Hi, it’s Adrian Bo here and today I’m outside the iconic Ritz Theatre behind me on St Pauls Street in Randwick to talk about the deep history of this local institution. So the cinema was built in 1937 by the Williams family who lived in Coogee and owned a company called Randwick Estates. The estimated cost of construction at the time was a mere $20,000. It seems insignificant today, but in the late 30s, this was a lot of money. The Art Deco style design was put together by local architect, Aaron Bolot, who was born in Crimea in Ukraine. In 1900, Bolot migrated to Brisbane, where he studied architecture, which led him to working on the project to build an art deco cinema on the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane, the Regent. He soon saw the opportunity to site himself in Sydney, so he established a practise here leading to his involvement in the Ritz Theatre project.

In fact, he later was involved in many other Art Deco theatre projects, so this became his niche that he was known for throughout his whole career, though he was also involved in the construction of many apartment buildings, also across the city. The development of the Ritz was a major local event. The gala opening included a double bill in Technicolour, which in itself was highly original at the time. Local people up until that point would never have experienced this before. The movies were “God’s Country and the Woman” starring George Brent, and “Call it a Day” starring Olivia de Havilland. The cinema was full to capacity with all 982 seats being filled. Now, don’t forget these were pre-TV days until the father of David Gyngell, Mr. Bruce Gyngell uttered his famous phrase on the first Australian television broadcast being, “Welcome to Television.” And that was in 1956. So back in 1937, the local cinemas became a source of daily news broadcasting, as well as the movies. By 1954, the Hoyts Group had been well-established and started mopping up independent theatres, including the Ritz. However, the advent of television caused business to decline, leading to its closing in 1962, when the Sisters of the Brigidine Congregation bought it enabling it to continue to trade as an independent cinema.

Now in the late 1970s and early 80s, the cinema became known for showing movies between midnight and dawn, as well as pioneering Tuesday bargain price movie nights, referred to as, “Tight Arse Tuesdays.” Diane Darwon was the pioneer of these offerings, Having leased the cinema from the Sisters of the Brigidine Congregation. In 1994, it became the centre of a major local campaign. The owners sold the Ritz to two gentlemen, Mr. Ziade and Mr. Mezrani, and they put on a proposal to demolish the property and redevelop the site. This met with a massive local backlash, as Randwick residents, including movie star, Mel Gibson, who lived in the area down at Coogee, fought the proposal until council placed a conservation order on the property in 1993 due to local pressure. Now, Mr. Ziade and Mr. Mezrani retained the site despite getting their plans knocked back. They secured an adjacent piece of land in 1997 and expanded the cinema with three extra screens, whilst also making the seating and legroom more comfortable in the original auditorium. And two further screens were added in 2001. Now in 2008, the Australian Film Walk of Fame was established outside the Ritz with plaques honouring the stars of the Australian Film Industry. The first being Coogee resident, Charles “Bud” Tingwell.

I told a great story about Bud’s career being inspired by another local cinema on Carr Street in Coogee, which I will link to in the post. The business was sold two years ago to the Tamir family, who own three other heritage cinemas in Melbourne. Now I’ve been selling real estate in this area for 32 years and some of the properties I’ve sold in this vicinity recently include, 2/47 Coogee Bay Road, 40 Dudley Street, 54, Melody Street, 175 Botany street, 349 Avoca Street, amongst many, many others. I hope you’ve enjoyed this story of the Randwick Ritz, yet another piece of local history that we as residents must treasure and retain to avoid it being forgotten. Please keep smiling during this lockdown period. We can only hope it will be behind us soon, and always remember your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.