Maynard Theatre
2488 W. Washington Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90018
2488 W. Washington Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90018
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I just came across an LA Times circa Oct. 24, 1953 mentioning the Maynard Theater (2488 W. Washington Blvd.). It was showing the epic Russian fantasy Sadko.Apparently Maynard was open a little later than 1951 or had closed and reopened briefly?
First LA Times ad as Maynard appeared on September 23rd, 1936.
The letting of the general contract for the house that would open as the United Arlington Theatre was announced in the May 31, 1913 issue of Southwest Contractor and Manufacturer. Frank L. Stiff was the architect for the $15,000 project.
What is the name of the theatre under whose marquee canopy raybradley’s second photo of the Maynard is taken from?
The theater must have been called The Gem after the 1929 article posted above. This is from March 26, 1930 in the LA Times:
ROBBERIES CONFESSED BY YOUTHS
Six Drug Stores, Theater and Oil Station Declared to Have Been Held Up
Robbery of six drug stores, one theater and one oil station was confessed yesterday by Milton Wilkinson, 25 years of age, and Bert Slight, 21, both of 653-A Brooks avenue, Venice, according to Detective Lieutenants Heintelzman and Board.
The men were arrested on the 21st inst. by Officers Schmidt and Dorsey when they recognized the license number of the pair’s automobile as that reported by Joe Shea as having been on the car of two bandits who held him up in his drug store at 5851 West Boulevard on the 14th inst.
Identified by Shea, according to the detectives, the youths readily confessed and implicated themselves voluntarily in the other robberies. The theater hold-up was that of H.H. Hicks in the Gem Theater at 2488 West Washington Boulevard on the 16th inst.
Thanks, Ken!
It’s here:
/theaters/1129/
Other clear views of the Maynard. A nice looking cinema!
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Can anyone provide info on the KTLA Studio Theatre?
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This LIFE shot show that the Maynard was closed in 1951,
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Here is a classified ad from the LA Times dated June 5, 1929
TALKIE THEATER
Will sell ½ interest in beautiful 600 seat house to honest, reliable person for $1,500 cash. Call at theater 7 to 9 pm 2488 W. Washington St.
I don’t know if this was the final closure of the Maynard Theatre or not, but Boxoffice magazine’s issue of May 6, 1950, carried a brief item saying that Harry Vinnicof had shuttered the Maynard Theatre due to poor business conditions.
There’s some kind of car business on that corner now. The other corner is a Chevron station. Certainly no resemblance to Joe’s photo.
Here is a photograph of Washington Boulevard at Arlington in the early 1920s. I’d say it’s safe to surmise that the “United” blade sign in the fancy-fronted building at center belonged to the United Arlington Theatre, later to become the Maynard Theatre.
It appears that, before it moved to the location down the street at 2517 W. Washington, the Arlington Theatre was located in this building. Items in Southwest Builder and Contractor in 1920 give 2488 W. Washington as the address of the Arlington Theatre, as does the Los Angeles Times in 1925 (when it was called the United Arlington Theatre, according to a comment of June 3, 2007, by ken mc on Cinema Treasures' Arlington Theatre page.) The date when the Arlington operation moved to the new location is not yet known.
When the Maynard Theatre opened it was known as the Gem Theatre.
This house was a neighbor of the somewhat more upscale Arlington Theatre. As a child I loved to attend the Western matinees there.
Once, in my early 20s, I went to the Maynard to see a retrospective film not showing elsewhere in the city, and I visited the booth out of curiosity and struck up a conversation with the projectionist. Like many older houses in LA, the floor, walls and ceiling were metal-clad, but the booth was remarkably quiet considering.