When it was designed in the 1920s, the theater was promoted as being one of the finest suburban theaters and was referred to as "Blue Mouse Jr." to distinguish it from the larger downtown Tacoma theater of the same name. The "A spectacular melodrama" "The Green Goddess" may have been the first "picture show" shown on the theatre's "silent screen". By 1929, the theater was renamed the Proctor Street Theater, according to the Polk's City Directory for Tacoma. The theater was successful and in 1932 was sold. In 1972, it was re-purchased again and renamed the Bijou in 1980, but struggled to compete against area multiplexes and was threatened with becoming an office complex.