Sunbeam Theatre
5722 N. Figueroa Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90042
5722 N. Figueroa Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90042
3 people
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Additional Info
Architects: Clifford A. Balch, Arthur Lawrence Valk
Functions: Workshop
Nearby Theaters
The Sunbeam Theatre was opened on April 18, 1914. In 1924 it was purchased by the owners of the new Highland Theatre who closed it to avoid competition to their new theatre. It was reopened and in 1933 it was remodeled to the plans of architect Clifford A. Balch.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
By the way, the address for this theater building is 5722 N. Figueroa Street (originally Pasadena Avenue).
The facade of this theater (which looks like an odd hybrid of Spanish Mission and Art Nouveau) may have been removed in 1933. The July 28th issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor of that year says that architect Clifford Balch was preparing plans for the remodeling of the Sunbeam Theater in Highland Park. I don’t know if this was an aborted attempt to renovate and re-open the theater (given that Balch was a well-known theater architect) or if the remodeling was for the conversion of the theatre into the offices for the newspaper.
An expanded photo of the above, from the LA Library:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019766.jpg
I wonder who won the cow?
LA Times gives the Pasadena Avenue address in 1925. Also lists another Sunbeam theater at 69th and Compton.
The 5722 address is for the corner office, the U.S. Office Machine Company, one of the last three typewriter repair comapnies in the Los Angeles area. Jess Flores the owner has been there for 40 years or more. Him and his two sons repair and restore vintage typewriters for the public as well as movie production companies.I believe the other address next door is 5720. Inside the typewriter place there is a stairway that cuts off half-way. The theater has been divided up into three storefronts, I believe. The back part of it was leased at one time by Zach De La Rocha of Rage Against the Machine. Jess Flores,used to be one of the sponosrs of the now defunct Highland Park Christmas parade. It looks like most of the facade has also been covered up by cheap tile, plaster and other false fronting. Most of the buildings on Fig have had this happen to them, along with ugly 1950s plastic facades. A few of the business owners, however, are stripping off the false fronts and exposing the orignal brick or tile fronts.
I wonder if this is the Cy Perkins that bought an airport around Lake Elsinore around 1920, or the granddad of Joe Perkins, who had a grocery store near Garavaza in the 1920s, or if it was a movie tie-in promotion and the cow was to be given away by actor Ernest Shields, who played the character, “Cy Perkins” in the 1915 movie, “Cy Perkins in the City of Delusion” . There was big-time ballplayer back in the teens and twenties named Cy Perkins, but he has no connections to L.A.
I asked Jess but he has no idea.
Is that a 1917 Harley out front? Or a 1916 Indian?
Here are some March 2008 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/2lq4l5
http://tinyurl.com/3c7bvf
http://tinyurl.com/2qwzzf
http://tinyurl.com/2nx8jr
Listen to Gaylord Carter demonstrate silent movie organ music, along with a vintage theatre photos –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOWOVJiV9cI&NR=1