their neon marquee promises—"In LA to Stay."

The day after Thanksgiving this year, Bob Baker Marionette Theater celebrated its grand opening at its new location.



It was 56 years ago to the day—the day after Thanksgiving, that is—that Bob Baker himself opened his puppet theater in its old location on First Street in 1963.



Despite being designated a Historic-Cultural Monument in 2009, the old theater building—which wasn't a theater at all, but a studio/special effects workshop—got slated for condo development.



And it turned out to be just the kick in the pants that the puppet theater company needed to find a new home: the former York Theatre in the Northeast Los Angeles community of Highland Park.



Originally built in 1923 by Richard R.F. Lehman (a.k.a. R.R.F. Lehman) as a vaudeville house—and operated by the John Sugar Amusement Company/Vox Theatres— it most recently housed a Korean church, which had carpeted over the terrazzo flooring.



Once the congregation vacated, it was only a couple of months later—in February of this year—that the Bob Baker folks announced their lease of the York.



They got to work right away at tearing up the carpet and painting floors, walls, and doors. They were already performing preview shows by June of this year.



Although the seating capacity has been dramatically reduced from the original 700—now with a max occupancy of 476 people and 2219 puppets—original 1920s-era theater seats are still bolted to the floor.



Two chandeliers have been hung (a third is on its way) in front of a false proscenium, with those calling card red curtains hanging once again.



The clowns have returned to the sides of the "stage," too.



But an exciting new addition to the new location is a digital theatre organ, whose console is a Wurlitzer replica. It's all too fitting that this little toy-sized organ perform the preamble for puppet shows—and maybe even step into the spotlight for some future organ-oriented programming, too.



The L.A. Times reports that the York Theatre did, at one point, operate as Artisan Organ Hall for organ sales and repairs! And a 1923 edition of the L.A. Times also reports that the original theater operation housed a Wurlitzer for its vaudeville performances.



The auditorium is bigger and wider than it used to be—and that's a good thing. The sightlines have dramatically improved, especially with the raked floor.



But the upgrade to 10,000 square feet—from 7,000 sq. ft.—doesn't take away any of the intimacy of the performances.



If nothing else, it provides some extra room for puppet storage.



And while many of the puppets used in the theater company's shows date back several decades, there are new puppets still being created by the staff and volunteers who now run the show.

They've even resurrected some shows—and puppets—that haven't been seen in decades.

What they've already accomplished is incredible. And while they've still got more to do, there's no doubt that they will settle into their new home quite nicely.

For historic photos, visit the York Theatre page on Los Angeles Theatres.

Related Posts:
Photo Essay: Bob Baker Marionette Theater Company Bids Farewell to Their Home of 55 Years

The Art of Master Puppeteer Bob Baker, Upon His Passing