Theatre of the Golden Bough

The theatre was designed and built by Edward G. Kuster between 1922 and 1924. He hired Lee Gottfried to build it. It was located on the south side of Ocean Avenue between Lincoln Street and Monte Verde Street, with The Court of the Golden Bough in front. Kuster was a musician and lawyer from Los Angeles who relocated to Carmel to establish his own theatre and school. Kuster's wife built the Carmel Weavers Studio, with a ticket booth in front of the Golden Bough theatre.[2]

During 1928, an additional floor was built for the Golden Bough, designed by architect Guy O. Koepp, to house a new restaurant. The building featured large arched casement windows on the north and west sides, offering views of the ocean. A fireplace was also incorporated into the west wall, while vaulted ceilings with exposed wooden surfaces were added to enhance its appearance.[3]

In 1928, the Abalone League, a local amateur baseball club and active thespian group, bought the Carmel Arts and Crafts Hall from the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club and renamed it the Abalone Theatre, and later that year Kuster leased the Theatre of the Golden Bough to a local movie exhibitor, the Manzanita Theatre. Kuster then traveled to Europe for one year to study production techniques in Berlin and to negotiate for rights to produce English and European plays in the United States. In 1929, after returning from his European trip, Kuster leased the Theatre of the Golden Bough on Ocean Avenue to a movie theater chain for a period of five years. Kuster stipulated that the name "Golden Bough" could not be used for a movie house so it was renamed the Carmel Theatre.[4]

The original Theatre of the Golden Bough after the devastating 1935 fire.

In 1935, Kuster renegotiated his lease with the movie tenants of the Theatre of the Golden Bough, to perform a stage play one weekend each month. On May 17, 1935, Kuster opened his production of the play By Candlelight. Two nights later, on May 19, the original Theatre of the Golden Bough was destroyed by fire. Arson was the suspected cause of the blaze.

Entrance and courtyard to what was once the Golden Bough Theater.

Today, the Court of the Golden Bough flagstone courtyard still exists that once surrounded the Golden Bough Theater's wood door entrance. Only the building facade remains. The entrance now opens to an arcade courtyard with shops behind a restaurant that was once known as Sade's.[5]

Kuster, who had previously bought out the Arts and Crafts Theatre, moved his film operation to the older facility on Monte Verde Street, renamed it the Filmarte and it became the first "art house" between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It later became the Golden Bough Playhouse.[1]