This is from the LA Library in 1986, before the demolition of the Fox. If the link doesn’t work, let me know, as it shows up fine for me. http://tinyurl.com/cerkml
This reader’s complaint to the LA Times in May 1948 sounds like what I’ve complained about in the last ten years or so:
I notice that during the past several weeks in the Pasadena area, the Fox West Coast Theatres chain has been running a plug movie for cigarettes. The movie stresses how the manufacturer uses only the very best of everything in making their product and, generally summed up, is a good waste of close to 15 minutes.
I believe that this is asking a little too much of the public. Supposedly the movie theater is a place of recreation. I don’t mind wading through a small commissary to get to the aisles, but to have to sit through 15 minutes of absolutely nothing is too much.
How many thousands of dollars Fox West Coast is getting I don’t know, but I believe that if the indulgence of the audience is expected, then Fox West Coast should lower their admission prices accordingly.
Follies Theater, Famed Maker of Stars, Closes
Main St. Burlesque House, Los Angeles Landmark,
Loses Fight to Hold City License
The whistling and shouting stopped last night at 337 S. Main St. The funny men took one last wallop at each other with their rubber bladders and stretched their ridiculous baggy pants in a final futile gesture. The girls wriggled from left to writhe across the runway and dropped their undermost veil with a farewell air. When the curtain dropped, the bald heads in the front row filed solemnly out, and the place was empty once more.
Backstage the dressing rooms were full of 80 burlesque people-80. The cheeks of scant-clad chorus girls were tear-streaked with mascara. “Well, it’s been 17 years”, said T.V. Dalton, the operator. On these same boards-when it was the Belasco-trod many a star-to-be. Lewis Stone, Marjorie Rambeau, W.C. Fields, Hobart Bosworth, Henry B. Walthall, Edmunde Breese, Paderewski, even, and Schumann-Heink.
And then burlesque and slapstick comedy and strip-tease. But last Friday in Superior Court, Dalton was denied an appeal from an order of the Police Commission suspending his license, and was given until last night to end his show. So last night they closed the Follies Theater, for good.
Nazi Film Show Barred
Downtown Theater Closed While Crowd Grows at Box Office
While a crowd milled around the box office, officials of the Pacific Electric Co. yesterday afternoon closed the Pacific Electric Theater, 627 S. Los Angeles St., where exhibition of a German-made motion picture was about to begin.
For Frank K. Ferenz, theater man who was presenting the picture “Dr. Koch”, it was the second German film closing in six months. Last October 13, managers of the Mason Theater, 127 S. Broadway, halted a performance of a German-made picture Ferenz was exhibiting. Ferenz suibsequently lost an $18,000 damage suit against the holders of the theater’s master lease. Superior Court Judge Clement L. Shinn ruled that German-made motion pictures fomented hatred, criticism and emnity.
As the throng awaiting entrance to the Pacific Electric Theater grew, police were called, but no disturbances were reported. Neal B. Vickrey, manager of the Pacific Electric club, who had entered into an agreement to rent the theater to Ferenz every week-end, said it is probable that no more such films by Ferenz will be presented at the theater.
Here is part of an April 1940 article from the LA Times:
Theater Case Vote Deferred
Police Board Postpones Action on Follies Pending
Resurrection of Ordinance
Deferring action on the application of the Follies Theater, 337 S. Main St., for transfer of its permit to Marvin Lee Harrison from Charles A. King, the Police Commission yesterday directed that an investigation be made to find out what the Council has done with the proposed ordinance giving it more power to regulate such shows.
King took over the theater after it had been closed as the result of arrests more than six months ago. “I’d like to know what became of that ordinance, which was going to give us the right to regulate such shows”, said President Harry Bodkin. “I recall that there was a great outcry against it, that it would give the Board power to set up a ‘censorship’ of all shows, including motion pictures.”
“It seems to me that Councilman Nelson was going to help put the measure through the Council. Its only purpose was to allow us to stop lewd performances and use of bootleg and indecent film without requiring convictions before we could do anything.”
Funny how there can be so many theaters in one town and then they all just disappear. I suppose it had to do with the decline of Atlantic City’s population in the sixties and seventies.
The Burbank was long gone when I moved to LA in 1984. I think the Art and Optic were still around, though. I lived downtown the first two weeks I was here, but I never made it over to Main Street, so I don’t recall seeing any of those theaters.
Tihs is excerpted from the Los Angeles Times, 10/26/45:
Rubbing his knuckles across his forehead as if to banish what seemed like a nightmarish dream, Pfc. Curtis Legerton, 21-year-old soldier, yesterday in Central Jail groped for an explanation of how he shot and critically wounded Philip Plude, 37, stage doorman at the Burbank Theater, late Wednesday. Plude is in General Hospital with a German Mauser automatic pistol bullet wound in his abdomen. Surgeons fear he may die. Legerton is being held on suspicion of attempted murder.
According to police reports, Legerton, who returned home two months ago from duty in Europe with the 99th General Hospital unit, attempted to enter the theater stage door at 548 S. Main Street, and was blocked by Plude. Legerton drew a .635 mm pistol from a field boot and fired once. Legerton said he had taken several drinks of whisky during the evening, and passed the theater foyer a couple of times in his wanderings.
“I looked the billboards over in front” he said, “and laughed at the pictures of the Follies dancers because I had seen the Follies Bergere in Paris. These dames wear necklaces. In Paris they don’t even wear that”.
Legerton said he’d been drinking since he was 17, and frequently had to ask friends what happened when he was intoxicated. “When I’m stiff”, he said, “I don’t know anybody, not even my relatives or closest friends.”
Legerton said his 45-day furlough was up last night and he was supposed to report to Ft. MacArthur for transfer to Camp Siebert, Ala., where he was expected to receive a discharge.
ORANGE, CALIF.-Construction got underway in early August on American Multi Cinema’s first sixplex in California, the Mall of Orange, on Tustin Avenue at Heim in Orange. The fourth AMC multi-theater in California, the Mall of Orange will have three 300-seat auditoriums, two 196-seat auditoriums and one 293-seat auditorium. American Multi Cinemas has scheduled a December 22 opening date for the entertainment complex.
This is from the LA Library in 1986, before the demolition of the Fox. If the link doesn’t work, let me know, as it shows up fine for me.
http://tinyurl.com/cerkml
This reader’s complaint to the LA Times in May 1948 sounds like what I’ve complained about in the last ten years or so:
I notice that during the past several weeks in the Pasadena area, the Fox West Coast Theatres chain has been running a plug movie for cigarettes. The movie stresses how the manufacturer uses only the very best of everything in making their product and, generally summed up, is a good waste of close to 15 minutes.
I believe that this is asking a little too much of the public. Supposedly the movie theater is a place of recreation. I don’t mind wading through a small commissary to get to the aisles, but to have to sit through 15 minutes of absolutely nothing is too much.
How many thousands of dollars Fox West Coast is getting I don’t know, but I believe that if the indulgence of the audience is expected, then Fox West Coast should lower their admission prices accordingly.
Ed Parr
Altadena
And later on, in June 1942:
Follies Theater, Famed Maker of Stars, Closes
Main St. Burlesque House, Los Angeles Landmark,
Loses Fight to Hold City License
The whistling and shouting stopped last night at 337 S. Main St. The funny men took one last wallop at each other with their rubber bladders and stretched their ridiculous baggy pants in a final futile gesture. The girls wriggled from left to writhe across the runway and dropped their undermost veil with a farewell air. When the curtain dropped, the bald heads in the front row filed solemnly out, and the place was empty once more.
Backstage the dressing rooms were full of 80 burlesque people-80. The cheeks of scant-clad chorus girls were tear-streaked with mascara. “Well, it’s been 17 years”, said T.V. Dalton, the operator. On these same boards-when it was the Belasco-trod many a star-to-be. Lewis Stone, Marjorie Rambeau, W.C. Fields, Hobart Bosworth, Henry B. Walthall, Edmunde Breese, Paderewski, even, and Schumann-Heink.
And then burlesque and slapstick comedy and strip-tease. But last Friday in Superior Court, Dalton was denied an appeal from an order of the Police Commission suspending his license, and was given until last night to end his show. So last night they closed the Follies Theater, for good.
This is excerpted from the LA Times, 4/28/41:
Nazi Film Show Barred
Downtown Theater Closed While Crowd Grows at Box Office
While a crowd milled around the box office, officials of the Pacific Electric Co. yesterday afternoon closed the Pacific Electric Theater, 627 S. Los Angeles St., where exhibition of a German-made motion picture was about to begin.
For Frank K. Ferenz, theater man who was presenting the picture “Dr. Koch”, it was the second German film closing in six months. Last October 13, managers of the Mason Theater, 127 S. Broadway, halted a performance of a German-made picture Ferenz was exhibiting. Ferenz suibsequently lost an $18,000 damage suit against the holders of the theater’s master lease. Superior Court Judge Clement L. Shinn ruled that German-made motion pictures fomented hatred, criticism and emnity.
As the throng awaiting entrance to the Pacific Electric Theater grew, police were called, but no disturbances were reported. Neal B. Vickrey, manager of the Pacific Electric club, who had entered into an agreement to rent the theater to Ferenz every week-end, said it is probable that no more such films by Ferenz will be presented at the theater.
Here is part of an April 1940 article from the LA Times:
Theater Case Vote Deferred
Police Board Postpones Action on Follies Pending
Resurrection of Ordinance
Deferring action on the application of the Follies Theater, 337 S. Main St., for transfer of its permit to Marvin Lee Harrison from Charles A. King, the Police Commission yesterday directed that an investigation be made to find out what the Council has done with the proposed ordinance giving it more power to regulate such shows.
King took over the theater after it had been closed as the result of arrests more than six months ago. “I’d like to know what became of that ordinance, which was going to give us the right to regulate such shows”, said President Harry Bodkin. “I recall that there was a great outcry against it, that it would give the Board power to set up a ‘censorship’ of all shows, including motion pictures.”
“It seems to me that Councilman Nelson was going to help put the measure through the Council. Its only purpose was to allow us to stop lewd performances and use of bootleg and indecent film without requiring convictions before we could do anything.”
Here are some photos from the LA Library, circa 1925:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080361.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080362.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080363.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080364.jpg
That is funny.
It still looks vacant. I guess Quentin Tarantino let us down.
Function should be first run movies, since Coraline is showing as of today.
Here is a November 2008 article and photo:
http://tinyurl.com/6ejhkh
This church meets at the Blair on Sundays:
http://www.mylandmarkchurch.com/
Here is a photo circa 1941:
http://tinyurl.com/ao6gm6
Here is a myspace page dedicated to the Cine El Rey:
http://tinyurl.com/bkvwly
Here is a July 2008 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/b8xzvg
This clip from youtube shows more of the interior, plus there’s an interesting discussion of the renovation:
http://tinyurl.com/c6443n
Here is a video clip of a band playing at the Park last March. I would turn the sound down or off before playing the clip:
http://tinyurl.com/d9sk95
Besides performing arts, the Park is also rented out for wedding receptions.
http://tinyurl.com/anz8m3
Funny how there can be so many theaters in one town and then they all just disappear. I suppose it had to do with the decline of Atlantic City’s population in the sixties and seventies.
The Burbank was long gone when I moved to LA in 1984. I think the Art and Optic were still around, though. I lived downtown the first two weeks I was here, but I never made it over to Main Street, so I don’t recall seeing any of those theaters.
Did you see the theater in the Cosby/Poitier film? It looked to be already closed by the time the film was shot.
Tihs is excerpted from the Los Angeles Times, 10/26/45:
Rubbing his knuckles across his forehead as if to banish what seemed like a nightmarish dream, Pfc. Curtis Legerton, 21-year-old soldier, yesterday in Central Jail groped for an explanation of how he shot and critically wounded Philip Plude, 37, stage doorman at the Burbank Theater, late Wednesday. Plude is in General Hospital with a German Mauser automatic pistol bullet wound in his abdomen. Surgeons fear he may die. Legerton is being held on suspicion of attempted murder.
According to police reports, Legerton, who returned home two months ago from duty in Europe with the 99th General Hospital unit, attempted to enter the theater stage door at 548 S. Main Street, and was blocked by Plude. Legerton drew a .635 mm pistol from a field boot and fired once. Legerton said he had taken several drinks of whisky during the evening, and passed the theater foyer a couple of times in his wanderings.
“I looked the billboards over in front” he said, “and laughed at the pictures of the Follies dancers because I had seen the Follies Bergere in Paris. These dames wear necklaces. In Paris they don’t even wear that”.
Legerton said he’d been drinking since he was 17, and frequently had to ask friends what happened when he was intoxicated. “When I’m stiff”, he said, “I don’t know anybody, not even my relatives or closest friends.”
Legerton said his 45-day furlough was up last night and he was supposed to report to Ft. MacArthur for transfer to Camp Siebert, Ala., where he was expected to receive a discharge.
This is from Boxoffice magazine in August 1971:
ORANGE, CALIF.-Construction got underway in early August on American Multi Cinema’s first sixplex in California, the Mall of Orange, on Tustin Avenue at Heim in Orange. The fourth AMC multi-theater in California, the Mall of Orange will have three 300-seat auditoriums, two 196-seat auditoriums and one 293-seat auditorium. American Multi Cinemas has scheduled a December 22 opening date for the entertainment complex.
The correct address is Mechanic Street, without the s on the end. If you plug that in the address will map correctly.
There aren’t any references to this address on the Youth Musical Theater website:
http://www.ymtc.org/
Here is a December 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ct8qpg