The Normandie Theatre was listed at 4811 S. Normandie in the 1956 City Directory. I’m sure that’s the correct address. The Academy Theatre, its aka, is listed at 4811 S. Normandie in the 1915 City Directory.
The building listed at 4811 by L.A. County Assessor has “0000” for the year it was built, and has an effective year built of 1963. It looks as though some part of an earlier structure might have survived a 1963 rebuilding, but the Assessor’s office has lost track of the original construction date.
Live Search bird’s eye view shows what looks like an apartment house on the lot at 4811 today, and Google Maps street view shows that the building has an address of 4807. The 1963 development must have incorporated one or more lots to the north of the theater’s site. There’s a small, shed-like building at the back that might be older than the apartment building, but it doesn’t look like it was ever part of a theater. The Normandie must have been demolished in 1963 or earlier.
I’m not sure why the Normandie was listed at 4817 in those mid-twenties ads. Some sort of address promiscuity, I guess. The building at 4817 today is a house dating from 1911, with a 1953 commercial addition at the front, according to the assessor’s office (and confirmed by Google satellite view.) That could never have been the theater.
In any case, as the Academy was already operating at 4811 Normandie in 1915, and the Normandie was still operating in 1956, the place had a long run. It’s too bad the building is gone. I’d like to have seen it. Maybe a photo will turn up someday.
Migratory address? I think it’s probably so. The 1915 City Directory lists a Cate & Swann Theater at 2127 W. Pico. The 1914 building at that address probably was built as a theater.
The parcel on the corner of Pico and Lake is given a Lake Street address by the L.A. County Assessor’s office, and it too is occupied by a building erected in 1914, but from Ken’s photos and the Google Maps view, it looks like the Empire was in the building east of that, on the lot the Assessor’s office still lists as 2127 W. Pico. They give the 1914 building there an effectively built date of 1922, so the original theater was probably expanded at that time.
An item from the December 23, 1944, issue of Boxoffice said that an early morning fire causing $15,000 damage had recently occurred at the San Carlos Theatre in Los Angeles. The cause was determined to be a cigarette left in a seat, which smoldered for several hours before starting the blaze. Residents of upstairs apartments had to flee the building.
The April 22, 1968, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an article about the new Prescott Drive-In. The Prescott was designed by San Francisco architect Gale Santocono, for Robert Lippert’s Affiliated Theatre Service Inc.
The new drive-in could accommodate 1000 cars on its 15 acre parcel, and had a screen 114 by 57 feet on a 70-foot tower. There was a free-standing marquee 40 feet high, with an attraction board 38 feet wide and 14 feet high. The first manager of the Prescott was Gus C. Vasconcellos.
This theatre had an interesting origin. It began as a simple quonset hut, and was opened by the Huish-Gilhool circuit when their Angelus Theatre, a few blocks away, was destroyed by a fire in 1948. While the house was already operating, the building was upgraded and expanded according to the design by architect Fred Markham.
The July 9, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the formal opening of the Arch Theatre had been scheduled for July 8, and a photo of the completed theater was published in the July 30 issue of the same magazine. The quonset hut shape was retained, the front of the building was expanded to one side, and the whole edifice was given a modern “California” (as Boxoffice called it) design, built of redwood and of native rock quarried in Park City.
The Angelus Theatre was reopened in a new building on its old site in 1950, giving Spanish Fork two movie theaters.
Larry: I found a reference to a chain called San Carlos Cinemas in the March 4, 1974, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The item said that the chain was shuttering the Magnolia Adult Cinema in Larkspur. It looks as though San Carlos Cinemas was the porno outfit that ran the Paris in its later years.
The introduction on this page should be updated to include the information about its early years I noted in my earlier comment.
From Boxoffice Magazine, November 13, 1948: “Roy Hunt’s new Rubidoux Drive-In in Riverside opened November 3 to a capacity attendance of 780 cars….” This was a special event with a tariff of $4.80 per person, the proceeds going to a local charity. Regular operations began the following night.
Most likely the location was given as Riverside because Rubidoux did not become a census-designated place until 1950.
The photo Lost Memory linked to above is mis-dated. The July 9, 1949, issue of Boxoffice notes that the Porter Theatre had recently opened, and that “Colorado Territory” had been the opening feature. I notice that the marquee sign in the photo gives the scheduled date as June 29.
An item in the October 2, 1948, issue of Boxoffice Magazine gives more information. Headlined “Plans complete at Porterville,” the item said that bids were being taken for construction of the new Principal Theatres house. The building was to be 100'x160', built of concrete block, and partly faced with brick. Boxoffice said it was designed by Los Angeles architect Louis E. Wilson, but I think they must have meant Lewis Eugene Wilson, who was also the architect of the Baldwin Theatre in Los Angeles.
The photo shows that the Porter had the same unusual roof shape as the Baldwin, which also opened in 1949, on August 10th. The roof of the Baldwin was supported by laminated arches which narrowed in width and increased in height as they approached the screen end of the auditorium. The Porter appears to have the same form. It was definitely not a simple quonset hut, but a sophisticated midcentury modern design.
I’d had no idea that the Baldwin had a slightly older (though smaller and somewhat plainer) sister theater. If this place is still in decent shape, I think it’s possible that its having been designed by a significant modern architect (Wilson was a major contributor to the Baldwin Hills Village project) might be enough to qualify it for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
There were indeed two Varsity Theatres in Davis. The August 5, 1950, issue of Boxoffice carries this brief item: “The old Varsity Theatre building will be razed in Davis to make way for a new store.”
The Duluth Public Library posted this brief entry about the Lyceum on their weblog. It says the Lyceum opened in 1892, and was designed by Traphagen and Fitzpatrick. It was demolished in 1966.
There are thumbnail biographies of the architects on this page. Oliver Traphagen later moved to Hawaii, and was the architect of the Moana Hotel.
The link I put in my comment of Sept. 18, 2005, is dead. A photo and description of the 1924 fire which destroyed the Dome Theatre can now be seen near the bottom of this web page.
You’re right, Don. The Google Maps link above won’t show the correct location of the Wonderland’s site unless the address is changed to Ocean Front Promenade or (the current name) Ocean Front Walk.
A list of new theaters opened in 1965, published in Boxoffice Magazine’s January 17, 1966, issue, included the Century 22, and gave the seating capacity as 950.
Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of May 1, 1967, said that Syufy’s Century 23 Theatre had recently opened adjacent to the Century 21 and 22. The item said that the seating capacity of this new domed house was 832.
The same publication’s list of new theaters opened in 1968, published in its January 20, 1969, issue, lists the Century 24, and has a small photo captioned “Century 21, 22, 23, 24 – San Jose California – Syufy Enterprises” It doesn’t list the seating capacity of the new house.
The magazine’s list of new theaters opened in 1971, published in their issue of May 15, 1972, includes the Century Twin, 1200 seats, located in front of the Century 22.
I notice that the Century 21 has its own Cinema Treasures page, but the Century 22 and Century 23 do not. If somebody has their addresses, go ahead and submit these theaters. Both were designed by Vincent G. Raney, of course.
Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of November 30, 1964, announced that Syufy’s Century 21 in San Jose had opened on Tuesday, November 24. A seating capacity of 950 was given.
This house opened early in 1982 as the Cinedome 7. Like the other Cinedome theaters in California, it was a project of Syufy Enterprises (Century Theatres), and was designed by architect Vincent G. Raney.
Boxoffice Magazine ran an article about it in their January, 1983, issue, mentioning that it had opened just a year earlier. In its original configuration, the Cinedome had 2400 seats, with four domed auditoriums of 400 seats each (two of them equipped for 70mm projection and six track sound) and three flat-top houses of 400, 200, and 200 seats.
The theater had been so successful from its opening day that Syufy was, at the time the article was published, building a second, identical cineplex a couple of miles away, which was to be called the Cinedome West, and is now the Cinedome 7 Newark.
I don’t know when the Fremont Cinedome got its eighth screen, or how it was done, or how it changed the total seating capacity. A few of the domed theaters at various Century locations were split in later years, but they might have split the larger of the flat-top theaters in Fremont. Somebody who has actually been there will probably turn up eventually to let us know.
Paul, if you’re still around, check the Cinema Treasures page for the Uptown to see if there are any recent developments. There are lots of links to recent photos there now.
The April 30, 1938, issue of Boxoffice Magazine featured an article by Edward Paul Lewin, architect of the recently-opened Times Theatre. The article included several photos of the house.
This article was a follow-up to an article by Lewin in the January 8, 1938, issue of the same publication, which included renderings of the Times, then still under construction.
Lewin’s plans for the house included structural elements that would support a 400 seat balcony which the owners wanted to add to the original 1000 seat auditorium at a later time, if patronage justified it. The provision for this possible balcony addition gave the Times an unusually high ceiling for a single-floor theater.
Not exactly theater-related, but this web log post contains a 1935 Armstrong Linoleum ad with a picture of the stunning deco-moderne interior of a Philadelphia night club and restaurant designed by the architect of the Dante, Armand Carroll.
The Cove Theatre was listed for sale in the Clearing House section of Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of June 19, 1978. The scan is bad, but I can make out that the house was then operating on weekends, and I’m pretty sure it says 400 seats (or maybe 490.) The asking price for the building, business and equipment appears to have been $67,000.
Here’s something from the December 14, 1946, issue of Boxoffice: “The opening of the Cove at Orange Cove last month by John L. Terrill came 17 months after he had opened his first house, the Orosi at Orosi….” Orosi is a few miles south of Orange Cove and about an equal distance east of Dinuba.
The June 30, 1945, issue of Boxoffice ran an item saying that John J. Terrill had declared the recent opening of his new Orosi Theatre “a tremendous success.” It added that Terrill, an Air Transport Command veteran, had previously operated a theater in San Andreas, and during the war had operated a military post theater in Long Beach.
Does anybody know anything about the Orosi Theatre? It’s not listed at Cinema Treasures.
Boxoffice Magazine reveals the date the Ventnor reopened with Armand Carroll’s handsome deco-moderne interior (seen in the 1936 photos linked in Warren G. Harris’s comment of May 15, 2008, comment above.)
The September 26, 1936, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about theater grosses in the Atlantic City area. One line reads “…and Ventnor in Ventor city also reported grosses topped previous season despite the fact that the Ventnor house was only rebuilt and opened on July 4, missing a month of good business.”
The Boxoffice item corroborates Warren’s 1936 trade journal photos as to the year the Ventnor reopened, but this Cinema Treasures news post says the house was reopened in 1938, after the original 1921 theater was destroyed by a fire. Unless the place was rebuilt twice in two years, the claim of a 1938 reopening must be an error. Unfortunately, the news post doesn’t cite a source for the date or for the information about a fire.
The wording of the Boxoffice article doesn’t make clear if the Ventnor was closed for only a month for rebuilding (an awfully brief time for a major project) or had merely lost a month’s business from the busy summer season, but it does use the word “rebuilt,” suggesting that, at the least, the house had been gutted, so a fire is a possibility. A planned rebuilding probably would not have been scheduled at a time that might keep the house closed during its busiest season.
This message board page includes some discussion of the Ventnor Theatre, and some pictures of the facade.
The cover plate of the Modern Theatre section of Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of November 7, 1942, featured a photo of the standee-foyer area of the Embassy Theatre in Atlantic City. A caption on a later page says that it was designed by architect Armand de Cortieux Carroll. The auditorium was rather austere, but the photo gives a glimpse of a nice little Moderne lounge with bench seating on the other side of the standee area.
The Normandie Theatre was listed at 4811 S. Normandie in the 1956 City Directory. I’m sure that’s the correct address. The Academy Theatre, its aka, is listed at 4811 S. Normandie in the 1915 City Directory.
The building listed at 4811 by L.A. County Assessor has “0000” for the year it was built, and has an effective year built of 1963. It looks as though some part of an earlier structure might have survived a 1963 rebuilding, but the Assessor’s office has lost track of the original construction date.
Live Search bird’s eye view shows what looks like an apartment house on the lot at 4811 today, and Google Maps street view shows that the building has an address of 4807. The 1963 development must have incorporated one or more lots to the north of the theater’s site. There’s a small, shed-like building at the back that might be older than the apartment building, but it doesn’t look like it was ever part of a theater. The Normandie must have been demolished in 1963 or earlier.
I’m not sure why the Normandie was listed at 4817 in those mid-twenties ads. Some sort of address promiscuity, I guess. The building at 4817 today is a house dating from 1911, with a 1953 commercial addition at the front, according to the assessor’s office (and confirmed by Google satellite view.) That could never have been the theater.
In any case, as the Academy was already operating at 4811 Normandie in 1915, and the Normandie was still operating in 1956, the place had a long run. It’s too bad the building is gone. I’d like to have seen it. Maybe a photo will turn up someday.
Migratory address? I think it’s probably so. The 1915 City Directory lists a Cate & Swann Theater at 2127 W. Pico. The 1914 building at that address probably was built as a theater.
The parcel on the corner of Pico and Lake is given a Lake Street address by the L.A. County Assessor’s office, and it too is occupied by a building erected in 1914, but from Ken’s photos and the Google Maps view, it looks like the Empire was in the building east of that, on the lot the Assessor’s office still lists as 2127 W. Pico. They give the 1914 building there an effectively built date of 1922, so the original theater was probably expanded at that time.
Listed as the Carmel Museum Theatre in the 1956 L.A. City Directory (see also ken mc’s comment of January 5, 2007, above, citing the same name.)
An item from the December 23, 1944, issue of Boxoffice said that an early morning fire causing $15,000 damage had recently occurred at the San Carlos Theatre in Los Angeles. The cause was determined to be a cigarette left in a seat, which smoldered for several hours before starting the blaze. Residents of upstairs apartments had to flee the building.
The April 22, 1968, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an article about the new Prescott Drive-In. The Prescott was designed by San Francisco architect Gale Santocono, for Robert Lippert’s Affiliated Theatre Service Inc.
The new drive-in could accommodate 1000 cars on its 15 acre parcel, and had a screen 114 by 57 feet on a 70-foot tower. There was a free-standing marquee 40 feet high, with an attraction board 38 feet wide and 14 feet high. The first manager of the Prescott was Gus C. Vasconcellos.
This theatre had an interesting origin. It began as a simple quonset hut, and was opened by the Huish-Gilhool circuit when their Angelus Theatre, a few blocks away, was destroyed by a fire in 1948. While the house was already operating, the building was upgraded and expanded according to the design by architect Fred Markham.
The July 9, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the formal opening of the Arch Theatre had been scheduled for July 8, and a photo of the completed theater was published in the July 30 issue of the same magazine. The quonset hut shape was retained, the front of the building was expanded to one side, and the whole edifice was given a modern “California” (as Boxoffice called it) design, built of redwood and of native rock quarried in Park City.
The Angelus Theatre was reopened in a new building on its old site in 1950, giving Spanish Fork two movie theaters.
Larry: I found a reference to a chain called San Carlos Cinemas in the March 4, 1974, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The item said that the chain was shuttering the Magnolia Adult Cinema in Larkspur. It looks as though San Carlos Cinemas was the porno outfit that ran the Paris in its later years.
The introduction on this page should be updated to include the information about its early years I noted in my earlier comment.
From Boxoffice Magazine, November 13, 1948: “Roy Hunt’s new Rubidoux Drive-In in Riverside opened November 3 to a capacity attendance of 780 cars….” This was a special event with a tariff of $4.80 per person, the proceeds going to a local charity. Regular operations began the following night.
Most likely the location was given as Riverside because Rubidoux did not become a census-designated place until 1950.
The photo Lost Memory linked to above is mis-dated. The July 9, 1949, issue of Boxoffice notes that the Porter Theatre had recently opened, and that “Colorado Territory” had been the opening feature. I notice that the marquee sign in the photo gives the scheduled date as June 29.
An item in the October 2, 1948, issue of Boxoffice Magazine gives more information. Headlined “Plans complete at Porterville,” the item said that bids were being taken for construction of the new Principal Theatres house. The building was to be 100'x160', built of concrete block, and partly faced with brick. Boxoffice said it was designed by Los Angeles architect Louis E. Wilson, but I think they must have meant Lewis Eugene Wilson, who was also the architect of the Baldwin Theatre in Los Angeles.
The photo shows that the Porter had the same unusual roof shape as the Baldwin, which also opened in 1949, on August 10th. The roof of the Baldwin was supported by laminated arches which narrowed in width and increased in height as they approached the screen end of the auditorium. The Porter appears to have the same form. It was definitely not a simple quonset hut, but a sophisticated midcentury modern design.
I’d had no idea that the Baldwin had a slightly older (though smaller and somewhat plainer) sister theater. If this place is still in decent shape, I think it’s possible that its having been designed by a significant modern architect (Wilson was a major contributor to the Baldwin Hills Village project) might be enough to qualify it for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
There were indeed two Varsity Theatres in Davis. The August 5, 1950, issue of Boxoffice carries this brief item: “The old Varsity Theatre building will be razed in Davis to make way for a new store.”
The Duluth Public Library posted this brief entry about the Lyceum on their weblog. It says the Lyceum opened in 1892, and was designed by Traphagen and Fitzpatrick. It was demolished in 1966.
There are thumbnail biographies of the architects on this page. Oliver Traphagen later moved to Hawaii, and was the architect of the Moana Hotel.
The link I put in my comment of Sept. 18, 2005, is dead. A photo and description of the 1924 fire which destroyed the Dome Theatre can now be seen near the bottom of this web page.
The link I put in my comment of Sept. 18, 2005, is dead. A photo and description of the 1924 fire can now be seen near the bottom of this web page.
You’re right, Don. The Google Maps link above won’t show the correct location of the Wonderland’s site unless the address is changed to Ocean Front Promenade or (the current name) Ocean Front Walk.
A list of new theaters opened in 1965, published in Boxoffice Magazine’s January 17, 1966, issue, included the Century 22, and gave the seating capacity as 950.
Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of May 1, 1967, said that Syufy’s Century 23 Theatre had recently opened adjacent to the Century 21 and 22. The item said that the seating capacity of this new domed house was 832.
The same publication’s list of new theaters opened in 1968, published in its January 20, 1969, issue, lists the Century 24, and has a small photo captioned “Century 21, 22, 23, 24 – San Jose California – Syufy Enterprises” It doesn’t list the seating capacity of the new house.
The magazine’s list of new theaters opened in 1971, published in their issue of May 15, 1972, includes the Century Twin, 1200 seats, located in front of the Century 22.
I notice that the Century 21 has its own Cinema Treasures page, but the Century 22 and Century 23 do not. If somebody has their addresses, go ahead and submit these theaters. Both were designed by Vincent G. Raney, of course.
Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of November 30, 1964, announced that Syufy’s Century 21 in San Jose had opened on Tuesday, November 24. A seating capacity of 950 was given.
This house opened early in 1982 as the Cinedome 7. Like the other Cinedome theaters in California, it was a project of Syufy Enterprises (Century Theatres), and was designed by architect Vincent G. Raney.
Boxoffice Magazine ran an article about it in their January, 1983, issue, mentioning that it had opened just a year earlier. In its original configuration, the Cinedome had 2400 seats, with four domed auditoriums of 400 seats each (two of them equipped for 70mm projection and six track sound) and three flat-top houses of 400, 200, and 200 seats.
The theater had been so successful from its opening day that Syufy was, at the time the article was published, building a second, identical cineplex a couple of miles away, which was to be called the Cinedome West, and is now the Cinedome 7 Newark.
I don’t know when the Fremont Cinedome got its eighth screen, or how it was done, or how it changed the total seating capacity. A few of the domed theaters at various Century locations were split in later years, but they might have split the larger of the flat-top theaters in Fremont. Somebody who has actually been there will probably turn up eventually to let us know.
That was supposed to make a link, but the site has been misbehaving lately. You’ll have to copy and paste the URL.
Paul, if you’re still around, check the Cinema Treasures page for the Uptown to see if there are any recent developments. There are lots of links to recent photos there now.
/theaters/69/
The April 30, 1938, issue of Boxoffice Magazine featured an article by Edward Paul Lewin, architect of the recently-opened Times Theatre. The article included several photos of the house.
This article was a follow-up to an article by Lewin in the January 8, 1938, issue of the same publication, which included renderings of the Times, then still under construction.
Lewin’s plans for the house included structural elements that would support a 400 seat balcony which the owners wanted to add to the original 1000 seat auditorium at a later time, if patronage justified it. The provision for this possible balcony addition gave the Times an unusually high ceiling for a single-floor theater.
Not exactly theater-related, but this web log post contains a 1935 Armstrong Linoleum ad with a picture of the stunning deco-moderne interior of a Philadelphia night club and restaurant designed by the architect of the Dante, Armand Carroll.
The Cove Theatre was listed for sale in the Clearing House section of Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of June 19, 1978. The scan is bad, but I can make out that the house was then operating on weekends, and I’m pretty sure it says 400 seats (or maybe 490.) The asking price for the building, business and equipment appears to have been $67,000.
Here’s something from the December 14, 1946, issue of Boxoffice: “The opening of the Cove at Orange Cove last month by John L. Terrill came 17 months after he had opened his first house, the Orosi at Orosi….” Orosi is a few miles south of Orange Cove and about an equal distance east of Dinuba.
The June 30, 1945, issue of Boxoffice ran an item saying that John J. Terrill had declared the recent opening of his new Orosi Theatre “a tremendous success.” It added that Terrill, an Air Transport Command veteran, had previously operated a theater in San Andreas, and during the war had operated a military post theater in Long Beach.
Does anybody know anything about the Orosi Theatre? It’s not listed at Cinema Treasures.
Boxoffice Magazine reveals the date the Ventnor reopened with Armand Carroll’s handsome deco-moderne interior (seen in the 1936 photos linked in Warren G. Harris’s comment of May 15, 2008, comment above.)
The September 26, 1936, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about theater grosses in the Atlantic City area. One line reads “…and Ventnor in Ventor city also reported grosses topped previous season despite the fact that the Ventnor house was only rebuilt and opened on July 4, missing a month of good business.”
The Boxoffice item corroborates Warren’s 1936 trade journal photos as to the year the Ventnor reopened, but this Cinema Treasures news post says the house was reopened in 1938, after the original 1921 theater was destroyed by a fire. Unless the place was rebuilt twice in two years, the claim of a 1938 reopening must be an error. Unfortunately, the news post doesn’t cite a source for the date or for the information about a fire.
The wording of the Boxoffice article doesn’t make clear if the Ventnor was closed for only a month for rebuilding (an awfully brief time for a major project) or had merely lost a month’s business from the busy summer season, but it does use the word “rebuilt,” suggesting that, at the least, the house had been gutted, so a fire is a possibility. A planned rebuilding probably would not have been scheduled at a time that might keep the house closed during its busiest season.
This message board page includes some discussion of the Ventnor Theatre, and some pictures of the facade.
The cover plate of the Modern Theatre section of Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of November 7, 1942, featured a photo of the standee-foyer area of the Embassy Theatre in Atlantic City. A caption on a later page says that it was designed by architect Armand de Cortieux Carroll. The auditorium was rather austere, but the photo gives a glimpse of a nice little Moderne lounge with bench seating on the other side of the standee area.
The Lompoc Theatre’s official web site appears to be dead. I’m getting a 404 error.