Long live the El Segundo Old Town Music Hall
Bill Field, the organist, owner and proprietor of the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo. Photo You wouldn’t necessarily recognize Bill Field as a workhorse on first glance. Outside his Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, the 73-year old man sits quietly on his scooter, a new addition to his life because of two consecutive falls that injured his knees. He speaks softly and deliberately. He seems to have all the time in the world just to chat. But Field has spent every weekend for the last 45 years running a theater, doing the job all on his own since 2001, when his business partner and oldest friend, Bill Coffman, passed away. The two men opened the Old Town Music Hall together in 1968 as a non-profit venue specializing in concerts, films from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and silent films accompanied by live organ played by Field, himself. “The Two Bills,” as they were known to friends, shared a love of music and, shortly after graduating from high school, they pooled their money to buy a Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ from the Fox Theater in Long Beach. They rented a small studio to practice in until they discovered that the State Theater, a silent movie house that opened in El…
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