The Los Angeles Times carried an article about the Criterion headlined “Santa Monica theater will open soon” in its December 30th, 1923 issue, so the theater must have opened early in 1924. An article in the Santa Monica Outlook of August 4th, 1923, announced that the theater’s organ had been ordered.
Awarding of the contract to W.J. Burgin for construction of the Rivoli Theatre was announced in Southwest Builder and Contractor issue of August 7th, 1936. The owner of the building was named as L.T. Edwards, and the plans were prepared by structural engineer F.E. Stanbery (no mention is made of Stanbery’s usual partner, architect Cliff Balch.) The building was to be of reinforced concrete construction, and the estimated cost was $45,000- a tidy sum in that depression year.
Announcing the completion of Carl Boller’s plans for this theater, Southwest Builder and Contractor of June 13th, 1924, said that the there would be six stores and the theater entrance on the ground floor, and that the third floor would be used as a cafe. It also says that the theater would have 1400 seats.
A Los Angeles Times article of April 26th, 1925 (part V, p.5.) contains an illustration of the theater.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram of May 24th, 1925, has an article headlined “Newly erected Ritz Theater to open doors at noon today.”
There is some information about the Oroville State Theater on the City of Oroville web site. The theater’s schedule of events is available there, as well.
The ultimate seating capacity of this 1928 house will be 1000, once the balcony is fully restored. Current seating is 608, on the main floor.
Surprisingly, the total expenditure for the purchase and renovation of this theater in 1986-87 was less than $700,000, including the cost of asbestos removal.
Originally built for San Francisco-based exhibitors Turner and Danken, the State was operated in its last years as a twinned movie house by United Artists.
The theater must have opened as the Carter. Southwest Builder and Contractor of August 22nd, 1924, names the owner of the proposed theater as J.W. Carter.
By 1933, in an article saying that Schilling & Schilling were taking bids for repairing earthquake damage to the theater, the April 14th issue of the same publication names the owner (or perhaps operator) as E. H. Lee.
In an announcement of the remodeling of the theater in its May 16th, 1947 issue, SB&C says that the work is being done for Milton Arthur. Presumably, the house had changed hands, or management, again by then.
The Motion Picture Herald issue of December 12, 1936, Better Theatres section, announced the re-opening of this theater as the Colony, following an “expensive remodeling” by S. Charles Lee. Apparently, the Automatic Theater thing didn’t work out as planned. The operator of the Colony was named as Albert A. Galston, and the article also said that the remodeled theater had 500 seats.
This theater was called the Paris for more than a decade, at least. I remember it by that name from the early 1960s. If memory serves, at that time it was not showing movies, but was the venue of a long-running, rather risque (for the time) stage show called something like “Les Poupees de Paris” (which the scandalized mother of a friend of mine said was “a dirty puppet show.”) I never saw it, alas. I think I’d have enjoyed a dirty puppet show.
According to an article in the May 3rd, 1925, issue of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the architect of the Granada Theater was W. J. McCormack.
Incidentally, Wilmington was once a seperate incorporated city, but has been, since about 1910, a district of the City of Los Angeles. Along with nearby San Pedro, also once an independent city, it is connected to Los Angeles by the famous “shoestring,” a strip of territory about a half mile wide extending south several miles from the main part of the city. The annexation of the two harbor area cities allowed Los Angeles to arrange the costly improvements needed to make San Pedro Bay into a modern, deep-water port early in the 20th century.
The only information on the Admiral Theater in the LAPL regional history database is a card referencing a January 19th, 1940, issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor. The abstract says that the owner of the theater was Julius Stern, that Henry Aurbach had been awarded the construction contract, and that S. Charles Lee was the architect. The building was to be built of brick and reinforced concrete, would have 700 seats, and would cost $21,280. Given the low costs of construction in the pre-war period, that seems like an entirely new building, rather than a remodeling job. It’s possible that there was an earlier theater on the same site which was demolished to make way for the Admiral, though. I’m sure that central Hollywood had no vacant lots at that late date.
The original owner of this theater was Otis Hunley. It was designed by Meyer and Holler and erected by the Milwaukee Building Company in 1921-22. The April 21st, 1922, issue of the Hollywood Citizen said that the pipe organ of the Hunley Theater was being enlarged, and named the organist as a Mrs. Gleason.
Ah, I missed an entire page in my map book when I was measuring, and I also thought that Long Beach counted at least twelve blocks per mile, since the downtown blocks are fairly short. Apparently they stretch the numbering system once they get out of downtown. Still, from downtown Long Beach to South Street (which is about where the 5800 block begins) is only a bit over six miles.
Hugh Biggs was the architect of the Towne Theater. It was originally intended to be named the Vogue, which is the name which appears in Biggs' early renderings of the design. The walls of the Towne were built of reinforced granite.
I notice that in the second picture to which you linked, the building has a rooftop sign reading “Loew’s State.”
The old auditorium must have been knocked down at the beginning of the 1930s, or the late 1920s, as the new long Beach Municipal Auditorium (which was itself demolished in the 1960s) was opened in early 1932.
The address at which the Atlantic Theater was listed in the Los Angeles Times Theater Guide in 1971 is 5870 Atlantic Avenue. Unless the City of Long Beach has undergone a renumbering of its streets since then, the address given above is wrong.
If this theater were nine miles north of downtown Long Beach, it would have been in the City of South Gate. From Ocean Avenue to the northern city limits of Long Beach is only about five miles. The address in the 5800 block would put the theater about four miles north of Ocean Avenue.
The Jergins Trust Building was originally called the Markwell Building. The architects were Harvey Lockridge and the Spokane-based architect Kirkland Cutter. The theater and six story office building were completed in 1919. Three additional floors were added to the building in 1929, to plans by Lockridge.
The big four playhouses built in the 1920s were the Vine Street, the Hollywood Playhouse, The Music Box (later the Fox, then the Pix, now the Henry Fonda Theater) and the original El Capitan, which became the Paramount. Since the Vine Street showed movies as the Mirror in the early 1930s, the Hollywood Playhouse is the only one of the four which (as far as I know) has never been a movie house.
I do have a vague memory of seeing newspaper ads for movies being shown at the Ivar, though I’ve never been to that theater. The only other live theaters that I can remember in Hollywood are the Las Palmas and the Coronet. I went to a play at one of them, in the mid 1960s, but can’t remember which of the two it was (it was a small theater with a courtyard entrance, on a side street just off Hollywood Boulevard- sounds like the Las Palmas, doesn’t it? I can’t remember where the Coronet is.) As far as I know, neither of them has ever been a movie house.
I’ve only just come across a reference to a similar plan to add a second auditorium to the Balboa Theatre, also announced late in 1941, but this one designed by Clifford Balch. The Balboa’s second theatre, at 540 seats, would have been a bit larger than the one planned for the California. As far as I know, the only theatres in Southern California whose stage houses actually were converted to seperate theatres were the Fox Riverside Theatre in Riverside, and the Fox Theatre in Redlands.
The Los Angeles Times carried an article about the Criterion headlined “Santa Monica theater will open soon” in its December 30th, 1923 issue, so the theater must have opened early in 1924. An article in the Santa Monica Outlook of August 4th, 1923, announced that the theater’s organ had been ordered.
Awarding of the contract to W.J. Burgin for construction of the Rivoli Theatre was announced in Southwest Builder and Contractor issue of August 7th, 1936. The owner of the building was named as L.T. Edwards, and the plans were prepared by structural engineer F.E. Stanbery (no mention is made of Stanbery’s usual partner, architect Cliff Balch.) The building was to be of reinforced concrete construction, and the estimated cost was $45,000- a tidy sum in that depression year.
Announcing the completion of Carl Boller’s plans for this theater, Southwest Builder and Contractor of June 13th, 1924, said that the there would be six stores and the theater entrance on the ground floor, and that the third floor would be used as a cafe. It also says that the theater would have 1400 seats.
A Los Angeles Times article of April 26th, 1925 (part V, p.5.) contains an illustration of the theater.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram of May 24th, 1925, has an article headlined “Newly erected Ritz Theater to open doors at noon today.”
Southwest Builder and Contractor, issue of September 26th, 1945, says that the plans for the Crest were made by Kaiser Engineers.
There is some information about the Oroville State Theater on the City of Oroville web site. The theater’s schedule of events is available there, as well.
The ultimate seating capacity of this 1928 house will be 1000, once the balcony is fully restored. Current seating is 608, on the main floor.
Surprisingly, the total expenditure for the purchase and renovation of this theater in 1986-87 was less than $700,000, including the cost of asbestos removal.
Originally built for San Francisco-based exhibitors Turner and Danken, the State was operated in its last years as a twinned movie house by United Artists.
Actually, that opening was February 1st, 1945. ((Can’t read my own scribbling.)
The Los Angeles Times records the date on which this theater re-opened as the Guild as February 2nd, 1945.
The theater must have opened as the Carter. Southwest Builder and Contractor of August 22nd, 1924, names the owner of the proposed theater as J.W. Carter.
By 1933, in an article saying that Schilling & Schilling were taking bids for repairing earthquake damage to the theater, the April 14th issue of the same publication names the owner (or perhaps operator) as E. H. Lee.
In an announcement of the remodeling of the theater in its May 16th, 1947 issue, SB&C says that the work is being done for Milton Arthur. Presumably, the house had changed hands, or management, again by then.
The Motion Picture Herald issue of December 12, 1936, Better Theatres section, announced the re-opening of this theater as the Colony, following an “expensive remodeling” by S. Charles Lee. Apparently, the Automatic Theater thing didn’t work out as planned. The operator of the Colony was named as Albert A. Galston, and the article also said that the remodeled theater had 500 seats.
Architect Clarence Smale collaborated with theater designer Carl G. Moeller on the Hawaii. It was built for the Times-Mirror Company.
Christian:
The theater marquee in the postcard view is that of the Admiral (now called the Vine) at 6321 Hollywood Boulevard.
This theater was called the Paris for more than a decade, at least. I remember it by that name from the early 1960s. If memory serves, at that time it was not showing movies, but was the venue of a long-running, rather risque (for the time) stage show called something like “Les Poupees de Paris” (which the scandalized mother of a friend of mine said was “a dirty puppet show.”) I never saw it, alas. I think I’d have enjoyed a dirty puppet show.
According to an article in the May 3rd, 1925, issue of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the architect of the Granada Theater was W. J. McCormack.
Incidentally, Wilmington was once a seperate incorporated city, but has been, since about 1910, a district of the City of Los Angeles. Along with nearby San Pedro, also once an independent city, it is connected to Los Angeles by the famous “shoestring,” a strip of territory about a half mile wide extending south several miles from the main part of the city. The annexation of the two harbor area cities allowed Los Angeles to arrange the costly improvements needed to make San Pedro Bay into a modern, deep-water port early in the 20th century.
Ken:
The only information on the Admiral Theater in the LAPL regional history database is a card referencing a January 19th, 1940, issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor. The abstract says that the owner of the theater was Julius Stern, that Henry Aurbach had been awarded the construction contract, and that S. Charles Lee was the architect. The building was to be built of brick and reinforced concrete, would have 700 seats, and would cost $21,280. Given the low costs of construction in the pre-war period, that seems like an entirely new building, rather than a remodeling job. It’s possible that there was an earlier theater on the same site which was demolished to make way for the Admiral, though. I’m sure that central Hollywood had no vacant lots at that late date.
The original owner of this theater was Otis Hunley. It was designed by Meyer and Holler and erected by the Milwaukee Building Company in 1921-22. The April 21st, 1922, issue of the Hollywood Citizen said that the pipe organ of the Hunley Theater was being enlarged, and named the organist as a Mrs. Gleason.
Ah, I missed an entire page in my map book when I was measuring, and I also thought that Long Beach counted at least twelve blocks per mile, since the downtown blocks are fairly short. Apparently they stretch the numbering system once they get out of downtown. Still, from downtown Long Beach to South Street (which is about where the 5800 block begins) is only a bit over six miles.
Hugh Biggs was the architect of the Towne Theater. It was originally intended to be named the Vogue, which is the name which appears in Biggs' early renderings of the design. The walls of the Towne were built of reinforced granite.
The Brayton was designed by the Long Beach architectural firm Schilling & Schilling. It opened on July 30th, 1925.
And, ronp is right about the designer. I have found two other sources saying that Carl Boller was the architect of the Atlantic Theater.
Christian:
I notice that in the second picture to which you linked, the building has a rooftop sign reading “Loew’s State.”
The old auditorium must have been knocked down at the beginning of the 1930s, or the late 1920s, as the new long Beach Municipal Auditorium (which was itself demolished in the 1960s) was opened in early 1932.
The address at which the Atlantic Theater was listed in the Los Angeles Times Theater Guide in 1971 is 5870 Atlantic Avenue. Unless the City of Long Beach has undergone a renumbering of its streets since then, the address given above is wrong.
If this theater were nine miles north of downtown Long Beach, it would have been in the City of South Gate. From Ocean Avenue to the northern city limits of Long Beach is only about five miles. The address in the 5800 block would put the theater about four miles north of Ocean Avenue.
The Jergins Trust Building was originally called the Markwell Building. The architects were Harvey Lockridge and the Spokane-based architect Kirkland Cutter. The theater and six story office building were completed in 1919. Three additional floors were added to the building in 1929, to plans by Lockridge.
Don:
Was there a roadshow re-release of Ben Hur? I remember seing it in my suburban L.A. neighborhood theater before I graduated from high school in 1962.
The big four playhouses built in the 1920s were the Vine Street, the Hollywood Playhouse, The Music Box (later the Fox, then the Pix, now the Henry Fonda Theater) and the original El Capitan, which became the Paramount. Since the Vine Street showed movies as the Mirror in the early 1930s, the Hollywood Playhouse is the only one of the four which (as far as I know) has never been a movie house.
I do have a vague memory of seeing newspaper ads for movies being shown at the Ivar, though I’ve never been to that theater. The only other live theaters that I can remember in Hollywood are the Las Palmas and the Coronet. I went to a play at one of them, in the mid 1960s, but can’t remember which of the two it was (it was a small theater with a courtyard entrance, on a side street just off Hollywood Boulevard- sounds like the Las Palmas, doesn’t it? I can’t remember where the Coronet is.) As far as I know, neither of them has ever been a movie house.
I’ve only just come across a reference to a similar plan to add a second auditorium to the Balboa Theatre, also announced late in 1941, but this one designed by Clifford Balch. The Balboa’s second theatre, at 540 seats, would have been a bit larger than the one planned for the California. As far as I know, the only theatres in Southern California whose stage houses actually were converted to seperate theatres were the Fox Riverside Theatre in Riverside, and the Fox Theatre in Redlands.