It will be a minor miracle if this theatre still exists. My memories of Redondo Beach are few, but they go back a long way. There was once a small amusement park just south of the municipal pier, but that must have been demolished at least forty years ago. In the 1960s, the area north of the pier was changed beyond recognition by the construction of the King Harbor Marina. The last time I was in Redondo, sometime in the late 1970s, urban renewal had gotten to the old center of town. The pier was still there, but most of the buildings nearby had been leveled for parking lots.
The pier itself still featured a hodgepodge of ramshackle old buildings, most of them done up in some vaguely “nautical” style, and housing an array of restaurants, fishmongers, and souvenir shops. The theatre might well have been among those buildings, but it was certainly not being used for its original purpose. I wish I’d paid closer attention to the place. John Parkinson was one of my favorite early Los Angeles architects, and I’d be very pleased if this theater survives, even if it only houses a seafood cafe.
I have found this theater listed as one of Los Angeles' principal downtown movie houses in a map book which was probably published about 1950 (the page with the copyright date is missing, but the map of downtown shows the Hollywood and Harbor Freeways still under construction, and rapid transit tracks still running along Aliso Street.) At that time, the theatre was operating under the name Grand Playhouse.
The Glendale Masonic Temple was designed by local architect Arthur George Lindley, of the firm of Lindley & Selkirk. The building was completed in 1928.
Southwest Builder and Contractor issue of March 1st, 1940, announced that architect C.A. Balch was preparing plans for the State Theatre, for Fox-West Coast.
The previous year, other issues of the same publication had announced plans for a theater on the same site, to have been built for John Drew, named as the operator of the Temple Theater in Glendale. This theater would have had a balcony and a total of 800 seats, but the project was never carried out. The interesting thing about these earlier announcements, though, is that they revealed that the State was built on the site of the former Belvedere Theater, which was destroyed by a fire. The fire story was covered in a Los Angeles Times article of November 21st, 1933.
I walked along this block hundreds of times in the years I lived in Los Angeles, yet cannot remember the building next to the alley. Old pictures of Seventh Street around 1920 show a two-story building with a flat-topped decorative parapet wall rising slightly higher above the center of its facade, and a small marquee-like feature over the entrance. The pictures I’ve seen don’t have enough detail to tell if this was a theater or not.
I remember most of the buildings that were still on that block as late as the 1980s, but I don’t recall if that particular location was still occupied by a two story building. If it is, then the building is most likely the same one that was there in the 1920s, and it might still show some signs of having once been a theater.
The architect of the Vermont Theater was E.J. Borgmeyer. The owner of the building was Mr. Joseph Engert. The cost of construction for the project, including two stores, five office suites, and the theater with pipe organ was set at $100,000. The brick building was 65x170 feet.
Source: Southwest Builder and Contractor, 29 July, 1921.
Construction of the Temple Theatre began in late 1921. The contractor was Al Nelson, the owner of the building was F.W. Braun. The architect was H.C. Dockbar.
Source: Southwest Builder and Contractor, 21 October, 1921.
Either this theater or the Eagle Theater was probably the one originally called the United Theater, which was referred to in an article in the Highland Park News Herald on July 23rd, 1926, on the occasion of its purchase by Mr. John Sugar, named as the owner of the York Theater. Mr. Sugar sold both of his Eagle Rock theaters and the York theater sometime later, as noted in an article in the Los Angeles Times of December 28th, 1928.
The Cinema Treasures listing of the Eagle Theater (currently listed as being located in Eagle Rock, California rather than Los Angeles) contains no information regarding former names it may have had in the 1920s, though a comment there says that in the 1930s it was called the Yosemite Theater, and later was known as the New Eagle Theater.
The L.A. Public Library photo collection contains an earlier picture of this theater. Apparently, its name when it opened was the Kinema. This name was actually carved into the wall of the side of the building, as clearly shown in the photograph.
I only went to the Tower those two times; First, at the end of 1963, when it was still the Newsreel Theatre, and then again in 1967 after it had gone back to its original name and was showing first run movies. But the doors were so close to the sidewalk that it was easy to see the grand staircase in the lobby every time I passed by. I went to movies downtown mostly during the early 1960s, and had little interest in the fare at the Newsreel, but I went to the other big Broadway theatres many times.
I think that the L.A. Conservancy is still having its Broadway Theatre Tours every Saturday. I’ve heard that the United Artists is no longer available to them, and that the Million Dollar was recently taken off the tour due to falling plaster, so that leaves only the Los Angeles, the Orpheum, the Palace and maybe the Tower as stops on the tour. They try to include three theatres in the tour, but it depends on the availability (for example, if a music video or an ad or a movie is being filmed in one of the theatres, they wouldn’t be able to include that one that week.) I think they charge eight dollars for the tour, and you need to make a reservation a month in advance.
The conservancy also sponsors a program called Last Remaining Seats, which features a series of old movies presented at one or another of the Broadway theatres, and usually one at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. This series usually happens in June, but you’ll have to check on their web site to get the exact dates.
The Palace used to be one of the theatres at which these programs were presented, but it recently suffered some water damage to its projection room, so it may not be available for the series this year, and the Million Dollar is probably off the list too, because of the falling plaster. So this year’s program will probably be confined to the Los Angeles, the Orpheum, and the Alex.
For at least part of the 1920s, this was called Dalton’s Theatre. Presumably, this was between the time the new Pantages opened and 1928, when this theatre became the Arcade.
I have been able to determine that the Meralta was designed by architect Evan Jones, of Hollywood, but I don’t know which of the other proposed theaters on Downey Avenue is which. Whichever one was at the northwest corner of Second Street is the one designed by Newton and Truesdell, but I don’t know which of the theaters that is.
I also know that there was a theater called the Downey that was operating in the early 1920s, and that yet another theater was proposed for an unidentified location on Downey Avenue in 1925. I have only the vaguest memories of Downey Avenue, as it was several miles from where I lived, and I only passed through the town infrequently, usually on Rosemead Boulevard or Firestone.
I remember seeing the Downey, Meralta and Avenue theatres listed in the L.A. Times, but don’t remember a Fiesta theatre at all.
The Garrick was originally called the Hyman Theatre, built by Los Angeles Theatrical promoter Arthr S. Hyman, sometime after 1913 (when the project was first announced.)
Late in 1921, it was remodeled to a design by architect George Edwin Bergstrom. I don’t know if the name change to Garrick Theatre accompanied the reopening, or happened some time earlier.
One of the last houses opened by West Coast Theatres before that circuit was purchased by Willaim Fox, the Oakland was one of the first theaters to have the “Fox” name added to its marquee. The change was announced in Exhibitors Herald-World of March 23rd, 1929.
I am quite surprised to come across a reverse theatre, and to find that there were more of them. However, there is one that is missing from the list above. Though it has sadly been multiplexed, the Pacific Hastings 8 in Pasadena, California, began as a large, single-screen reverse theatre. It was a late-arriving member of this small family, having been built only in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I am wondering if these other reverse theatres shared with the Hastings its other distinguishing feature- the continental seating, an arrangement in which the aisles run up the sides of the theatre and the seats run in unbroken rows across the width of the auditorium. Though the Hastings was not a highly decorated theatre, it was nevertheless an excellent place to see a movie. I had thought it was unique in its arrangement, and always wondered why more had not been built that way. I’m glad to see that at least a few others were.
The architect at Levy and Klein who designed the Granada was Edward E. Eichenbaum.
The original architectural drawings of the Granada are in the possession of the Art Institute of Chicago, and can be viewed there by qualified scholars. (I believe they can be seen only by appointment.)
Street names appear to have changed in Oceanside since the 1930s, but there were two theaters planned for that city in 1936. One, for a company called Palomar Operating Company, was to be located on Hill Street between Temple and Michigan.
The other, to be built for Inter-Counties Investment Company, of Anaheim, was in a remodeled building at Hill and Third Streets.
Both theaters were to be designed by Clifford A. Balch, with engineer Floyd E. Stanbery.
The theater on Third Street, near Crawford Avenue (the former name of Downey Avenue) was proposed in 1925. The plans were prepared by the architectural firm of Schilling & Schilling, of Long Beach, and the owner was to be a Mrs. Ada B. Adams of Downey. Mrs. Adams intended to lease thee theater to a Mr. L.R. Matthews, who was named as the operator of the Downey Theater on Crawford Avenue. (The Downey Theatre is probably the theater later known as El Teatro.) Mrs. Adams was also the owner of the Meralta Theatre, which she leased to Pearl Merrill and Laura Peralta, the operators of the Meralta Theatre in Culver City, and of the Downey Theatre.
As I said, I have no confirmation that Mrs. Adams' Third Street theater was ever built. If it was, it may not have lasted long, what with three other theaters already in operation in what was then a fairly small town, and the building may have been converted to some other use, and its origins as a theater eventually forgotten.
The Downey Theatre of that time itself appears to have been constructed in 1919 or 1920, from plans by architect Harry Haden Whitely.
The theater on Paramount Boulevard would have been rather small, at 400 seats, and was supposed to have been built at 12409 Paramount Boulevard in an area then called Hollydale, since annexed to the City of Downey. I have checked my source and found that it was proposed in 1946.
Poking around the L.A. Public library web site, I’ve come across references to five theaters that were proposed for Downey in the 1920s, and I know that at least three were built. A fourth may have been built, as well, but it was on a side street (Third Street, if I remember correctly.) El Teatro was probably one of the two I described in my comment above.
I’ve also come across a reference to another theater proposed for Downey, in the late ‘30s or early '40s, which was planned for a site on Paramount Boulevard, but I don’t know if that one was ever built.
The Meralta is listed on Cinema Treasures, but El Teatro is not.
I notice that the Blade marquees at each end of this theater say “Newsreels” in the photograph above. An issue of Daily Variety from September of 1939 announced this change in policy with the headline “Palace, Broadway, becomes News Palace.” I have a vague memory of a place on Spring Street where a parking lot opened a view of the back of one of the other theaters on Broadway- either the Globe or the Orpheum, I think- and even in the 1960s you could still see there an old, faded sign advertising the News Palace theater.
By the time I began attending movies at the Palace in the early 1960s, the blade marquees simply carried the name “Palace” on them. I remember getting a good look at the interior one night about 1962, when Metropolitan used to run Keno games during intermission, and the house lights would be turned all the way up. Even then, the auditorium was showing its age,
but it was still a splendid sight with its ornate beaux-arts decor. I remember that the orchestra floor had columns to hold up the balcony. (I think that the Million Dollar was the first wide theater in Los Angeles to be built with a clear-span balcony that needed no supporting columns on the ground floor. The Palace was a few years older than the Million Dollar.)
I also recall the rather plain lounge and restrooms in the basement. They extended under the sidewalk of Broadway, and the ceiling was of glass brick. You could hear the pedestrians walking above. It was quite a difference from the plush lower level lounge in the Los Angeles Theatre across the street.
The Palace opened on September 30th, 1916. The architect was H. Alfred Anderson, of Long Beach. The original design featured a facade of pressed brick inlaid with decorative tiles. The original owner was E.W. Bollinger.
In 1921, Anderson prepared plans for an expansion of the theater, including raising the ceiling and adding balcony seating.
Further alterations took place in 1929, this time designed by the firm of Merrill and Wilson. The front of the theater was remodeled and a new marquee installed. The leasee of the Palace at this time was Pacific National Theatres.
H.A. Anderson returned to the Palace to design alterations to the lobby and install another new marquee in 1942.
In 1971, both the Colorado and the Crown (originally the Raymond) theatres were being operated by Loews. On February 10th of that year, the Colorado was one of four houses in the Los Angeles area showing the re-engagement of “Five Easy Pieces,” which had just won three Oscars. The Crown was showing two X-rated movies. I think that the Crown was very near to being closed by that time, and when it was finally closed, Loews pulled out of the Pasadena market altogether, selling the Colorado to Laemmle, which had made a considerable success with their Esquire Theatre, right down the block from the Colorado.
It will be a minor miracle if this theatre still exists. My memories of Redondo Beach are few, but they go back a long way. There was once a small amusement park just south of the municipal pier, but that must have been demolished at least forty years ago. In the 1960s, the area north of the pier was changed beyond recognition by the construction of the King Harbor Marina. The last time I was in Redondo, sometime in the late 1970s, urban renewal had gotten to the old center of town. The pier was still there, but most of the buildings nearby had been leveled for parking lots.
The pier itself still featured a hodgepodge of ramshackle old buildings, most of them done up in some vaguely “nautical” style, and housing an array of restaurants, fishmongers, and souvenir shops. The theatre might well have been among those buildings, but it was certainly not being used for its original purpose. I wish I’d paid closer attention to the place. John Parkinson was one of my favorite early Los Angeles architects, and I’d be very pleased if this theater survives, even if it only houses a seafood cafe.
I have found this theater listed as one of Los Angeles' principal downtown movie houses in a map book which was probably published about 1950 (the page with the copyright date is missing, but the map of downtown shows the Hollywood and Harbor Freeways still under construction, and rapid transit tracks still running along Aliso Street.) At that time, the theatre was operating under the name Grand Playhouse.
The Glendale Masonic Temple was designed by local architect Arthur George Lindley, of the firm of Lindley & Selkirk. The building was completed in 1928.
Southwest Builder and Contractor issue of March 1st, 1940, announced that architect C.A. Balch was preparing plans for the State Theatre, for Fox-West Coast.
The previous year, other issues of the same publication had announced plans for a theater on the same site, to have been built for John Drew, named as the operator of the Temple Theater in Glendale. This theater would have had a balcony and a total of 800 seats, but the project was never carried out. The interesting thing about these earlier announcements, though, is that they revealed that the State was built on the site of the former Belvedere Theater, which was destroyed by a fire. The fire story was covered in a Los Angeles Times article of November 21st, 1933.
The start of construction on this theater was announced in an article in The Los Angeles Times on August 6th, 1922.
The grand opening was covered in another Times article, published on November 27th, 1923 under the headline “Playhouse elaborate in details.”
I walked along this block hundreds of times in the years I lived in Los Angeles, yet cannot remember the building next to the alley. Old pictures of Seventh Street around 1920 show a two-story building with a flat-topped decorative parapet wall rising slightly higher above the center of its facade, and a small marquee-like feature over the entrance. The pictures I’ve seen don’t have enough detail to tell if this was a theater or not.
I remember most of the buildings that were still on that block as late as the 1980s, but I don’t recall if that particular location was still occupied by a two story building. If it is, then the building is most likely the same one that was there in the 1920s, and it might still show some signs of having once been a theater.
There is now an office building on the theater’s site.
The architect of the Vermont Theater was E.J. Borgmeyer. The owner of the building was Mr. Joseph Engert. The cost of construction for the project, including two stores, five office suites, and the theater with pipe organ was set at $100,000. The brick building was 65x170 feet.
Source: Southwest Builder and Contractor, 29 July, 1921.
Construction of the Temple Theatre began in late 1921. The contractor was Al Nelson, the owner of the building was F.W. Braun. The architect was H.C. Dockbar.
Source: Southwest Builder and Contractor, 21 October, 1921.
Either this theater or the Eagle Theater was probably the one originally called the United Theater, which was referred to in an article in the Highland Park News Herald on July 23rd, 1926, on the occasion of its purchase by Mr. John Sugar, named as the owner of the York Theater. Mr. Sugar sold both of his Eagle Rock theaters and the York theater sometime later, as noted in an article in the Los Angeles Times of December 28th, 1928.
The Cinema Treasures listing of the Eagle Theater (currently listed as being located in Eagle Rock, California rather than Los Angeles) contains no information regarding former names it may have had in the 1920s, though a comment there says that in the 1930s it was called the Yosemite Theater, and later was known as the New Eagle Theater.
The L.A. Public Library photo collection contains an earlier picture of this theater. Apparently, its name when it opened was the Kinema. This name was actually carved into the wall of the side of the building, as clearly shown in the photograph.
L. Linares;
I only went to the Tower those two times; First, at the end of 1963, when it was still the Newsreel Theatre, and then again in 1967 after it had gone back to its original name and was showing first run movies. But the doors were so close to the sidewalk that it was easy to see the grand staircase in the lobby every time I passed by. I went to movies downtown mostly during the early 1960s, and had little interest in the fare at the Newsreel, but I went to the other big Broadway theatres many times.
I think that the L.A. Conservancy is still having its Broadway Theatre Tours every Saturday. I’ve heard that the United Artists is no longer available to them, and that the Million Dollar was recently taken off the tour due to falling plaster, so that leaves only the Los Angeles, the Orpheum, the Palace and maybe the Tower as stops on the tour. They try to include three theatres in the tour, but it depends on the availability (for example, if a music video or an ad or a movie is being filmed in one of the theatres, they wouldn’t be able to include that one that week.) I think they charge eight dollars for the tour, and you need to make a reservation a month in advance.
The conservancy also sponsors a program called Last Remaining Seats, which features a series of old movies presented at one or another of the Broadway theatres, and usually one at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. This series usually happens in June, but you’ll have to check on their web site to get the exact dates.
The Palace used to be one of the theatres at which these programs were presented, but it recently suffered some water damage to its projection room, so it may not be available for the series this year, and the Million Dollar is probably off the list too, because of the falling plaster. So this year’s program will probably be confined to the Los Angeles, the Orpheum, and the Alex.
For at least part of the 1920s, this was called Dalton’s Theatre. Presumably, this was between the time the new Pantages opened and 1928, when this theatre became the Arcade.
I have been able to determine that the Meralta was designed by architect Evan Jones, of Hollywood, but I don’t know which of the other proposed theaters on Downey Avenue is which. Whichever one was at the northwest corner of Second Street is the one designed by Newton and Truesdell, but I don’t know which of the theaters that is.
I also know that there was a theater called the Downey that was operating in the early 1920s, and that yet another theater was proposed for an unidentified location on Downey Avenue in 1925. I have only the vaguest memories of Downey Avenue, as it was several miles from where I lived, and I only passed through the town infrequently, usually on Rosemead Boulevard or Firestone.
I remember seeing the Downey, Meralta and Avenue theatres listed in the L.A. Times, but don’t remember a Fiesta theatre at all.
The Garrick was originally called the Hyman Theatre, built by Los Angeles Theatrical promoter Arthr S. Hyman, sometime after 1913 (when the project was first announced.)
Late in 1921, it was remodeled to a design by architect George Edwin Bergstrom. I don’t know if the name change to Garrick Theatre accompanied the reopening, or happened some time earlier.
One of the last houses opened by West Coast Theatres before that circuit was purchased by Willaim Fox, the Oakland was one of the first theaters to have the “Fox” name added to its marquee. The change was announced in Exhibitors Herald-World of March 23rd, 1929.
I am quite surprised to come across a reverse theatre, and to find that there were more of them. However, there is one that is missing from the list above. Though it has sadly been multiplexed, the Pacific Hastings 8 in Pasadena, California, began as a large, single-screen reverse theatre. It was a late-arriving member of this small family, having been built only in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I am wondering if these other reverse theatres shared with the Hastings its other distinguishing feature- the continental seating, an arrangement in which the aisles run up the sides of the theatre and the seats run in unbroken rows across the width of the auditorium. Though the Hastings was not a highly decorated theatre, it was nevertheless an excellent place to see a movie. I had thought it was unique in its arrangement, and always wondered why more had not been built that way. I’m glad to see that at least a few others were.
The architect at Levy and Klein who designed the Granada was Edward E. Eichenbaum.
The original architectural drawings of the Granada are in the possession of the Art Institute of Chicago, and can be viewed there by qualified scholars. (I believe they can be seen only by appointment.)
Street names appear to have changed in Oceanside since the 1930s, but there were two theaters planned for that city in 1936. One, for a company called Palomar Operating Company, was to be located on Hill Street between Temple and Michigan.
The other, to be built for Inter-Counties Investment Company, of Anaheim, was in a remodeled building at Hill and Third Streets.
Both theaters were to be designed by Clifford A. Balch, with engineer Floyd E. Stanbery.
The theater on Third Street, near Crawford Avenue (the former name of Downey Avenue) was proposed in 1925. The plans were prepared by the architectural firm of Schilling & Schilling, of Long Beach, and the owner was to be a Mrs. Ada B. Adams of Downey. Mrs. Adams intended to lease thee theater to a Mr. L.R. Matthews, who was named as the operator of the Downey Theater on Crawford Avenue. (The Downey Theatre is probably the theater later known as El Teatro.) Mrs. Adams was also the owner of the Meralta Theatre, which she leased to Pearl Merrill and Laura Peralta, the operators of the Meralta Theatre in Culver City, and of the Downey Theatre.
As I said, I have no confirmation that Mrs. Adams' Third Street theater was ever built. If it was, it may not have lasted long, what with three other theaters already in operation in what was then a fairly small town, and the building may have been converted to some other use, and its origins as a theater eventually forgotten.
The Downey Theatre of that time itself appears to have been constructed in 1919 or 1920, from plans by architect Harry Haden Whitely.
The theater on Paramount Boulevard would have been rather small, at 400 seats, and was supposed to have been built at 12409 Paramount Boulevard in an area then called Hollydale, since annexed to the City of Downey. I have checked my source and found that it was proposed in 1946.
Poking around the L.A. Public library web site, I’ve come across references to five theaters that were proposed for Downey in the 1920s, and I know that at least three were built. A fourth may have been built, as well, but it was on a side street (Third Street, if I remember correctly.) El Teatro was probably one of the two I described in my comment above.
I’ve also come across a reference to another theater proposed for Downey, in the late ‘30s or early '40s, which was planned for a site on Paramount Boulevard, but I don’t know if that one was ever built.
The Meralta is listed on Cinema Treasures, but El Teatro is not.
I notice that the Blade marquees at each end of this theater say “Newsreels” in the photograph above. An issue of Daily Variety from September of 1939 announced this change in policy with the headline “Palace, Broadway, becomes News Palace.” I have a vague memory of a place on Spring Street where a parking lot opened a view of the back of one of the other theaters on Broadway- either the Globe or the Orpheum, I think- and even in the 1960s you could still see there an old, faded sign advertising the News Palace theater.
By the time I began attending movies at the Palace in the early 1960s, the blade marquees simply carried the name “Palace” on them. I remember getting a good look at the interior one night about 1962, when Metropolitan used to run Keno games during intermission, and the house lights would be turned all the way up. Even then, the auditorium was showing its age,
but it was still a splendid sight with its ornate beaux-arts decor. I remember that the orchestra floor had columns to hold up the balcony. (I think that the Million Dollar was the first wide theater in Los Angeles to be built with a clear-span balcony that needed no supporting columns on the ground floor. The Palace was a few years older than the Million Dollar.)
I also recall the rather plain lounge and restrooms in the basement. They extended under the sidewalk of Broadway, and the ceiling was of glass brick. You could hear the pedestrians walking above. It was quite a difference from the plush lower level lounge in the Los Angeles Theatre across the street.
The Center is listed here, but there are no comments on it yet.
The Palace opened on September 30th, 1916. The architect was H. Alfred Anderson, of Long Beach. The original design featured a facade of pressed brick inlaid with decorative tiles. The original owner was E.W. Bollinger.
In 1921, Anderson prepared plans for an expansion of the theater, including raising the ceiling and adding balcony seating.
Further alterations took place in 1929, this time designed by the firm of Merrill and Wilson. The front of the theater was remodeled and a new marquee installed. The leasee of the Palace at this time was Pacific National Theatres.
H.A. Anderson returned to the Palace to design alterations to the lobby and install another new marquee in 1942.
In 1971, both the Colorado and the Crown (originally the Raymond) theatres were being operated by Loews. On February 10th of that year, the Colorado was one of four houses in the Los Angeles area showing the re-engagement of “Five Easy Pieces,” which had just won three Oscars. The Crown was showing two X-rated movies. I think that the Crown was very near to being closed by that time, and when it was finally closed, Loews pulled out of the Pasadena market altogether, selling the Colorado to Laemmle, which had made a considerable success with their Esquire Theatre, right down the block from the Colorado.