From an aesthetic standpoint, this place is great. Â Neat murals, classy old furniture, a balcony, and more. Â It's really a lovely spot and an asset to Monterey. Â They get some good acts there too. Â The service charges on some shows can be very high, and not all of the seats are comfortable. Â It's kind of a crap shoot. Â I've sat in seats that were just fine, and I've sat in a seat in the balcony where my knees were crammed up against the seat in front of me. Â I'm only 5'6", and don't have unusually long legs or anything, so this seems unreasonable. Â Choose your seat with care, but then enjoy your surroundings and whatever fine talent they have booked.
Review Source:It's a great old theater, but the seats are in serious need of refurbishment. ALL the seats lean back way too far when you sit in them (i.e. are broken). OK I haven't sat in / behind ALL the seats, so this may be an unfair assessment, but it is true of all the seats I've occupied / sat behind, and we heard people actually GASPING when they sat in seats that sank back farther than they expected!
Review Source:Wow. It is truly a beautiful old theater that has been adorned with an excellent restoration. It is an asset to our community to be able to enjoy events in such a facility. I saw B.B. King do a wonderful show that sounded terrific here. Even the balcony seating is comfortable with a good line of site to the stage. I really can't say enough good about this place. A local gem.
Review Source:Just saw John Prine there on Friday night and it was FANTASTIC. Beautiful theatre; great acoustics; and very nice and friendly staff. Â While I agree with the reviewer that complained about the ticketmaster fees, I understand from speaking with staff that if you buy tickets at the box office that you can avoid those fees.
Review Source:Possibly the most beautiful theatre I have ever seen in my life. Â I am so excited to see The Robert Cray Band this month! Â And the Growlers in December should be fantastic. Â They've had to move their smaller acts from The Lobby to the main stage due to sound complaints, which I thought would be kind of a drag, but I saw The Tumbleweed Wanderers there last night, and it was pretty stunning, everyone standing and swaying in a sea of red velvet chairs. Â I hear that Le Vice had an energetic crowd on Friday. Â Delicious beer too.
Review Source:Been there twice recently--once for "Blue," the ocean film & conservation event, and for a music performance in the lobby (Alternative Cafe?). Great place to watch films. And the acoustics in the lobby are excellent. Nice place, too. A couple friends & I saw Pacific Northwest singer-songwriter Al Marcus open open for locals Tree Top Trio.
I'm downgrading them a star because they don't answer emails and because the bigger name concerts there have ridiculous Ticketmaster(?) service charges on the tickets ($13-16 or more for some shows).
Note (November 2012): The downtown Monterey/Alvarado St. music Nazis have apparently deemed music in the theatre lobby to be too loud & obnoxious for the neighborhood. God forbid we should have some folk music or acoustic gypsy jazz within earshot of one of Monterey's precious hotel guests. Sheesh!
This theater is stunning on the inside! I do not consider it unfortunate that our church has taken over the facility? How could that be unfortunate? Our church has taken on a huge responsibility in the upkeep of the property. Maybe you should attend a Sunday service before you judge? Our praise and worship band is one of the best on the Peninsula and our pastor is one of the most transparent and real people you will meet.
I have gone to a few concerts here and the facility is made for music - it echos and is beautiful!
The reviewer FM, who complained that this venue is a church and is all... church-y now is uninformed. Yes, a church leases the venue, but we should all be glad because otherwise this historic theater would just be another empty building falling into ruin, or even stripped and remodeled, like the single theater that used to be across the street. The church has also taken on the repair and upkeep, ensuring the beautiful architecture and amazing interiors can be enjoyed by everyone for years to come. (Check out the theater's website for some pics of the restoration!) The venue continues to offer events enjoyable to a broad range of people, the majority totally secular. Lewis Black, Lyle Lovett, The Doobie Brothers, Randy Newman and Willie Nelson have all played here recently, and Jerry Seinfeld is coming next month. I'm about the least religious person I know, and I love and support Golden State.
Edit:
I stand by my review but allow me to edify. There were renovations made to the theatre prior to the church taking over. However, the church also did major behind the scenes renovations that were necessary to preserve the original character of the venue and is now responsible for the day to day maintenance of this beautiful, old building.
Also, thanks to F.M. for validating my entire point about secular events by confirming that the church rents the bulding to varying groups of people.
Here for my first Gospel Jazz concert sponsored by AbstractVision Productions. Â Patt Casion, an artist in her own right, well known in the area also performed. Â While the show was billed as a Gospel Jazz Concert, any lover of good music in general and Jazz music in particular, will throughly enjoy this event...the first of ( if the audience is any indication) many more such events. Â Check out Patt Casion's FB page to stay informed and "in the know"! I'm from the Central Valley of California and drove down especially for this concert...in the rain I might add and this was worth every rain drop and traffic snafu we encountered. Â My next step is to bring this concert to my area!
Review Source:I made the mistake of going to a live music performance at the Golden State Theatre in Monterey. The sound setup was terrible with the bass so strong it drowned out the mid-range and of course the vocals. I heard the same group at the Mountain Winery in Los Gatos and the sound was excellent and the concert was great. At the Golden State Theater the sound was so bad it was painful and a complete waste of money. For live performances the Sunset Theater in Carmel is excellent and really the only one in the immediate Monterey area worth paying to listen to live music. It appears that the acoustics of the theater overall are OK but the stage setup and the lack of skill on the person at the mixer result in a dismal experience for the listening audience.
Review Source:This theater is truly gorgeous. I lived in Monterey for about a year before I went to one of their events. The outside is a bit drab, but the inside is beautiful. I was fortunate enough to sit in the balcony seating during one of their film festivals and I must say that it's one of the best places to be. I hope that they have more events soon because I cannot wait to go back!
Review Source:Break out your V-neck tees from Urban Outfitters everybody. Looks like we're in for a whole lotta hipster type shows. LOL
The church group has left and it's atleast back to being an entertainment venue.
Oh well... can't win them all.
Hope someday they'll return to their old programming of classic movies and ecclectic shows.
Great old fashioned beautiful theater. My husbands boss took us here to see Firesign Theater. The show was ok, I couldn't understand half of what was going on, maybe I am not enough of a hippie.
Anyways, the decor is the great old glamorous 20s style (I am guessing here, not an architecture major or anything) and it is right in down town. Also, I was expecting the chairs to be a lot more uncomfortable than they were.
Oh and the bathrooms made me laugh. Â I am short, like 5'3" and I could totally see over the wall when standing so there was no guessing who was done and who wasn't. Â As soon as you stood up to zip up your stall was the next target.
Finally, husband needed popcorn, and the line was huge so I told him good luck but I didn't want to miss the show starting in less than 10 minutes. He got back really fast, fast enough for me to steal his drink at least :-)
Just saw Luis Black here tonight. The theatre has an antique and old feel. We were second row from the stage, center. Â The plus is lots of leg room between the seats.
The low rating is due to the $16 (plus tip) I spent on two "cups" of wine I piclked up in the lobby. Â We couldn't even drink this tar we were served and I was pretty annoyed that they were charging 8bucks a cup. Ridiculous. I wanted to give a 1 star, but I am feeling generous.
Very convenient location and old school vintage feel. Â Haven't seen a movie here in about 10 years but recently stopped in to support "Stop the Spray". Â It is a movement to stop aerial spraying to kill Light Brown Apple Moths. Â The spray has been linked to people suffering from health issues and apparently it is not good for our environment as well.
<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stopthespray.org%2F&s=2463c0fe2fd5809e429bd24e9a352ebd92d697516631c9345830863438cfc75b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.stopthespray.…</a>
I love this theater so much...I got married in it! Â It is a genuine piece of history that has been restored beautifully. Â I've been going to the Golden State since I was a very little girl and I am thrilled that so much effort was invested in keeping it alive. Â Its hard to believe how rundown it once was. Â The late night double features offered on the weekends are always a cheap good time.
Review Source:Old Fashioned Theater with PIPE ORGAN!
What a fantastic piece of history in current use! Â Usually showing double features (sometimes with films involving a live pipe organ performance - what a treat!)...
Your feet sink into the thick red carpet after you enter and you can select to view the performance either upstairs - in which case you follow the curving, red-carpeted and thick, carved wood handrailed stairs up to the second level - or you progress straight through the thick wood double doors and chose your seat in the opera-like arena that is the movie theater. Â Be sure to look up at the ornately decorated ceilings and walls - painted and portions of the walls open up when the pipe organ is being played. Â Never seen anything like this cinema. Â Being here is like time-travel to the early 1900's when the cinema was an event, not a time-filler. Â
Also hosts live concerts (jazz, blues) and comedy (Weird Al was there a few months ago). Â Glad to see a place like this is kept rather than torn down and replaced by a run of the mill new theater with Starbucks inside.. Hope you get the chance to check the place out if you're in the area!
LOVE IT! They are an antique theater that has managed to stay afloat, unlike so many others. The whole theater is a trip back in time inside and out. The snacks are very cheap and the double features on Friday and Saturdays are awesome and differ every weekend. Sadly, I have never been to a concert there, but I hope that will change soon since it is such a popular venue with great artists of different genres.
Review Source:
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