Puzzling, indeed. However, the Department of Neighborhoods site does give the theatre’s opening date as December 3, 1920, more than an month after the organ’s installation. That would have been sufficient time for the name to have been changed. Maybe there’s someone around who has access to Seattle city directories from the era, or newspaper ads for the theatre, and could look up both names to see which was used when?
I did also find this 2003 article from the Seattle Times which also gives Winter Garden as the opening name. Newspaper articles about things that happened decades earlier than their publication date are not always reliable, but this particular article was by Paul Dorpat, a writer who had been doing a “Seattle now and then” feature since 1982. He might be a reliable source.
Unfortunately the most recent photo with a confirmed date I can find of the Winter Garden is the one from 1932 on the PSTOS page. The night shot just below it looks earlier (note the five-globed streetlight standards, as opposed to the three-light standards in the 1932 shot), but that photo has no other clues as to its date.
The Department of Neighborhoods page doesn’t specifically cite a source for their claim that the big Winter Garden vertical sign was part of the original plans. Neither does PSTOS cite a specific source for the information about the organist playing at the Progressive Theatre in 1927, but there’s The Silent Era’s page which cites Film Daily’s 1926 Yearbook (published in 1925) as listing the theatre as the Winter Garden. One or the other must be wrong.
And, for what it’s worth, the Seattle Historic Resources Survey appears to be doing pretty good research, even if much of the work is being done by volunteers. Some of the photos could be better, though.
Here is a page about the Winter Garden Theatre, full of information dug up by the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods for their historic buildings inventory.
They name the architect of record for the Winter Garden as Frank H. Fowler, but indicate that B. Marcus Priteca, for whom Fowler may have once worked, “…appears to have had some limited role in this project.”
The section of the page devoted to describing the original appearance of the theatre includes this line:
“A very elaborate electrified 520 sq. ft steel and glass marquee and a monumental, vertically-hung neon and bulb-light sign for the ‘Winter Garden’ were part of the original design.”
This contradicts the claim above, and at the PSTOS Winter Garden page, that the house opened under the name Progressive Theatre. Elsewhere on the Department of Neighborhoods' page it does say that the stock company which financed the project was originally called the Progressive Company, before its name was changed to Winter Garden Company. I’m not sure which (if either) of the websites has the story right. It seems possible that the theatre’s organ was ordered under the company’s original name, and this name would have been on the Wurlitzer company records from which PSTOS probably got the information.
I remember Aladdin Theaters. They ran a number of drive-ins, too. Their logo, as I recall, was a lamp with a chubby genie rising from it. In fact I think the Floral may have been one of their drive-ins for a while. Ron Pierce says the Anaheim Drive-in was built by Aladdin. I also have a vague recollection of the Aladdin logo on the Vineland when it was first opened (I was about ten years old, I think, so it’s hazy.)
Some of the original plans, sections and detail drawings for this theatre, from the office of the architectural firm William Riseman Associates, are now part of the J. Evan Miller Collection of cinema plans, which is held by the special collections department at Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Plans for this very early twin cinema were done by the Boston architectural firm of William Riseman Associates. The plans are dated 1962. The original name of the theatre was apparently Charlottetown Twin Cinemas. Some of the firms plans and drawings for the project are now part of the J. Evan Miller Collection of cinema plans, which is held by the special collections department at Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
The architectural firm which designed the 1965 revamp of the Circle Theatre for Sumner Redstone’s Showcase Cinemas was William Riseman Associates, of Boston. Many floor plans, sections, sight-line diagrams, and seating plans from the project are now part of the J. Evan Miller Collection of cinema plans which is held by the special collections department at Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
This multiplex opened in December, 1995, and will close before the end of 2007 and be demolished to make way for an office complex. From debut to doom in a dozen years. I wonder if that’s a record?
LM: It’s most likely that only the street name would have changed, so if the Ivy’s building still existed it would probably be at 3937 Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles. That would be on the north side of Whittier near Ditman Avenue.
On the 1944 map, the little red flag on the block at the northeast corner of Euclid and Whittier indicates that the Euclid Theater either shared the block with a school at that time, or had already been obliterated by an earlier incarnation of the school that occupies the whole block now.
Oh, and Stephenson Avenue isn’t gone (I don’t know why I didn’t notice this immediately.) The name was changed to… Whittier Boulevard! And, if the Ivy was at 3937 (I’m now pretty sure that’s the number the directory gives), then it should be listed in East Los Angeles rather than Los Angeles, as the 3900 block is a bit east of Indiana Street, the city limits.
Also, this probably means that we can bulldoze both of the Jewel Theaters in Los Angeles, since they apparently both duplicate the Jewel Theater in East Los Angeles, at 3817 Whittier Boulevard.
Stephenson Street was renamed Whittier Boulevard sometime before 1925. At 3021, the Euclid Theatre would have been just a few doors east of Euclid Avenue. That whole block has been razed for some large project that looks (on TerraServer) like it might be a school.
This theatre is now a triplex. Metropolitan’s website has gone back to calling it the Fairview Theatre. The website of Thorpe Associates, the architectural firm that designed the renovation, describes the project as “…3-screen, 484 seat multi-theatre complex addition and remodel….” It is all stadium seating. The site also displays a couple of renderings of the building.
The Astor Theatre building is still there. Though Ken’s photos from June 29 do not show the address 4821 displayed on any of the buildings depicted, the city’s zoning information system provides a report on the addresses 4819 through 4821-½. It looks as though the address 4819 has migrated over the years and is now in the building south of the original theatre building.
A combination of zoning information reports and a TerraServer satellite view of the block have convinced me that the white building in Ken’s photo was the location of the Astor Theatre. The zoning information report reveals that this building was built in 1914. The Astor Theatre was listed at 4821 S. Vermont in the 1921 Los Angeles City Directory (the earliest available on the Internet.)
Ken: “Century Vaudeville” in the top ad on that latest scan must refer to the the Gaiety Theatre, but what is the hidden name beginning with the letter “H”?
MKThink, the architectural firm that did the plans for the renovation of this theatre, has this page about it on their website. It says that the former balcony will contain an auditorium with 264 stadium seats, plus an 86 seat screening room.
Of course it also says that the theatre will reopen in 2006, so maybe things have changed. In the photo Lost Memory linked to in August it looks as though the Walgreen’s on the main floor was already open. I wonder why the delay in getting the theatre open?
730 S. Grand was the address of the Mozart Theatre, which apparently was the only theatre in history to change its name more frequently than it changed its program.
Dublinboyo: I’m going to make a wild guess that the vintage ad you saw on display at the Big Newport might have announced the 1940 opening of the Annex, which was an early name of the small theatre in what came to be known as the Alhambra Twin Cinemas on Main Street at Atlantic in Alhambra.
A second possibility is that the ad featured plans for a theatre which Edwards wanted to build in Monterey Park in 1939, but which were never carried out.
As far as I know, the Mission/Monterey was the only indoor theatre in Monterey Park until Edwards built its replacement, the Monterey Mall triplex on Atlantic Boulevard, in the 1970s.
Opened in 1999, this 5600 seat megaplex was designed by the Long Beach-based architectural firm of Perkowitz + Ruth. The lead architect was Marios Savapoulos. Perkowitz + Ruth designed quite a few complexes for Edwards, as well as for other exhibitors.
I don’t know if Belasco had any interest in the first Optic. It’s a possibility that he took a shot at exhibiting movies, though by 1906 I think he was spending most of his time in New York City, from which he directed his far-flung theatrical enterprise. It seems more likely that the building in which the Optic rented space was a conveniently low edifice which provided an ideal location for a billboard, easily seen by the passing throngs on Broadway, and for which the owners of the property undoubtedly received a handsome rent. That it sported an ad touting the Belasco at the time this photo was made may have been mere chance.
Puzzling, indeed. However, the Department of Neighborhoods site does give the theatre’s opening date as December 3, 1920, more than an month after the organ’s installation. That would have been sufficient time for the name to have been changed. Maybe there’s someone around who has access to Seattle city directories from the era, or newspaper ads for the theatre, and could look up both names to see which was used when?
I did also find this 2003 article from the Seattle Times which also gives Winter Garden as the opening name. Newspaper articles about things that happened decades earlier than their publication date are not always reliable, but this particular article was by Paul Dorpat, a writer who had been doing a “Seattle now and then” feature since 1982. He might be a reliable source.
Unfortunately the most recent photo with a confirmed date I can find of the Winter Garden is the one from 1932 on the PSTOS page. The night shot just below it looks earlier (note the five-globed streetlight standards, as opposed to the three-light standards in the 1932 shot), but that photo has no other clues as to its date.
The Department of Neighborhoods page doesn’t specifically cite a source for their claim that the big Winter Garden vertical sign was part of the original plans. Neither does PSTOS cite a specific source for the information about the organist playing at the Progressive Theatre in 1927, but there’s The Silent Era’s page which cites Film Daily’s 1926 Yearbook (published in 1925) as listing the theatre as the Winter Garden. One or the other must be wrong.
And, for what it’s worth, the Seattle Historic Resources Survey appears to be doing pretty good research, even if much of the work is being done by volunteers. Some of the photos could be better, though.
Here is a page about the Winter Garden Theatre, full of information dug up by the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods for their historic buildings inventory.
They name the architect of record for the Winter Garden as Frank H. Fowler, but indicate that B. Marcus Priteca, for whom Fowler may have once worked, “…appears to have had some limited role in this project.”
The section of the page devoted to describing the original appearance of the theatre includes this line:
This contradicts the claim above, and at the PSTOS Winter Garden page, that the house opened under the name Progressive Theatre. Elsewhere on the Department of Neighborhoods' page it does say that the stock company which financed the project was originally called the Progressive Company, before its name was changed to Winter Garden Company. I’m not sure which (if either) of the websites has the story right. It seems possible that the theatre’s organ was ordered under the company’s original name, and this name would have been on the Wurlitzer company records from which PSTOS probably got the information.I remember Aladdin Theaters. They ran a number of drive-ins, too. Their logo, as I recall, was a lamp with a chubby genie rising from it. In fact I think the Floral may have been one of their drive-ins for a while. Ron Pierce says the Anaheim Drive-in was built by Aladdin. I also have a vague recollection of the Aladdin logo on the Vineland when it was first opened (I was about ten years old, I think, so it’s hazy.)
Some of the original plans, sections and detail drawings for this theatre, from the office of the architectural firm William Riseman Associates, are now part of the J. Evan Miller Collection of cinema plans, which is held by the special collections department at Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Plans for this very early twin cinema were done by the Boston architectural firm of William Riseman Associates. The plans are dated 1962. The original name of the theatre was apparently Charlottetown Twin Cinemas. Some of the firms plans and drawings for the project are now part of the J. Evan Miller Collection of cinema plans, which is held by the special collections department at Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
The architectural firm which designed the 1965 revamp of the Circle Theatre for Sumner Redstone’s Showcase Cinemas was William Riseman Associates, of Boston. Many floor plans, sections, sight-line diagrams, and seating plans from the project are now part of the J. Evan Miller Collection of cinema plans which is held by the special collections department at Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Apparently some do still call at least part of it Wyvernwood.
But it now occurs to me for the first time ever that maybe the Vern Theatre on Olympic got its name from Wyvernwood?
This multiplex opened in December, 1995, and will close before the end of 2007 and be demolished to make way for an office complex. From debut to doom in a dozen years. I wonder if that’s a record?
LM: It’s most likely that only the street name would have changed, so if the Ivy’s building still existed it would probably be at 3937 Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles. That would be on the north side of Whittier near Ditman Avenue.
On the 1944 map, the little red flag on the block at the northeast corner of Euclid and Whittier indicates that the Euclid Theater either shared the block with a school at that time, or had already been obliterated by an earlier incarnation of the school that occupies the whole block now.
Oh, and Stephenson Avenue isn’t gone (I don’t know why I didn’t notice this immediately.) The name was changed to… Whittier Boulevard! And, if the Ivy was at 3937 (I’m now pretty sure that’s the number the directory gives), then it should be listed in East Los Angeles rather than Los Angeles, as the 3900 block is a bit east of Indiana Street, the city limits.
Also, this probably means that we can bulldoze both of the Jewel Theaters in Los Angeles, since they apparently both duplicate the Jewel Theater in East Los Angeles, at 3817 Whittier Boulevard.
Stephenson Street was renamed Whittier Boulevard sometime before 1925. At 3021, the Euclid Theatre would have been just a few doors east of Euclid Avenue. That whole block has been razed for some large project that looks (on TerraServer) like it might be a school.
Doesn’t the directory give 3937 Stephenson as the address for the Ivy, or has this monitor finally destroyed my eyes?
This theatre is now a triplex. Metropolitan’s website has gone back to calling it the Fairview Theatre. The website of Thorpe Associates, the architectural firm that designed the renovation, describes the project as “…3-screen, 484 seat multi-theatre complex addition and remodel….” It is all stadium seating. The site also displays a couple of renderings of the building.
The Astor Theatre building is still there. Though Ken’s photos from June 29 do not show the address 4821 displayed on any of the buildings depicted, the city’s zoning information system provides a report on the addresses 4819 through 4821-½. It looks as though the address 4819 has migrated over the years and is now in the building south of the original theatre building.
A combination of zoning information reports and a TerraServer satellite view of the block have convinced me that the white building in Ken’s photo was the location of the Astor Theatre. The zoning information report reveals that this building was built in 1914. The Astor Theatre was listed at 4821 S. Vermont in the 1921 Los Angeles City Directory (the earliest available on the Internet.)
Here’s a photo of Edwards Village Theatre in 1963.
In the L.A. Times theatre listings for February 10, 1971, this is the way the theatre is listed: The Village.
Ken: “Century Vaudeville” in the top ad on that latest scan must refer to the the Gaiety Theatre, but what is the hidden name beginning with the letter “H”?
Mercantile Street was where the Broadway/Spring Arcade is now.
The Hotchkiss has a CT page now, as the Capitol Theater.
MKThink, the architectural firm that did the plans for the renovation of this theatre, has this page about it on their website. It says that the former balcony will contain an auditorium with 264 stadium seats, plus an 86 seat screening room.
Of course it also says that the theatre will reopen in 2006, so maybe things have changed. In the photo Lost Memory linked to in August it looks as though the Walgreen’s on the main floor was already open. I wonder why the delay in getting the theatre open?
Marie Doro pulled a Garbo in the late twenties and has remained obscure until now, when she suddenly runs the risk of becoming a star on the Internet.
730 S. Grand was the address of the Mozart Theatre, which apparently was the only theatre in history to change its name more frequently than it changed its program.
Dublinboyo: I’m going to make a wild guess that the vintage ad you saw on display at the Big Newport might have announced the 1940 opening of the Annex, which was an early name of the small theatre in what came to be known as the Alhambra Twin Cinemas on Main Street at Atlantic in Alhambra.
A second possibility is that the ad featured plans for a theatre which Edwards wanted to build in Monterey Park in 1939, but which were never carried out.
As far as I know, the Mission/Monterey was the only indoor theatre in Monterey Park until Edwards built its replacement, the Monterey Mall triplex on Atlantic Boulevard, in the 1970s.
Opened in 1999, this 5600 seat megaplex was designed by the Long Beach-based architectural firm of Perkowitz + Ruth. The lead architect was Marios Savapoulos. Perkowitz + Ruth designed quite a few complexes for Edwards, as well as for other exhibitors.
I don’t know if Belasco had any interest in the first Optic. It’s a possibility that he took a shot at exhibiting movies, though by 1906 I think he was spending most of his time in New York City, from which he directed his far-flung theatrical enterprise. It seems more likely that the building in which the Optic rented space was a conveniently low edifice which provided an ideal location for a billboard, easily seen by the passing throngs on Broadway, and for which the owners of the property undoubtedly received a handsome rent. That it sported an ad touting the Belasco at the time this photo was made may have been mere chance.