City Terrace Cinema
3945 City Terrace Drive,
East Los Angeles,
CA
90063
3945 City Terrace Drive,
East Los Angeles,
CA
90063
1 person
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Aladdin Enterprises, Eastland Theaters Co.
Previous Names: Terrace Theatre
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This theatre was located in City Terrace, a small community in East Los Angeles. It was located on City Terrace Drive near Hazard Avenue. The Terrace Theatre opened on March 26, 1942 with Deanna Durbin in “It Started with Eve” & Madeleine Carroll in “Bahama Passage”. By 1957 it was operated by Aladdin Enterprises. It was closed in 1964. The land was purchased by the Archdiocese and in 1970 St. Lucy’s Catholic Church opened on the site.
The theatre had an upper deck and a glass enclosed room designed for women with babies or small children. The theatre seemed huge, but I was a small child. All the kids in my class would meet in the first two rows every Saturday afternoon.
I attended the movies every Saturday from 1961 until it closed. We called it “the show” and admission was 25 cents for two features. It remains one of my most important and vivid childhood memories.
Contributed by
George A. Verdin
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Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
The City Terrace Cinema was where the church parking lot is now.
can anyone come up with a picture please..it would mean the world !
Is this is, or was this another Terrace theatre?
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-DB, that’s definitely the Terrace Theatre in City Terrace. I don’t remember ever having seen it, but I recognize the neighborhood. Other than the loss of the theater and a few other buildings, and a few new buildings added, it changed remarkably little between the 1950s and the 1980s, when I became familiar with it. Alas, the trolly buses were gone by then, too.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE , I’VE BEEN WAITING 4 SOMEONE 2 POST ANY KIND OF PITURE. THANKS A MILLION !
WOW! I remember going to this theatre and sneaking in my penny candy. We would see a double feature and cartoon for .25 – And I lived right across the street behind the Chinese laundry. Instead of taking my .25 to church for the donation basket, I would sneak to the show. I was awfully sneaky!! I would love to see more photos if anyone has any.
I was born in Los Angeles in 1940 and lived in City Terrace until 1956. I remember attending the City Terrace Theater in the 40’s and 50’s. It was an unusual theater. If you went to the first show, it started in the middle of the movie. They always showed double bills so you’d have one additional intermission to buy snacks. They always had a double bill, a Laurel and Hardy or similar, cartoon so you’d have several hours of entertainment. On school holidays there’d be a special program for kids which cost not more than a quarter and they’d give you a comic book. Again, multiple movies, cartoons, shorts. There’d be a long lines of kids waiting to get in.
My nana lived on Hauck st and we went to st lucys on sundays, she contributed weekly to build the new church
Great picture! I went to the show every weekend. I stayed into the evening and watched the movies twice – I loved this show! I saw Gidget there, The Parent Trap with Haley Mills, The Blob, Godzilla, and hundreds more. I took that bus with my Mom so many times. Crossing the street to the right of the theatre, there was a Mom & Pop market, they sold the best hot French bread rolls and sweet bread, next door to that was a laundry-matt where I helped out and stood many hours there on a Saturday washing the family’s clothes. Further down there was a dime store that I loved browsing, and down the street was the church where I made my First Communion. Then on the opposite side of City Terrace Drive was the library, sometimes I would walk there after school from Harrison Elementary school on the other side of the theatre. I got my first library card there. Harrison was a great school. Good teachers, I learned a lot there. I can still remember staying at the show for so long engrossed in the movies and forgetting about the time and having to walk home in the dark and be in trouble for coming home so late. Years later, Mom said when she was young, she went to the movies and stayed there too-loving the show! Thank you for the picture!
This opened on March 26th, 1942. Grand opening ad posted.