Park Theatre

The LA Times reported a fire at the Park on March 7, 1946. Manager Nat Gold estimated the damage at more than $3,000.

Sure sounds like it, Lost Memory… Thanks!! Hard to believe it’s one that’s still standing after all these years. Very cool! I know we went to the Park a few times, but the only movie I definitely remember seeing there is “Farenheit 451.”

Hey Lost Memory… I’m hoping you can help me out with another theater from the LA / suburbs area. I thought it was called the Park Theater, but it might have been another “P”… In the mid-‘60s, this one was located next door to a Sav-On or Thrifty Drug Store. I remember my brother and I used to stop in there before the movies to buy six packages of candy for just $.25… such a deal! Sound familiar to you? Thanks much! – Kim

LA Times advertises the Park Theater at 710 S. Broadway in 1981. Can someone give me the AKA for this? Thanks.

The Park was gone by the time I became familiar with Highland Park, but Ivers' was still there in the mid-1980s.

If you go to the California Index at the L.A. Public Library’s web site, and search for theatre, Highland, and Park (one word in each of the three search boxes), you will get among the results a link to a PDF file which contains a scanned version of a Highland Park News-Herald article about the Park, published May 19th, 1963 within a week after the theatre’s closure. There is a picture of the theatre’s marquee, lettered to announce the remodeling of the building to become part of People’s Department Store.

The article gives the opening date as May 29th, 1936. The first program was a double feature of “These Three” and “The Return of Jimmy Valentine.” One of the stars of “We Three” was Joel McCrae, who had as a child lived in Highland Park, across Figuroa Street from Sycamore Grove Park.

Diana Ellis: The article also mentions that, in 1936, the Boy’s Market was located at at Avenue 55 and Monte Vista Street.

The Alvarado Theatre was the original name for the Park Theatre located at 710 South Alvarado Street.

Peoples Department Store burned around 1990. It was an arson fire that has been attributed to former Glendale fire captain John Orr, who is now on California’s death row for another fire that killed two people. Orr was a pyro and the Peoples fire started shortly after an interagency fire inspection of the building, in which he participated. The building was rebuilt, but only part of the outside wall of what was the Park Theater has survived. Essentially, it’s gone. So is Peoples. They were offered a sweetheart deal by 99 Cent Only and closed. The 99 Cent store later took over the Ralphs in nearby Garvanza and subleased the store to another cheap retailer. Peoples was the last of a wonderful grouping of small independent department stores that used to make up the Highland Park business district. My understanding is that the Park Theater closed around 1963.