Liberty Theatre
136 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90012
136 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90012
3 people
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Additional Info
Styles: Neo-Classical
Previous Names: Chinese Theatre, Novelty Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Novelty Theatre was listed in the 1926 edition of Film Daily Yearbook with 350 seats. It was located at 136 S. Main Street.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
Looks like 134 was the address of the flop house next door where you could hire a bed for fifteen cents. Doing a search of the library’s photo collection using “Novelty Theatre” I found another smaller, cropped and blurry) version of the same picture, and its info page gives a date of 1938 and an address of 136 S. Main. I don’t know why the library has two different versions of the same picture.
I found a 1905 ad for the Novelty Theater at 523 S. Main. I posted a comment on the Gaiety page.
The LA Times noted in 1948 that Mexican films were being shown at the Liberty, California and Mason theaters.
Here is another photo, probably around the same time as the first one I posted:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater3/00015860.jpg
What kind of films was the Liberty showing in April 1942? Not Disney, apparently. The ad is from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/3xubse
Based on all the evidence provided above, it looks like the 136 S. Main location was not The Liberty until around 1942, when it was showing porno, or whatever the 1940’s equivalent to porno was.
Who knows how long it lasted after that? As late as 1938 it was oeprating as the Novelty, showing 5 movies plus a serial for a nickel.
It seems like the 262 S. Main location was the Liberty much earlier, around 1910, lasting until..??? This was the theater with the elegant arch shown in the postcard.
Wish I could have gone to the Novelty, with its cheap-ass appearance and program of cheesy B-westerns. Looks like it was a lot of fun. Before my time. Even my Dad was only 7 years old at this time.
In 1942 the Chinese was at 136 S. Main, according to the city directory of that year.
The same directory also lists the Novelty at 136 S. Main in 1942.
All new buildings up and down the block now.
Listings in La Opinion, the Spanish-language started in 1943.