Empire Theatre
120 W. 5th Street,
San Pedro,
CA
90731
120 W. 5th Street,
San Pedro,
CA
90731
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Nathan Mann and John George launched the Empire Theatre with the Mutual Film contract in downtown San Pedro on October 8, 1915. The opening program had Fatty Arbuckle in “Fatty’s Plucky Pup,” “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son,” and “The Little Catamount.” Mann would buy out George the following year and refreshed the theatre. The five-cent admission theatre was popular in the silent era.
“Riding Bob” Roberts made an in person appearance at the Empire Theatre to promote “Battling Dangers in March of 1926. Mann sold the theatre to Heinz & Thomas in 1928. The theatre closed and was not converted to sound operation. In April of 1930, the remodeled venue became a pool hall. It then became the Chateau, a dance hall, before being converted for other retail purposes. It was later demolished.
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
It should be noted that the map we display does not show the actual location of the Empire Theatre. A redevelopment project in the 1970s led to the realignment and partial obliteration of several streets. The site of the Empire was between Beacon and Palos Verdes streets, a bit west of where the Portside Inn and Suites is now located. Two other theaters operated in the near vicinity; the Star at 5th and Beacon and the New Theatre at 5th and Palos Verdes.
The Music Trade Review of April 14, 1917 said that “[t]he Wm. L. Glockner Music Co. reports the sale of a Wurlitzer orchestra, Style Y-O, to the Empire Motion Picture Theatre, San Pedro, Cal.”