La Tijera Theatre

There was a problem with licensing films during that time in that area of LA. The Paradise Theatre brought an action againist Fox West Coast Theatres, 20th. Century-Fox and Loew’s Inc.. It was about a conspiracy to refuse a license for a 7 day run in Inglewood and Westchester areas of the city. The jury found there had been a conspiracy between Fox West Coast Theatres, 20th. Century-Fox and Loew’s Inc. to refuse to the Paradise Theatre a right to license a non-exclusive 7 day run without competitive bidding between Sept. 18, 1950 to Sept. 17th 1951.
So that maybe one of the reasons why it was a theatre for a short time.

Here is a January 1949 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/lq6qce

Here are some photos taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/bh55g3
http://tinyurl.com/azmjwk

Here is an LA Times article dated 12/14/52:

The La Tijera Theater has been sold for approximately $300,000 by the Mo-Kan Theater Co. to J.T. Tregoning, Raymond Tauber and Vincent Rehers. The building will be converted into a 16-lane bowling alley with a cocktail bar and cafe. The alley will open in January.

Here is an uncropped version of the photo at the top of the page:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028700.jpg

Ah….but don’t forget this building spent more of it’s life as the “La Tijera Lanes” (Bowling alley) than it did a movie theater. I remember wondering why the bowling alley had a strange planter out front (Old ticket booth) and nice showcases where they used to put the movie posters outside also. It is located on the southeast corner of La Tijera and Centinela, really ugly now and not worth looking at.

Ohhh, it’s that drab office building near the Burger King. I’ve been in there, and it’s hard to believe it was a theater once.

My mistake, the Centinela was located in Westcheser, near the west end of Inglewood.

Was this known as the Centinela Theatre at some point?

Centinella and La Tijera is only a block west of the Inglewood city limits, and less than two miles from all those theaters that used to be on Market Street. That’s probably why it didn’t last very long- too much competition from theaters in Inglewood and Westchester.

Also, when it was built, the Baldwin Hills were still mostly undeveloped, except for Ladera Heights. There was only a very small population there for the theater to draw on. It makes me wonder why they built it there to begin with, unless they were expecting the Baldwin Hills area to build up faster than it ended up doing.

Also, this theatre is in the La Tijera district of Los Angeles, about 3 miles out of Westchester and the Airport area.

The address is La Tijera Blvd, Westchester, CA. Sorry I dont have a street number.