Holly Theatre
1624 Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90026
1624 Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90026
3 people
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2012 link with additional early history.
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6868501&postcount=25404&fbclid=IwAR0HGK1dngzixQJzN1JbV1bHlbAzlbQKqbY5zxv1aFz1jow1Al5wIRbJ99E
The first aka should be Jensen’s Theatorium, not Theatrium. The aka’s Globe Theatre and Sunset Theatre also need to be added (links of September 22, 2009, from jeff bridges.)
The Globe circuit didn’t last very long, but the downtown Globe was in operation at least as late as 1919, and the Globe on Central Avenue (later to become the Florence Mills Theatre) was being listed as the Amusu Theatre by 1923.
The Holly Theatre was located in one of the rare areas where the Google camera truck recorded the alleys as well as the streets. Pan Street View to the right and go to the corner of Logan Street. Turn left on Logan and go south to the alley, and turn left again. The former theater has a religious painting on its back wall— probably depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe, a common icon in Mexican American neighborhoods.
En route, the three-story brick building you’ll see at the southwest corner of Sunset and Logan is another of Henry Jensen’s projects; Jensen’s Recreation Center, built in 1924.
It’s Henry, not Henty, Jensen. Still, the California Index at the L.A. Library’s web site has only one card citing a Times article naming Henry Jensen, and that’s an article from June 21, 1914, about the Palace Grand Theatre in Glendale. All the other cards mentioning Jensen cite articles in Southwest Builder & Contractor or other publications. The name Theaterium does not appear in the Index at all.
It’s very strange that there is no mention of a Henty Jensen or any Jensen’s theater or theatre or theaterium in the LA Times. Is there some source somewhere that mentions those names? I’m curious.
Here’s the article about the conversion to the bank:
View link
I searched through the movie listings in the LA Times and the name changed from Hollyway (or Holly-Way) to the shortened Holly on Sept. 29, 1941. I haven’t seen anything about Jensen’s Theaterium. It’s pretty consistent in the listings as The Globe #3 for a very short time and then The Sunset until the mid-20’s. Then it’s the Hollyway until the date above.
Here’s an excerpt from someone at the Echo Park Historical Society on this page: View link
“In its earliest years, the Ramona was one of two Echo Park theaters. The other stood at 1624 Sunset Blvd and now houses the Gualupana Market, across from the old Pioneer Market building. It started as the Globe Theater in 1912 and later became the Hollyway Theater. By the 1950s, the Hollyway had been converted into a branch of Citizen’s Bank. —EPHS”
I guess for a time it was also called Sunset:
View link
Actually, when this theater first opened it was called the Globe #3. Here’s an article from April 7, 1912 about it:
View link
I have fond memories of the Holly Theatre circa 1944, on Sunset near Echo Park Boulevard. I went everything Saturday matinee with the quarter my aunt gave me for the day. Nine cents for a ticket, a nickel carfare each way on the Echo Park red streetcar line, a nickel for JuJubes (which lasted through at least two feature films), and a penny left over for a piece of Fleers imitation Dubble-Bubble gum
(For Big Time, I would escalate the experience by going to the Ramona Theatre some blocks away.)
Where are the days of yesteryear?
Thanks William, I found it!
Hey, my friend and his partners are trying to buy it as we speak, but there is alot of competion right now….the entire area is undergoiung gentrification with every yuppie and their mother trying to buy it. But hey, in almost all circumstances they all want to turn it into a CINEMA, and THATS DARNED GOOD!!!!
Was that theatre west of Alvarado on Sunset Blvd.? If it was it is listed under it’s later name Studio 1 Theatre which was the former Ramona Theatre.
/theaters/3489/
If you look at the side profile, you can see the theater shape.I grew up around there. There is another theater down the street named HK Studio, but I have not seen it listed in Cinema Treasures.
My cousins attended Belmont High School, and in their 1974 yearbook there is a great photo of the Hollyway. In fact, some older photos show trolley cars with the name , “Hollyway”, as a destination. There was a bar right down the street by name of Hollyway that me and my friends used to hang out at right after high school. It was real dive. Now its some kind of chi-chi yuppie bar complete with bouncer and red-velvet rope.
Advertised in the LA Times as the Holly on 1/22/50. Featured films were “Battleground” and “Red, Hot and Blue”.
I was just here the other day. There is NO TRACE of any theater-like arcitecture. I even sbnuck in the back. It’s now a blocky Mexican market.
The Holly Theatre opened in 1912 and for its first year of operation was known as Jensen’s Theaterium, presumably operated by Henty Jensen who operated several theatres, including the nearby Melrose Theatre on Melrose Ave and the Raymond in Pasadena. It was one of a small group of theatre built for the Globe Amusement Company. The frontage of the theatre had an attractice entrance with a high curved arch, on top of which was a dome.
Re-named Hollyway Theatre (maybe because it was on the way to Hollywood), it is listed under this name in Film Daily Yearbook, 1941 with a seating capacity of 732. In the 1943 edition of F.D.Y. it is named the Holly Theatre, again with 732 seats. The 1950 and ‘52 editions have it still listed as the Holly Theatre but with 780 seats.
After closing it is noted in 1974 that it had become a branch office of Crocker Bank.
When the Holly Theatre open it was known as the Hollyway Theatre.
The Holly Theatre on Sunset Blvd in Echo Park is a different theatre than the one Hollywood Blvd.
Your comments for this Holly and the Holly on Hollywood got mixed up. The style of the Holly at this address was Art Deco and the architect was S. Charles Lee. Board glitch in the switchover, perhaps?