Lux Theatre

827 W. 3rd Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90071

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Additional Info

Architects: Robert Farquhar Train, Robert Edmund Williams

Firms: Train & Williams

Previous Names: Bear Theatre, Rose Theatre, Rex Theatre, Anita Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Lux Theatre

Located in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown, LA. Listed as operating as the Bear Theatre in a Los Angeles Times advertisement on March 27, 1914. It went thru several name changes over the years, by 1916 it was the Rose Theatre. By 1928 it was the Rex Theatre and by 1939 the Lux Theatre. It became the Anita Theatre on December 1, 1946 but soon went back to being the Lux Theatre, operating into the early-1950’s (it had closed by 1956). It was demolished around 1967.

Contributed by William Gabel

Recent comments (view all 22 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 15, 2007 at 3:20 pm

So you’re living in Iowa and someone from LA calls you and says “Buy my theater for $20,000”. How does that work?

vokoban
vokoban on August 15, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Maybe they hypnotized him.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 15, 2007 at 4:33 pm

I see where the Lux is now, after looking at the 1965 photo. It’s on the northeast corner of Figueroa and Third, just before the 110 onramp. I thought it was after the freeway. There is a large apartment complex on that corner now.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 3, 2008 at 11:53 pm

The Anita is listed in the LA Times theater guide in 1947. This should be added as an aka.
http://tinyurl.com/46kxvs

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 25, 2009 at 5:31 pm

I did some research in the LA Times records, and it looks like solicitations for the redevelopment of the block between Figueroa, Flower, 3rd and 4th were taken in December 1966. I think the old buildings on this block, including the theater, were probably cleared in 1967.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 12, 2009 at 10:22 pm

From Boxoffice magazine, November 1946:

Louis Torres' Lux Theatre has a new face and a new name, for, shining with fresh paint, it has been reopened as the Anita.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 11, 2010 at 10:27 am

In this 1964 aerial photo the Lux can be seen in the middle right, just east of the intersection of Third & Figueroa:
http://tinyurl.com/239nhdd

rrotstanjr
rrotstanjr on July 5, 2014 at 4:19 pm

My dad, Robert Rotstan, and my mom bought the Lux Theater in 1945 right after my dad finished his tour of duty in the US. army Air Corps and they were married. He was a B 25 Pilot stationed in the 310th Bomb Group during WWII . They owned the theater along with a partner Deane Miller and his wife for a short while and then sold it, I suspect to the gentlemen mentioned in another of these posts.

Nathan
Nathan on June 18, 2015 at 10:02 pm

The architects for the Bear/Lux were none other than Train & Williams, who built all sorts of things: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/michael_locke/sets/72157631603322678/

rivest266
rivest266 on September 30, 2019 at 2:59 pm

First listing as Anita in the LA Times on December 1st, 1946.

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