The stories of Mr. Metzger and the anonymous suicide sound like they could have been scenes out of noir movies of the era. But at least nobody ever came crashing through the roof of the Roxie.
The Roxie was one of the Broadway theatres I never got around to attending. It was already a grind house when I began going downtown, and I preferred going to the first or second run theatres farther south, or on Hill Street. All the theatres north of 6th street except the Million Dollar were a bit sad and run down by the 1960’s.
Of course, since the building is still there, there’s always a possibility that it will be renovated and re-opened some day, so I might still get a chance to add it to my list of theatres I’ve attended.
andypcl: The Paramount Theatre Building in Los Angeles was just an ordinary office building wrapped around two sides of the theatre. I don’t know if the Paramount Theatre Circuit had any offices of its own in the building or not. The company’s headquarters was in the New York City Paramount Building.
There were other office buildings connected to other Paramount Theatres in other cities, too— Oakland and Palm Beach (though the last only had two floors, so wouldn’t have had a room 514), that I know of for sure, and there were probably many others. Unless your object specifically names the Paramount Theatre Building in Los Angeles, Mr. Benjamin’s office might have been in some other city.
There were at least three other Garrick Theatres in California alone early in the 20th century— San Diego, San Francisco and Stockton each had one, that I know of. Philadelphia and St. Louis also had them, and probably many other cities did as well. It became a popular name for theatres long before movies were invented. Ultimately, all of them were named for David Garrick.
The photo at the top of this page shows the Garrick after the 1921 remodeling by G.E. Bergstrom. The original facade, by architects Train & Williams, can be seen in this photo of the Hyman Theater from the L.A. Library photo collection. The facade, largely unchanged from its days as the Hyman, can be seen in this later photo of Broadway (from the USC archives), showing the Garrick Theatre at the lower right.
I have re-checked my source for the date of construction of the Hyman/Garrick Theatre, and see that the 1913 date actually referred to another Hyman Theatre, in San Diego. As the plans for the Hyman in Los Angeles were announced in September of 1910, this theatre probably opened in early 1911.
Incidentally, Train & Williams was the firm which designed the operators pavilion and power house which long stood at the top of the Angel’s Flight funicular. As far as I know, the only other theatre designed by Train & Williams was The Strand in Pasadena.
Wilmar was actually a bit farther west (The Times probably didn’t know too much about the area.) Shortly after 1950, the unincorporated communities of Wilmar, Garvey and Potrero Heights were consolidated (by the post office department, I think) under the name of South San Gabriel. Incorporation was attempted a couple of times, but eventually the locals gave up and most of the place ended up being annexed by the city of Rosemead in the 1960’s, with a few parts being annexed by San Gabriel, Monterey Park, South El Monte and Montebello. Most of what was once Potrero Heights remains unincorporated even now though, and still goes by the name of South San Gabriel.
I lived in Rosemead until August of 1986, so I remember when they built the K-Mart, but not the exact year. I was only in it once, in 1982, I think. I think the Garvey Theatre and the rest of the block were demolished close to the end of the 1970’s, or maybe as late as 1980. Even with an opening date before 1938, the Garvey was probably a church for longer than it was a theatre.
The planned theatre mentioned in the 1942 item was the Edwards Santa Anita Theatre, posted at Cinema Treasures under its final name, Cinemaland Theater.
Thanks, vokoban. This clears up some mysteries. That is indeed the same Garvey Theater, but it was built a bit earlier than I had thought if it was already open in January of 1938. I remember Mr. Greely, too, vaguely. He ran a small drug store across the street from the theatre, and also owned Greely’s Trailer Park. I had no idea his first name was Horace, though.
The second article names the Granada Theatre in Alhambra, which was later known as the Coronet and then the Capri. Now we can be sure that the first name change occurred after July of 1941. This theatre was also operated by Edwards, though I’m not sure just when they took over.
The date of the Garvey’s fire was a bit earlier than I thought it had been, too. I’d had the impression that the fire had happened about the time I turned five, but March 23rd 1949 was only two months and a few days after my fourth birthday.
The “San Gabriel Valley Theater” on Las Tunas mentioned in the fire article as the scene of a previous suspicious fire was the Edwards San Gabriel, posted at Cinema Treasures under its later name, Edwards Century. I wasn’t aware that it was one of the theatres which had had a fire.
The 1952 article about someone rehearsing at the theatre is a bit puzzling. The Garvey had no stage to speak of— just a small platform in front of the screen, not even behind the curtain, and no fly tower at all. They did have a magician perform at the theatre once, but that’s the only live event that I know of having taken place there. When the place was later converted to a church, I think they extended the platform out a few feet, sacrificing (no pun intended) a couple of rows of seats.
The 1953 article about the revival meeting confirms my vague memory that the Garvey was a church for a while fairly early in the decade. It later re-opened as a theatre, briefly, but when CinemaScope came along, Edwards didn’t think the place worth the investment for a new screen, and it returned to being a church, which it remained until its demolition.
Thanks again for posting this information. I’m a bit surprised that The Times contains so many mentions of this obscure suburban theatre.
Speaking of theatre fires, I’m wondering if the Times has anything to say about the fires which I’ve heard occurred in several Edwards theatres in the 1940’s? I know that the Arcadia Theatre was destroyed by a fire in 1942, and my neighborhood theatre, the Garvey, was gutted by a fire apparently set by an arsonist in about 1949 or 1950. When the Garvey was being restored, I remember my mom saying that “somebody is trying to burn down all the Edwards theatres”, but she has no memory of these events now. Most of Mr. Edwards' theatres were in the San Gabriel Valley then, but I believe he still had three or four in the city of Los Angeles, so the Times probably would have mentioned any fires at any of those, even if they didn’t run articles on fires in the suburban theatres.
It seems possible that the Palace of Pictures occupied this location for only two years, between 1914 when Brown’s music company closed, and February of 1916 when the lease on the location was obtained by Innes Shoes. Many early movie houses were located in converted retail space, and they often didn’t last very long.
“inst.” is a now archaic abbreviation common until the early 20th century. It means, essentialy, “this month”.
The Rex was the small neighborhood theatre later called the Lux. I recall seeing it a few times before it was demolished as part of the Bunker Hill urban renewal project.
I can no longer find the original references to the Shamrock Theatre (at the L.A. Library web site) the information from which I used when I added this theatre. The only card I can find now is one which makes reference to an article in Southwest Builder and Contractor, issue of December 26, 1924, which, with the heading “BANDBOX THEATRE”, says that the Los Angeles Art Commission had approved a marquee (designed by A.W. Kennett) for the theatre at 608 south Hill Street. I wonder if it’s possible that the theatre was called the Bandbox, then the Shamrock, then the Band Box?
Bill is correct. United Artists Theatres listings in the Los Angeles Times of August 24th, 1986, show this house as having four screens.
Both this theatre and the UA Twin outside the mall must have opened after February of 1971, as the only theatre I find listed in Westminster in the Los Angeles Times on February 10th of that year is the Cinema West 1&2, which was operated by Edwards Cinemas.
vokoban: in case nobody has gotten around to answering your question somewhere else (I’ve had a couple of busy days myself), the FAQ about how to add links is right here.
A more complete explanation of UBB code is available here. I’m more accustomed to making links with HTML, myself, and I’m only just now becoming accustomed to the UBB used at Cinema Treasures. The UBB italics and quote tags work here, but I haven’t tried the bullet list and right now is the first time I’ve done bold. I don’t think the site allows images to be displayed on the boards, though.
OK, I found the place listed in the Times for 1971, under Independent Drive-Ins. It was located in Arlington, which I believe was an unincorporated community which was later annexed to the City of Riverside, sometime after the theatre closed. (Somebody will have to double check this— my knowledge of areas that far east of L.A. is hazy.) According to this page about it, the Magnolia was on Magnolia Avenue between Tyler and La Sierra, it opened in 1950 or 1951, closed in September of 1984, had a capacity of 450 cars, was operated by Santa Fe Theatres, and it has been demolished.
I’ve been unable to find any listing for a Magnolia Drive-In in Riverside in either 1971 or 1986, the years for which I have copies of the Los Angeles Times theatre listings.
Also, there is no Magnolia Boulevard in Riverside, which is why the Google map link gives an error page. The correct street name would be Magnolia Avenue.
The name by which this theatre appeared in the United Artists Theatres listings in the Los Angeles Times of August 24, 1986, was the Tyler Mall. It was one of two multiplexes being operated by UA in Riverside at the time.
I find this theatre listed in the Los Angeles Times as a Pacific Drive-In, in August of 1986, but it is not listed as a twin at that time. Pacific was also listing a three-screen drive-in called the Rosecrans in the city of Paramount in that year. The Rosecrans was located on Lakewood Boulevard at Rosecrans.
The Wescove triplex was located on West Covina Parkway at Sunset Avenue. I believe it opened as a single screen theatre called the Wescove Theatre in the early 1960’s, or maybe in the late 1950’s, and the two smaller auditoriums were added on to the building about 1970. I’m not positive about the dates as I seldom got that far east in those days.
1500 seats does seem excessive, but 700 is too few. I count 31 seats across the auditorium in most of the last eleven rows (the loge section), and there are probably three more seats in most of the 18 or 19 rows (it’s difficult to count the most distant rows, the picture being too small) beyond the loge section. So there are a bit over 900 seats visible on the orchestra floor, and the picture appears to have been taken from the lower part of another section of seating (perhaps stadium style) at the rear of the house. There could be perhaps another three hundred or so seats, unseen behind the camera’s position. The ceiling doesn’t look high enough for a true balcony to be back there, so it’s probably just a few rows of seats on risers. I doubt that the total could have been much over 1200 seats, though.
Throughout its entire 43 year history, this theatre was operated by the Edwards Theatre Circuit or its successor, Edwards Cinemas.
With regard to the comments above by JustOldBob (AKA kleig light), the “original” Temple Theatre to which he refers is the theatre in Alhambra which is posted at Cinema Treasures under its final name, El Rey. It’s actual address was 333 W. Main Street. It was never converted to retail use, but remained a theatre from its opening in 1921 until the day it was irreparably damaged by the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987.
I’ve tried to figure out what building in the 600 block of west Main Street Bob could have seen that he mistook for this theatre. It might have been the old bowling alley, which was converted into some sort of auto repair facility in the late 1960’s. Later, a fine 1920’s Spanish Revival style garage building next door to the east was added to the auto repair operation, and (an act of vandalism) covered in the same rough, gray facing that had been placed on the former bowling alley. That might be the expansion to which Bob referred.
However, I’m wondering about the “Temple” name plate Bob saw above the door after the building was damaged by the Northridge earthquake. The Temple/El Rey was gone by then,having been destroyed after the Whittier Narrows earthquake, but I can attest that the Temple/El Rey did have such a name plate, as I saw it in the early 1960’s when Edwards remodeled the theatre’s facade, and the plate was exposed when the old marquee was removed. Perhaps it was re-exposed again after the Whittier Narrows earthquake, and Bob just misremembered which earthquake it was that damaged the building, and the building’s exact location.
Or, maybe there is another building with a Temple name plate, which Bob saw in the 600 block of Main Street, and maybe it was a theatre at one time, before the Temple/El Rey was built. The building which had been a bowling alley had a streamline moderne facade, probably form the 1930’s or 1940’s, but that could have been the result of a remodeling of an older building. It’s an interesting puzzle. If I were still in the area, I’d like to root around in the material at the Alhambra Historical Society and see what I could turn up about it.
ken mc: Your photo link of November 30th actually shows the original Temple Theatre, which was demolished to make way for this (now doomed) 1983 fourplex.
Though I went to the old Temple Theatre many times, I only saw one movie at this fourplex. It was Superman II, so it was in the one of the two larger auditoriums which had the 70mm projection. I was surprised to find that this room was not too much smaller than the old Temple Theatre had been. The old theatre had more seats, but the seats in the new house were a bit larger, and there was more leg room.
The new screen was almost wall-to-wall, so it was actually a bit bigger than the old theatre’s screen had been, even though the new room was a few feet narrower. The new lobby and restrooms were much larger, too, but the new building didn’t have anywhere near the character of the old one, which had an open loggia entrance and a high, beamed ceiling in the auditorium.
The stories of Mr. Metzger and the anonymous suicide sound like they could have been scenes out of noir movies of the era. But at least nobody ever came crashing through the roof of the Roxie.
The Roxie was one of the Broadway theatres I never got around to attending. It was already a grind house when I began going downtown, and I preferred going to the first or second run theatres farther south, or on Hill Street. All the theatres north of 6th street except the Million Dollar were a bit sad and run down by the 1960’s.
Of course, since the building is still there, there’s always a possibility that it will be renovated and re-opened some day, so I might still get a chance to add it to my list of theatres I’ve attended.
andypcl: The Paramount Theatre Building in Los Angeles was just an ordinary office building wrapped around two sides of the theatre. I don’t know if the Paramount Theatre Circuit had any offices of its own in the building or not. The company’s headquarters was in the New York City Paramount Building.
There were other office buildings connected to other Paramount Theatres in other cities, too— Oakland and Palm Beach (though the last only had two floors, so wouldn’t have had a room 514), that I know of for sure, and there were probably many others. Unless your object specifically names the Paramount Theatre Building in Los Angeles, Mr. Benjamin’s office might have been in some other city.
There were at least three other Garrick Theatres in California alone early in the 20th century— San Diego, San Francisco and Stockton each had one, that I know of. Philadelphia and St. Louis also had them, and probably many other cities did as well. It became a popular name for theatres long before movies were invented. Ultimately, all of them were named for David Garrick.
The photo at the top of this page shows the Garrick after the 1921 remodeling by G.E. Bergstrom. The original facade, by architects Train & Williams, can be seen in this photo of the Hyman Theater from the L.A. Library photo collection. The facade, largely unchanged from its days as the Hyman, can be seen in this later photo of Broadway (from the USC archives), showing the Garrick Theatre at the lower right.
I have re-checked my source for the date of construction of the Hyman/Garrick Theatre, and see that the 1913 date actually referred to another Hyman Theatre, in San Diego. As the plans for the Hyman in Los Angeles were announced in September of 1910, this theatre probably opened in early 1911.
Incidentally, Train & Williams was the firm which designed the operators pavilion and power house which long stood at the top of the Angel’s Flight funicular. As far as I know, the only other theatre designed by Train & Williams was The Strand in Pasadena.
Wilmar was actually a bit farther west (The Times probably didn’t know too much about the area.) Shortly after 1950, the unincorporated communities of Wilmar, Garvey and Potrero Heights were consolidated (by the post office department, I think) under the name of South San Gabriel. Incorporation was attempted a couple of times, but eventually the locals gave up and most of the place ended up being annexed by the city of Rosemead in the 1960’s, with a few parts being annexed by San Gabriel, Monterey Park, South El Monte and Montebello. Most of what was once Potrero Heights remains unincorporated even now though, and still goes by the name of South San Gabriel.
I lived in Rosemead until August of 1986, so I remember when they built the K-Mart, but not the exact year. I was only in it once, in 1982, I think. I think the Garvey Theatre and the rest of the block were demolished close to the end of the 1970’s, or maybe as late as 1980. Even with an opening date before 1938, the Garvey was probably a church for longer than it was a theatre.
The planned theatre mentioned in the 1942 item was the Edwards Santa Anita Theatre, posted at Cinema Treasures under its final name, Cinemaland Theater.
Thanks, vokoban. This clears up some mysteries. That is indeed the same Garvey Theater, but it was built a bit earlier than I had thought if it was already open in January of 1938. I remember Mr. Greely, too, vaguely. He ran a small drug store across the street from the theatre, and also owned Greely’s Trailer Park. I had no idea his first name was Horace, though.
The second article names the Granada Theatre in Alhambra, which was later known as the Coronet and then the Capri. Now we can be sure that the first name change occurred after July of 1941. This theatre was also operated by Edwards, though I’m not sure just when they took over.
The date of the Garvey’s fire was a bit earlier than I thought it had been, too. I’d had the impression that the fire had happened about the time I turned five, but March 23rd 1949 was only two months and a few days after my fourth birthday.
The “San Gabriel Valley Theater” on Las Tunas mentioned in the fire article as the scene of a previous suspicious fire was the Edwards San Gabriel, posted at Cinema Treasures under its later name, Edwards Century. I wasn’t aware that it was one of the theatres which had had a fire.
The 1952 article about someone rehearsing at the theatre is a bit puzzling. The Garvey had no stage to speak of— just a small platform in front of the screen, not even behind the curtain, and no fly tower at all. They did have a magician perform at the theatre once, but that’s the only live event that I know of having taken place there. When the place was later converted to a church, I think they extended the platform out a few feet, sacrificing (no pun intended) a couple of rows of seats.
The 1953 article about the revival meeting confirms my vague memory that the Garvey was a church for a while fairly early in the decade. It later re-opened as a theatre, briefly, but when CinemaScope came along, Edwards didn’t think the place worth the investment for a new screen, and it returned to being a church, which it remained until its demolition.
Thanks again for posting this information. I’m a bit surprised that The Times contains so many mentions of this obscure suburban theatre.
Speaking of theatre fires, I’m wondering if the Times has anything to say about the fires which I’ve heard occurred in several Edwards theatres in the 1940’s? I know that the Arcadia Theatre was destroyed by a fire in 1942, and my neighborhood theatre, the Garvey, was gutted by a fire apparently set by an arsonist in about 1949 or 1950. When the Garvey was being restored, I remember my mom saying that “somebody is trying to burn down all the Edwards theatres”, but she has no memory of these events now. Most of Mr. Edwards' theatres were in the San Gabriel Valley then, but I believe he still had three or four in the city of Los Angeles, so the Times probably would have mentioned any fires at any of those, even if they didn’t run articles on fires in the suburban theatres.
It seems possible that the Palace of Pictures occupied this location for only two years, between 1914 when Brown’s music company closed, and February of 1916 when the lease on the location was obtained by Innes Shoes. Many early movie houses were located in converted retail space, and they often didn’t last very long.
“inst.” is a now archaic abbreviation common until the early 20th century. It means, essentialy, “this month”.
The Rex was the small neighborhood theatre later called the Lux. I recall seeing it a few times before it was demolished as part of the Bunker Hill urban renewal project.
I can no longer find the original references to the Shamrock Theatre (at the L.A. Library web site) the information from which I used when I added this theatre. The only card I can find now is one which makes reference to an article in Southwest Builder and Contractor, issue of December 26, 1924, which, with the heading “BANDBOX THEATRE”, says that the Los Angeles Art Commission had approved a marquee (designed by A.W. Kennett) for the theatre at 608 south Hill Street. I wonder if it’s possible that the theatre was called the Bandbox, then the Shamrock, then the Band Box?
Bill is correct. United Artists Theatres listings in the Los Angeles Times of August 24th, 1986, show this house as having four screens.
Both this theatre and the UA Twin outside the mall must have opened after February of 1971, as the only theatre I find listed in Westminster in the Los Angeles Times on February 10th of that year is the Cinema West 1&2, which was operated by Edwards Cinemas.
vokoban: in case nobody has gotten around to answering your question somewhere else (I’ve had a couple of busy days myself), the FAQ about how to add links is right here.
A more complete explanation of UBB code is available here. I’m more accustomed to making links with HTML, myself, and I’m only just now becoming accustomed to the UBB used at Cinema Treasures. The UBB italics and quote tags work here, but I haven’t tried the bullet list and right now is the first time I’ve done bold. I don’t think the site allows images to be displayed on the boards, though.
OK, I found the place listed in the Times for 1971, under Independent Drive-Ins. It was located in Arlington, which I believe was an unincorporated community which was later annexed to the City of Riverside, sometime after the theatre closed. (Somebody will have to double check this— my knowledge of areas that far east of L.A. is hazy.) According to this page about it, the Magnolia was on Magnolia Avenue between Tyler and La Sierra, it opened in 1950 or 1951, closed in September of 1984, had a capacity of 450 cars, was operated by Santa Fe Theatres, and it has been demolished.
Here is a page of memories of the Covina Twin Drive-In.
I’ve been unable to find any listing for a Magnolia Drive-In in Riverside in either 1971 or 1986, the years for which I have copies of the Los Angeles Times theatre listings.
Also, there is no Magnolia Boulevard in Riverside, which is why the Google map link gives an error page. The correct street name would be Magnolia Avenue.
I believe that the address for this theatre should read; “605 Freeway at South Street” which was its actual location.
The name by which this theatre appeared in the United Artists Theatres listings in the Los Angeles Times of August 24, 1986, was the Tyler Mall. It was one of two multiplexes being operated by UA in Riverside at the time.
In the August 24, 1986 Los Angeles Times, the United Artist’s Theatres listings show this to have been a six-screen multiplex, not a four-screen.
I find this theatre listed in the Los Angeles Times as a Pacific Drive-In, in August of 1986, but it is not listed as a twin at that time. Pacific was also listing a three-screen drive-in called the Rosecrans in the city of Paramount in that year. The Rosecrans was located on Lakewood Boulevard at Rosecrans.
The Wescove triplex was located on West Covina Parkway at Sunset Avenue. I believe it opened as a single screen theatre called the Wescove Theatre in the early 1960’s, or maybe in the late 1950’s, and the two smaller auditoriums were added on to the building about 1970. I’m not positive about the dates as I seldom got that far east in those days.
1500 seats does seem excessive, but 700 is too few. I count 31 seats across the auditorium in most of the last eleven rows (the loge section), and there are probably three more seats in most of the 18 or 19 rows (it’s difficult to count the most distant rows, the picture being too small) beyond the loge section. So there are a bit over 900 seats visible on the orchestra floor, and the picture appears to have been taken from the lower part of another section of seating (perhaps stadium style) at the rear of the house. There could be perhaps another three hundred or so seats, unseen behind the camera’s position. The ceiling doesn’t look high enough for a true balcony to be back there, so it’s probably just a few rows of seats on risers. I doubt that the total could have been much over 1200 seats, though.
Throughout its entire 43 year history, this theatre was operated by the Edwards Theatre Circuit or its successor, Edwards Cinemas.
With regard to the comments above by JustOldBob (AKA kleig light), the “original” Temple Theatre to which he refers is the theatre in Alhambra which is posted at Cinema Treasures under its final name, El Rey. It’s actual address was 333 W. Main Street. It was never converted to retail use, but remained a theatre from its opening in 1921 until the day it was irreparably damaged by the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987.
I’ve tried to figure out what building in the 600 block of west Main Street Bob could have seen that he mistook for this theatre. It might have been the old bowling alley, which was converted into some sort of auto repair facility in the late 1960’s. Later, a fine 1920’s Spanish Revival style garage building next door to the east was added to the auto repair operation, and (an act of vandalism) covered in the same rough, gray facing that had been placed on the former bowling alley. That might be the expansion to which Bob referred.
However, I’m wondering about the “Temple” name plate Bob saw above the door after the building was damaged by the Northridge earthquake. The Temple/El Rey was gone by then,having been destroyed after the Whittier Narrows earthquake, but I can attest that the Temple/El Rey did have such a name plate, as I saw it in the early 1960’s when Edwards remodeled the theatre’s facade, and the plate was exposed when the old marquee was removed. Perhaps it was re-exposed again after the Whittier Narrows earthquake, and Bob just misremembered which earthquake it was that damaged the building, and the building’s exact location.
Or, maybe there is another building with a Temple name plate, which Bob saw in the 600 block of Main Street, and maybe it was a theatre at one time, before the Temple/El Rey was built. The building which had been a bowling alley had a streamline moderne facade, probably form the 1930’s or 1940’s, but that could have been the result of a remodeling of an older building. It’s an interesting puzzle. If I were still in the area, I’d like to root around in the material at the Alhambra Historical Society and see what I could turn up about it.
ken mc: Your photo link of November 30th actually shows the original Temple Theatre, which was demolished to make way for this (now doomed) 1983 fourplex.
Though I went to the old Temple Theatre many times, I only saw one movie at this fourplex. It was Superman II, so it was in the one of the two larger auditoriums which had the 70mm projection. I was surprised to find that this room was not too much smaller than the old Temple Theatre had been. The old theatre had more seats, but the seats in the new house were a bit larger, and there was more leg room.
The new screen was almost wall-to-wall, so it was actually a bit bigger than the old theatre’s screen had been, even though the new room was a few feet narrower. The new lobby and restrooms were much larger, too, but the new building didn’t have anywhere near the character of the old one, which had an open loggia entrance and a high, beamed ceiling in the auditorium.