Maybe I should have said it was “uncompleted” in December of 2000, but I’ve never been there so I’m unaware of the state of the place. It’s one of the projects listed by TransMineral USA, the company that makes the hydraulic lime (I believe it’s similar to the material that used to be called cast stone) with which the building appears to be partly faced. Their website gives the date of completion as December, 2000.
Krikorian’s Monrovia Cinema 12 was completed in December, 2000. It was designed by Gensler & Associates. I suppose the style might be described as a post-modern eclectic mannerism, but whatever the style, I’ve come to think of it as mouskitecture, in honor (or dishonor) of Mickey. Appropriately, Gensler & Associates also designed the AMC Theatres at Downtown Disney multiplex.
The marquee and the vertical tower are gone (there’s a small picture- by Scott Neff- of the theatre on this page at CinemaTour showing the damage), but I think the building itself is probably still standing. My best guess for the address of the Tower is 340 W. Sycamore Street, and the Google Maps satellite view of that address shows a dark-roofed building there.
According to the banner displayed on the building in Scott Neff’s photo, the Tower was to have become the new location of the Bible Way Association Church, but that institution still shows an address on Plumas Street. I’m not sure what year the photo was taken, but it can’t have been too many years ago.
I’ve only ever seen the end exits on the fronts of those few older theatres that had stadium sections, such as the Rialto on Broadway and the Monterey (nee Mission) in Monterey Park. It’s possible that some theatres with ordinary balconies also had such exits from the balcony to the front of the building, but I’ve never seen one. My guess would be that the “balcony” advertised in LoopNet’s listing of Bowling Green’s State Theatre is more likely a stadium section.
This configuration is pretty rare. I’ve only ever been to three theatres with such stadium sections, and only two of those (the Rialto and Monterey) had the end exits on the front. Both of these houses had two cross aisles- one at the top of the passages leading into the theatre, and a second across the middle of the stadium section. The stairs leading down to the front end exits were accessed from the upper cross aisle.
The third theatre with a stadium section that I attended was the Whittwood in Whittier, a post-war theatre in which there was only one cross aisle, and the stairs were entirely internal, leading up from the lobby and providing the access to both the stadium section and the orchestra floor.
I can’t find any references to an architect named F.E. Woodruff in the California Index. Frank Woodruff certainly had this theatre built, but I’ve found no evidence that he designed it. One of the very few references to Woodruff in the Index cites an article in Architect & Engineer of May, 1927, which says that architects Gable & Wyant were designing a house for him. If Woodruff had been an architect, one would expect him to have designed his own house.
The County Assessor’s office gives a construction date of 1929 and an effective construction date of 1970 for this building. As the current streamline modern facade can be seen in photos from as early as the 1950s, at least, then I have no idea what was done to the building in 1970 that “reset” its effective construction date.
Wow, end exits on the front of the building. I wonder if they served a regular balcony or a stadium section? Most often, on theatres I’ve seen, such end exits indicate stadium seating at the back of the auditorium.
The State was adjacent to the tall building on the corner, which was built on the site of a market (either a Pantry or a Jurgensen’s, I can’t recall for sure— the last time I saw it intact was before 1970.)
They’ve incorporated the surviving bits of the State’s facade into this project in a very strange way. It looks almost like it’s been trapped. A thin theatre trying to get out of a fat commercial building. I actually find it a bit creepy.
The L.A. County Assessor’s Office Parcel Viewer (not as slick as the city’s ZIMAS system, but serviceable for properties outside the City of Los Angeles) gives the following information for the building at 235 W. 3rd St. in Pomona: it is only one structure, 13,940 sq. ft., built in 1923, with the effective year built being 1963. “Effective year built” means either a major addition to or a major rehabilitation of the building dates from that year. The California is not demolished, then, but has undergone major alteration.
Ken: TerraServer shows a building at this address (as of 2004), and from above it looks fairly old. Are you sure the California has been demolished? (Ontario being in San Bernardino County, there’s no parcel information available on-line.)
If the caption is correct and the “S” theatre is (or was) on Western Avenue, I’m guessing that it must have been on South Western. I’m pretty sure there was never a theatre that looked like that north of Wilshire. The graffito “PIC 44” might be a gang sign indicating 44th Street. I can’t recall which theatres were on Western in that area. It’s possible that it’s one that’s still missing from the Cinema Treasures database.
Here’s a YouTube video featuring (starting about 2:30 in) a couple of shots of a former movie house in the Lyons district of Clinton, Iowa. I don’t think it’s listed at Cinema Treasures. Does anyone recognize it? I think it might currently be a tavern called Club 110, at 110 Main Avenue, but I’ve never been to Clinton so I can’t be sure.
I wonder if the Marcal was an early revival house at the time that photo was taken? DeMille’s The Godless Girl (banned in Finland!) was a 1929 release, and Capra’s American Madness dated to 1932. I’m pretty sure the photo is from a later date than either movie, because the parked car at far right is streamlined, and the earliest streamlined cars to go into production dated to the mid-1930s. I’m thinking the car might be a Chrysler or DeSoto Airflow.
The aka line at top says “Peerless” instead of the “Peerlex” seen on the vertical sign in the photo ken mc linked to and in this mis-dated photo from the Oakland Museum’s collection. Is that a mistake or was “Peerless” also the name at one time?
Here is an August, 2007 article from the Oakland Tribune about the Oakland Pantages theatre. It was quite a spectacular place in its day, as described in this excerpt: [quote]“Clippings in the history files reveal the excitement on a long ago August evening when Alex Pantages opened his second Bay Area live vaudeville theater. The date was Aug. 12, 1912. Local architects Matthew O'Brien and Carl Werner created the plans for the exterior shell, retail and office spaces, and Scottish-born Bernard Priteca (born in 1889) created the glamorous theater, according to files. Pantages and Priteca would go on to collaborate on several more theater projects throughout the West, through the 1920s.
“The masonry-clad building cost $130,000 to build, with completion of the theater space adding another quarter million. The theater seated 2,000 patrons, half on the orchestra floor, half on the balcony level. Patrons enjoyed mahogany and Russian leather backed chairs. At the sides were 11 proscenium boxes and 11 loges. The interior featured a color scheme of gold and ivory, with rose tint ionic-style plaster decorative elements. Marble mosaic panels decorated the vestibule, and separating the entry foyer from the theater were six pairs of 90-foot-tall gleaming bronze doors.”[/quote] I’m guessing that the “90-foot-tall” bronze doors were actually only nine feet high. Had they been 90 feet, they’d probably have been visible from San Francisco. But even with mere nine foot doors, the Pantages still sounds impressive.
*"Patrons eat and drink on actual beds while watching edgy performers (dominatrixes, opera singers, midgets on bicycles, etc.) during lavish multi-course meals."*
Does anybody else think this sounds like it could be some improv group’s parody of an arty, 1970s soft-core Euro-porn movie?
But it’s a real place, not a parody, and judging from their website, the reality is even sillier and more pretentious than I could have imagined. Take a look at this gem from their flash-based online “magazine” for example:
[quote][em]“hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is a broken
winged bird
that cannot fly”[/em][/quote]
The poor Vogue!
Boyle Heights still had a large Jewish population in 1938 when a Los Angeles Daily News photographer took this photo of an anti-Nazi demonstration which took place on Brooklyn Avenue. The National’s marquee indicates that the theatre was closed for the night, in support of the protest.
The Google Maps link for the Norwalk Theatre won’t display the correct location unless the address is changed to that which the property has now: 12039 Firestone Blvd, Norwalk, CA 90650.
This entry duplicates this earlier CT page for the same drive-in. I don’t know how we’ve missed noticing the duplication for three years. Both pages have quite a few comments, but the other features more detailed information in comments by Ed Collins, assistant manager of the swap meet.
That’s what’s especially useful about the ZIMAS reports from the city’s zoning department. They have the latest information from the County Assessor, plus they include the years of construction for any buildings on the property.
I’ve come across several Cinema Treasures pages which erroneously listed theatres as closed/demolished when they were only closed. Now I always check the latest aerial photos from Google maps or TerraServer, and see if I can generate a report on the address from ZIMAS (if it’s in the City of Los Angeles) just to make sure.
The Granada’s building has been gone for quite a while. The site is now part of a parking lot for a blocky office building which I think was put up in the 1970s.
Maybe I should have said it was “uncompleted” in December of 2000, but I’ve never been there so I’m unaware of the state of the place. It’s one of the projects listed by TransMineral USA, the company that makes the hydraulic lime (I believe it’s similar to the material that used to be called cast stone) with which the building appears to be partly faced. Their website gives the date of completion as December, 2000.
Krikorian’s Monrovia Cinema 12 was completed in December, 2000. It was designed by Gensler & Associates. I suppose the style might be described as a post-modern eclectic mannerism, but whatever the style, I’ve come to think of it as mouskitecture, in honor (or dishonor) of Mickey. Appropriately, Gensler & Associates also designed the AMC Theatres at Downtown Disney multiplex.
The marquee and the vertical tower are gone (there’s a small picture- by Scott Neff- of the theatre on this page at CinemaTour showing the damage), but I think the building itself is probably still standing. My best guess for the address of the Tower is 340 W. Sycamore Street, and the Google Maps satellite view of that address shows a dark-roofed building there.
According to the banner displayed on the building in Scott Neff’s photo, the Tower was to have become the new location of the Bible Way Association Church, but that institution still shows an address on Plumas Street. I’m not sure what year the photo was taken, but it can’t have been too many years ago.
I’ve only ever seen the end exits on the fronts of those few older theatres that had stadium sections, such as the Rialto on Broadway and the Monterey (nee Mission) in Monterey Park. It’s possible that some theatres with ordinary balconies also had such exits from the balcony to the front of the building, but I’ve never seen one. My guess would be that the “balcony” advertised in LoopNet’s listing of Bowling Green’s State Theatre is more likely a stadium section.
This configuration is pretty rare. I’ve only ever been to three theatres with such stadium sections, and only two of those (the Rialto and Monterey) had the end exits on the front. Both of these houses had two cross aisles- one at the top of the passages leading into the theatre, and a second across the middle of the stadium section. The stairs leading down to the front end exits were accessed from the upper cross aisle.
The third theatre with a stadium section that I attended was the Whittwood in Whittier, a post-war theatre in which there was only one cross aisle, and the stairs were entirely internal, leading up from the lobby and providing the access to both the stadium section and the orchestra floor.
Ken: Did you also get photos of the Circle Theatre while you were in Bellflower?
I can’t find any references to an architect named F.E. Woodruff in the California Index. Frank Woodruff certainly had this theatre built, but I’ve found no evidence that he designed it. One of the very few references to Woodruff in the Index cites an article in Architect & Engineer of May, 1927, which says that architects Gable & Wyant were designing a house for him. If Woodruff had been an architect, one would expect him to have designed his own house.
The County Assessor’s office gives a construction date of 1929 and an effective construction date of 1970 for this building. As the current streamline modern facade can be seen in photos from as early as the 1950s, at least, then I have no idea what was done to the building in 1970 that “reset” its effective construction date.
Wow, end exits on the front of the building. I wonder if they served a regular balcony or a stadium section? Most often, on theatres I’ve seen, such end exits indicate stadium seating at the back of the auditorium.
The State was adjacent to the tall building on the corner, which was built on the site of a market (either a Pantry or a Jurgensen’s, I can’t recall for sure— the last time I saw it intact was before 1970.)
They’ve incorporated the surviving bits of the State’s facade into this project in a very strange way. It looks almost like it’s been trapped. A thin theatre trying to get out of a fat commercial building. I actually find it a bit creepy.
Ken: The building in your picture is the next one just west of the State. Interior Image, the closed furniture store, was at 762 E. Colorado.
This is what the State building looks like now.
Correct address is: 448 W. Base Line St., San Bernardino, CA, 92410.
The L.A. County Assessor’s Office Parcel Viewer (not as slick as the city’s ZIMAS system, but serviceable for properties outside the City of Los Angeles) gives the following information for the building at 235 W. 3rd St. in Pomona: it is only one structure, 13,940 sq. ft., built in 1923, with the effective year built being 1963. “Effective year built” means either a major addition to or a major rehabilitation of the building dates from that year. The California is not demolished, then, but has undergone major alteration.
Ken: TerraServer shows a building at this address (as of 2004), and from above it looks fairly old. Are you sure the California has been demolished? (Ontario being in San Bernardino County, there’s no parcel information available on-line.)
If the caption is correct and the “S” theatre is (or was) on Western Avenue, I’m guessing that it must have been on South Western. I’m pretty sure there was never a theatre that looked like that north of Wilshire. The graffito “PIC 44” might be a gang sign indicating 44th Street. I can’t recall which theatres were on Western in that area. It’s possible that it’s one that’s still missing from the Cinema Treasures database.
Here’s a YouTube video featuring (starting about 2:30 in) a couple of shots of a former movie house in the Lyons district of Clinton, Iowa. I don’t think it’s listed at Cinema Treasures. Does anyone recognize it? I think it might currently be a tavern called Club 110, at 110 Main Avenue, but I’ve never been to Clinton so I can’t be sure.
Now I note the banner hanging near the vertical sign. Does it read “Marcal’s 3rd Year Revival Pictures”?
I wonder if the Marcal was an early revival house at the time that photo was taken? DeMille’s The Godless Girl (banned in Finland!) was a 1929 release, and Capra’s American Madness dated to 1932. I’m pretty sure the photo is from a later date than either movie, because the parked car at far right is streamlined, and the earliest streamlined cars to go into production dated to the mid-1930s. I’m thinking the car might be a Chrysler or DeSoto Airflow.
The aka line at top says “Peerless” instead of the “Peerlex” seen on the vertical sign in the photo ken mc linked to and in this mis-dated photo from the Oakland Museum’s collection. Is that a mistake or was “Peerless” also the name at one time?
Here is an August, 2007 article from the Oakland Tribune about the Oakland Pantages theatre. It was quite a spectacular place in its day, as described in this excerpt: [quote]“Clippings in the history files reveal the excitement on a long ago August evening when Alex Pantages opened his second Bay Area live vaudeville theater. The date was Aug. 12, 1912. Local architects Matthew O'Brien and Carl Werner created the plans for the exterior shell, retail and office spaces, and Scottish-born Bernard Priteca (born in 1889) created the glamorous theater, according to files. Pantages and Priteca would go on to collaborate on several more theater projects throughout the West, through the 1920s.
“The masonry-clad building cost $130,000 to build, with completion of the theater space adding another quarter million. The theater seated 2,000 patrons, half on the orchestra floor, half on the balcony level. Patrons enjoyed mahogany and Russian leather backed chairs. At the sides were 11 proscenium boxes and 11 loges. The interior featured a color scheme of gold and ivory, with rose tint ionic-style plaster decorative elements. Marble mosaic panels decorated the vestibule, and separating the entry foyer from the theater were six pairs of 90-foot-tall gleaming bronze doors.”[/quote] I’m guessing that the “90-foot-tall” bronze doors were actually only nine feet high. Had they been 90 feet, they’d probably have been visible from San Francisco. But even with mere nine foot doors, the Pantages still sounds impressive.
Does anybody else think this sounds like it could be some improv group’s parody of an arty, 1970s soft-core Euro-porn movie?
But it’s a real place, not a parody, and judging from their website, the reality is even sillier and more pretentious than I could have imagined. Take a look at this gem from their flash-based online “magazine” for example:
[quote][em]“hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is a broken
winged bird
that cannot fly”[/em][/quote]
The poor Vogue!
Boyle Heights still had a large Jewish population in 1938 when a Los Angeles Daily News photographer took this photo of an anti-Nazi demonstration which took place on Brooklyn Avenue. The National’s marquee indicates that the theatre was closed for the night, in support of the protest.
The Google Maps link for the Norwalk Theatre won’t display the correct location unless the address is changed to that which the property has now: 12039 Firestone Blvd, Norwalk, CA 90650.
This entry duplicates this earlier CT page for the same drive-in. I don’t know how we’ve missed noticing the duplication for three years. Both pages have quite a few comments, but the other features more detailed information in comments by Ed Collins, assistant manager of the swap meet.
That’s what’s especially useful about the ZIMAS reports from the city’s zoning department. They have the latest information from the County Assessor, plus they include the years of construction for any buildings on the property.
I’ve come across several Cinema Treasures pages which erroneously listed theatres as closed/demolished when they were only closed. Now I always check the latest aerial photos from Google maps or TerraServer, and see if I can generate a report on the address from ZIMAS (if it’s in the City of Los Angeles) just to make sure.
The Granada’s building has been gone for quite a while. The site is now part of a parking lot for a blocky office building which I think was put up in the 1970s.