Madrid Theatre
8140 S. Vermont Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90044
8140 S. Vermont Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90044
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 12 comments
Street View currently shows the wrong location. The Madrid was on the northeast corner of Vermont and 82nd Street, in the building that now houses the Tires R-Us store. The building is not recognizable as a former theater from the front, but one of the rear exits can still be seen opening onto the alley off of 82nd Street.
I remember going to the Madrid to see Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” in the late 1940s with my parents. I can still see Jiminy Cricket on that screen in my minds eye. He was singing “When you wish upon a star”. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKh6XxYbbIc) Later when I was allowed to go to the show without adult supervision, I saw numerous Abbot and Costello flicks at the Madrid. I remember being so happy about the prospect of going to the show, I couldn’t contain my joy.
Thanks, will do. I wonder which Reseda theater the article is speaking of….
vokoban: Owensmouth was the original name of the district that later became Canoga Park. There’s still an Owensmouth Avenue, running from Chatsworth in the north to Woodland Hills in the south and located between Canoga Avenue and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
Post your comment above to the Canoga Theatre page. It opened as the Madrid in 1926, though the page is missing the aka. The Canoga has been demolished, but its location is now the site of a recently built live theater which is also called the Madrid.
The last movie listing I can find for this theater is for Jan. 2, 1950. It was showing Beyond The Forest (The worst/best Bette Davis movie) and Kid From Cleveland. Then nothing shows up until 1957 when the address is a Goodyear tire store from then on.
Anyone know where Owensmouth was/is? I assume this was a different Madrid Theater:
(July 3, 1927 LA Times)
RESEDA TO GET FIRST THEATER
RESEDA, July 2.-Reseda is to have its first motion-picture theater-a building that is to cost $35,000. This is the announcement made by N. Scheinberg and M.P. Horwitz, owners and operators of the Van Nuys Theater, and the Madrid Theater at Owensmouth. The Reseda house will be erected on Reseda Boulevard, north of Sherman Way. The Sloan Building Company of Los Angeles will have charge of construction. Plans will be by Roy Reeves, Van Nuys architect. Scheinberg and Horwitz are well-known Van Nuys men. Following their success at Van Nuys, they built the Owensmouth house a few months ago, with the promise that a similar playhouse would be erected in Reseda.
(Nov. 14, 1926 LA Times)
THEATER PARTY
At the recent meeting of the Southwest Branch, Los Angeles Realty Board, plans were bared for a theater party at the New Madrid Theater at Eighty-second and Vermont avenue on the 17 inst. There will be no extra charge for tickets, it is said.
Sounds like it was called ‘New Madrid’ for awhile when it first opened since the new is capitalized.
It was still around in 1946:
(Nov. 8, 1946 LA Times)
MADRID, 8140 S. Vermont—-Centennial Summer; Wanderer of Wasteland
Here are the photos:
http://tinyurl.com/2mnwdm
http://tinyurl.com/2syyms
http://tinyurl.com/34pxc6
http://tinyurl.com/3xpndz
http://tinyurl.com/34adum
http://tinyurl.com/32z25k
Not demolished. It’s a tire store. I took some pictures. Status should be closed.
It was still around in 1939, according to the LA city directory.
The Madrid opened in October, 1926. That’s all I’ve been able to find out about it so far.