It is no longer possible to see a film anywhere in the Perth CBD.

The last cinema still showing films, the Piccadilly, closed in 2013 although there are hopes it may reopen soon.

People once flocked to the city in their thousands to see the latest releases from Hollywood, Heritage Perth's executive director Richard Offen explained.

During a walking tour of Perth's cinema history, he said the earliest known film screening was at an outdoor cinema on November 21, 1896, and records showed it was a film of the Melbourne Cup run a few weeks earlier.

"It continued to run until January 1897 and it must have been the talk of the town, seeing horses running on the other side of the continent," Mr Offen said.

The first cinemas were all outdoors.

Hard-top theatres that could show movies during the day and in all weather began to appear at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Queen's Hall on William Street was the hall for the neighbouring Wesley Church and began hosting film screenings in the early 1900s.

Hoyts Regent Theatre glows with signs advertising the first talkies in 1929. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

"After World War I Hoyts acquired the site, converted it into a very swanky cinema and renamed it the Regent Theatre," Mr Offen said.

"It changed hands in the 1930s and became the Metro cinema because it was owned by MGM.

"It continued right up until 1973, when the last film showed there was Gone With The Wind."

The Metro was demolished and replaced by a shopping arcade.

Age-old cinemas converted

Just around the corner, in what is now the Hay Street Mall, there were once seven cinemas including the Piccadilly, the Plaza and what was arguably Perth's grandest cinema, the Ambassador's Theatre.

The Ambassador's Theatre was designed as an "atmospheric" cinema with elaborate detailing inspired by ancient Greece and opened in November 1928.

The atmospheric interior of the Ambassador's Theatre, with a sky-painted ceiling, when it opened in 1929. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

"The idea was that you went in through a facade that was an elaborately carved Grecian palace. Inside, the ceiling was painted with the sky," Mr Offen said.

"The notion was that it would suspend reality for you.

"You would walk in there and forget the cares and worries of the day, sit in this Grecian courtyard, enjoy the film and come out refreshed."

Unfortunately for the cinema's owners, the Wall Street crash and subsequent Great Depression hit in 1929 and audiences sharply declined.

"The orchestra was sacked in 1930 and the cinema closed for about 10 months in 1932, simply because of the fall in patronage," Mr Offen said.

"It was then sold to another cinema chain who didn't like Grecian atmospheric style and ripped out most of the statuary and painted over the ceiling in 1938.

"The original was quite something and caused a huge stir when it opened."

After surviving the Depression, the Ambassador's Theatre stayed open until 1972 when it was torn down and replaced by a modern cinema complex, which too was demolished in the 1990s.

Children crowd around to see coming attractions at the Piccadilly Cinema in 1954. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

Most of the remaining cinema structures in the mall are still there but have been converted into shops or simply stand empty.

The Piccadilly Cinema box office still stands but the screening rooms have become a kickboxing studio.

The Plaza Cinema and the Theatre Royal are empty spaces.

"A lot of these cinemas suffered from the same malady that cinemas around the world suffered from, and that was television," Mr Offen said.

Megaplexes take over cinema space

As audiences declined in the 1980s, cinema owners found they could make more money from renting out the ground floor space for shops and leaving the theatres empty.

The Art Deco facade of the Plaza remains and the vacant auditorium behind it is unused. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

Above the Plaza arcade the old Plaza cinema space still exists behind the Art Deco facade although it remains empty.

"Until last year the projection box still had the original cine-machines," Mr Offen explained.

"It can't be used because it only has one staircase so it doesn't conform to fire regulations."

Inside Liberty Theatre in 1954 — it is now a dressmaking studio. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

In the 1990s the first megaplexes opened in the Perth's suburbs, spelling the end for movie-going in the city.

But Mr Offen said the old movie theatres were still fondly remembered by people in Perth and he hoped one day a few would come back.

"I think history of cinemas really does give you a cross section of the community and cultural life of a city.

"Between the two World Wars and into the 1950s, the cinema was the place of entertainment for many people, and also the place of information, because it brought the world news in the newsreels."

Mr Offen will lead free tours of Perth's cinema history on March 8.