El Sereno Theatre
3355 N. Eastern Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90032
3355 N. Eastern Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90032
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James Edwards Theatres announced this project in January of 1940 in the trade press. It was a $100,000 project with plans from architect S. Charles Lee. The grand opening for the El Soreno Theatre took place on November 20, 1940 with Fred MacMurray of “Rangers of Fortune” supported by Rosiland Russell in “Hired Wife.” The theatre struggled closing as the El Sorerno on March 19, 1950 with “When Baby Smiles” and “Blood and Sand.” Became a short-lived place of worship in 1951 and a long running American Legion Hall.
In 1975, it was listed as Salon Mazatlan which is likely when the marquee got its name. It has since been used as a banquet and event hall more recently under names including the Eava and the Mazatlan. It was once auctioned off in a 1984 public sale and was an Indiegogo fundraising concept that does not appear to have reached its goal. This entry should definitely be the El Soreno Theatre.
This opened on November 20th, 1940. Grand opening ad posted.
Looks like it has been used for some years as a meeting hall / concert venue / rental space. The family that has owned it for decades is trying to raise money to make it a community center. Click this link for info on donating and to see a little movie of the interior and exterior: http://www.indiegogo.com/savethemazatla
This closed theater was recently repainted and looks better than it has in years. It’s a great name for this L.A. neighborhood. There is another theater about 2 blocks away that is now a used furniture store.
http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/25029.html
I stopped by this building today; the American Legion logo is a part of the terrazzo, it is not brass.
The best candidate for the El Sereno Theater to which the organ was delivered is probably still the Cameo, which opened in 1924. However, it’s listed under the name Cameo in the 1925 city directory page ken mc linked to in his October 18, 2008 comment on the Aloha Theatre page. No El Sereno Theater is listed in that directory. It seems unlikely that they’d have opened as the El Sereno and changed the name to Cameo only few months later. My best guess is that the owners of the Cameo didn’t choose the theater’s name until construction was well advanced and the organ already delivered.
A search for El Sereno Theater in the LA Times database turns up these items:
An ad for the Cameo in El Sereno in August 1924.
An ad for the El Sereno Theater at Huntington Drive in November 1942.
An ad for a church called the Film Pulpit (formerly the El Sereno Theater) in January 1951.
A June 1970 ad for the El Cameo in El Sereno.
There are some more ads for the El Cameo in the mid 1970s. If I see any reference to an 1920s El Sereno under some other criteria, I will pass it along.
The L.A. County Assessor’s office gives a construction date of 1940 and an effective construction date of 1949 for the building at 3355 N. Eastern Avenue. Unless they’ve made a mistake (it’s been known to happen), this was not the El Sereno Theatre which got an organ in 1924. As I said in an earlier comment, this building does look like it was built in the 1930s or 1940s, even on its back and side walls, so the assessor’s office is probably right about the date.
DeAnda and Sons is still at this address. Function should be office space.
http://tinyurl.com/5ex3h6
LM: is there an address given for the El Sereno Theatre that got the organ in 1924? I’ve always had the impression that this building on Eastern Avenue dates from the 1930s or 1940s. The theatre listed at CT as El Cameo was built nearby on Huntington Drive in 1924. It may have been named the El Sereno on opening.
Ken:
This theater was just off of Huntington Drive, and I passed by it frequently while riding the bus to downtown Los Angeles along that street in the early 1960’s. At that time it was indeed an American Legion Hall.
It was used as a concert hall as recently as 2002. Huge mural on the side of the building – photo can be found here:
View link
There is a brass plaque embedded into the terrazzo floor in the outer lobby which has the logo of the American Legion Lodge. Did this theatre become a lodge after closure? Obviously when renamed Mazatlan in its later operating years it must have played Spanish language films. The building still survives (in 2004) complete with its last name on the marque and is currently used as an electrical contractors storehouse/workshop. It opened pre 1941.
Was renamed “Mazatlan”.
Saw a bad spy movie here The Salzberg Connection; but even though that was a rather hot date, the real highlight was seeing all four Beatles movies in a mini-marathon when they were released together c. 1972.