Linda Lea Theatre

Anyone need their feather curled?
(July 21, 1892)
Gloves Cleaned, Feathers cleaned, dyed and curled.
No. 251 South Main st.

Scott, see the Aztec ad I posted on 8/23/07.

Going back to the 1954 photo of 8/6/07, I believe it says Linda vertically and then Lea across the bottom of the sign. This would make sense as the theater was already showing Japanese films by that time.

The building didn’t move around but the name did. Also, sometimes when there where spaces for other businesses at the street they changed the lobby entrance from one to the other and the address changed and confused everything more.

Listed as the Arrow in the 1939 city directory at 251 S. Main. Note that in 1942 it was the Azteca at 249 S. Main.

Do we have any theaters listed on the east side of Main between 2nd and 3rd? The 1914 city directory has the Denver Theater at 238 S. Main. If not, I will add it.

Okoku, maybe I don’t understand your enthusiasm or I’m just confused, but this website is titled Cinema Treasures-Discover.Preserve.Protect……The Linda Lea has been demolished. There’s no preservation or protection there unless you count the two side walls. I would call the situation the opposite of the idea of this site. Also most or all of the original Chinatown was demolished to build Union Station back in the 30’s. I don’t know if there were any theaters there.

The Kim Sing Theatre has been converted to a living space/furniture showroom by a designer who now owns it. It was featured in one episode of the HGTV show What’s With That House? I remember seeing the Kim Sing before it was called the Kim Sing, back when Chinatown had not yet expanded as far west as Figueroa Street. It was running Mexican movies at the time, and I believe it was using the name Alpine Theatre (it was on Figueroa at the corner of Alpine Street.)

As the first Godzilla movie came out in 1954, and I recall the La Brea still being a Fox house at that time (it was across the street from my doctor’s office), I suspect that the Japanese language version of the movie would have first been shown at the Linda Lea, either in 1954 or 1955. It would probably have been run with English subtitles, as most of the movies shown there were. After Toho acquired the La Brea (in the late 1950s, I think), that theatre ran many of the company’s “arty” films, leaving the more popular stuff for the Linda Lea or to a Japanese language theatre (can’t remember the name) that opened up in the West Adams area. I think there might have been a Japanese movie theatre in Gardena in those days, too.

Yes, there are about two other abandoned movie theatres in L.A. Chinatown besides QT’s Sing Lee Theatre. One of them is called the Kim Sing Theatre on Figueroa Street. The other is the former Royal Pagoda/Cinemaland Theatre on North Broadway. I never heard anything about Harrison Ford being the new owner of either of those two former theatres. Maybe you’re talking about San francisco Chinatown?

Also, did the Linda Lea Theatre used to show any Japanese ninja movies or Godzilla movies during the ‘70’s?

This is a 1954 photo from the CA state library. The theater is already showing Japanese films. It looks like the marquee is in place that is seen in the 1940 photo above. I can’t make out the name of the theater on the marquee, though:
View link

Here is the 1940 photo I mentioned on 6/23/07:
http://tinyurl.com/3yrfvp

The confusion is that the building across the street houses the “MJ Higgins Gallery.” But that’s not the formal name of the building, which is a squat, one story brick building which probably dates to the 1890’s. Only one other building on that end of the block. The building ½ block away is formally known as “The Higgins Building” which is huge, about 10 stories tall, 200 feet on each side, built around 1910, and was converted to condos about 5 years ago. That building is not going anywhere.

The MJ Higgins Gallery is going to be torn down very shortly. That end of the block will have a huge concrete garage constructed on it for the Los Angeles PD Motorpool. The new LAPD HQ building (about 12 stories) is being built about ½ block away, across 2nd Street from the Higgins Building. They claim the building will have rentable storefronts in it facing the sidewalk, which is somewhat of a giveback to the residents in the area, but, I am still skeptical.

Anyway, getting back to the topic of this entry, the old Linda Lea Theater. It should be open by the end of September 2007. Here’s a link to a story with some renderings of the outside and inside of the project.

http://blogdowntown.com/blog/2781

It will look NOTHING like the old theater, but at least it will still remain as a theater. Right now, Downtown has only one operating theater, the Laemmle Grande 4, on the other side of Downtown. That’s not enough for a district where 30,000 residents live, though a new multiplex is coming to LA Live, across the street from Staples Center.

I’ve been one of her better customers since she opened the store.