Most baby boomers remember the single screen cinemas in Mombasa well. In the days before VHS, DVD and streaming you could only watch movies in cinemas such as Kenya, Naaz, Regal, Moons and Drive In. Most of these closed as DVD and streaming on the internet took off after 2010.
I assumed all cinemas were successful until this time. What is probably little known is the Tivoli Cinema which was arguably Mombasa’s first cinema. I came across this old 1920’s flyer (see below) that advertises the Tivoli as a cool, comfortable cinema showing good movies and that is known to taxi drivers! The cinema was obviously targeting well to do patrons.
A review of the Kenya Gazette unearthed a theatre liquor license application in 1929 for Tivoli cinema on Coronation Street. The Tivoli was bankrupt by 1934 and an application for discharge was made to the Supreme Court of Kenya by a one Mr Manibhai Hathi Bhai Patel doing business as Tivoli Cinema. What a pioneer!
