Teatro los Pinos

9325 Long Beach Boulevard,
South Gate, CA 90280

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sixteenbitify
sixteenbitify on January 30, 2018 at 12:59 am

This theatre has recently been demolished since January 2018. This theatre listing should have its status updated to “demolished”.

Saraswati8
Saraswati8 on July 12, 2010 at 2:19 pm

From the August 22, 1925 edition of the Los Angeles Times comes this report regarding South Gate and its first movie theater: “A new building is now nearing completion on State Street, which will have a seating capacity for 300. It is expected to open about the first of September with shows nightly.”
This project evidently came to fruition since the 1927 Sanborn map for South Gate shows a movie house located at 8463 State Street in South Gate. Unfortunately, neither of these sources provides a name for this theater. This theater site has been torn down.
The property where the theater once stood is now occupied by the Greenfield Care Center according to Google Maps. The Los Angeles County Tax Assessor records show the Greenfield facility was constructed in 1970 and occupies a total of 8 lots from the 3254 tract. What happened to the theater between its 1925 construction date and 1970 when the Greenfield site was built remains to be discovered.
Could this be the demolished Gem Theater? (Another possibility could be the South Gate 15¢ Theater advertised as an Independent Theater concurrently in the Los Angeles Times with the Gem â€" primarily in the 1940’s.)
There’s only one Ford Dealership that can be found in South Gate on Long Beach Boulevard in the Los Angeles Times Archives: Lindt-Wilson Ford. Lindt-Wilson had 2 recorded addresses on Long Beach Boulevard. The earliest address is 8707 Long Beach Boulevard (now a Tune-Up Masters per Google). A second, later address is 8012 Long Beach Boulevard. (Santa Ana is a cross street for this location.) The Lindt-Wilson move to 8012 had taken place by 1959. (Based on when the L.A. Times Ads started reflecting this as the Lindt-Wilson place of business.) If this was the theater’s location, it could not have been operating there any later than 1959.
(Using Google for a reference once more, this location is a Burger King. The Los Angeles County Tax Assessor Records show the current structure on the property was built in 1999. The County considers the address of the existing structure, i.e., the Burger King, to be 8012 Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park. As far as being a South Gate / Huntington Park address Google is neutral. The point comes up on their map whether a search is done for 8012 Pacific or Long Beach Boulevard â€" North of Santa Ana Street, South of Cudahy Street on the East side of the street.)
Is the 8012 address the former site of the Avon?
The Trianon Ballroom (recently razed) was at 2800 Firestone Boulevard.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 12, 2008 at 9:04 pm

I saw an ad for a comedy show at this theater on a local channel the other day. Good to see the theater alive and well, and in use.

millermike
millermike on April 13, 2008 at 7:46 am

Thanks for the pictures showing the inside of the vogue theatre as it now. Offen wondered how it looked inside. The building at Long Beach Blvd and Glenmore was a bowling alley. South Gate Bowl, The Trianon Ballroom was on Firestone Blvd down the street from Long Beach Blvd. Owned by Horace Heit, the bandleader. The Avon Theatre was at Long Beach blve and Santa ana st. Ford dealer took it over later in years. The Gem theatre I have no idea where it was, but always wonder.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 13, 2008 at 1:17 am

Now you’ve been warned twice.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 13, 2008 at 1:16 am

The UFO guy headlining at the Teatro states on his poster “The Silent Invasion – They are Already Here”. I guess we’ve been warned.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 13, 2008 at 1:03 am

There are at lest two vanished South Gate theatres missing from Cinema Treasures though. There were houses called the Gem and the Avon, which probably existed during the silent era. They may have been knocked down by the 1933 earthquake, as many buildings in that area were.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 13, 2008 at 12:48 am

I figured if it was a theater it would have been added already. Thanks for the information.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 13, 2008 at 12:43 am

According to the county assessor, the building at Long Beach and Glenwood was built in 1941, with an effective build date of 1946. I wonder if it could have been the Trianon Ballroom, a popular night spot of the 1940s and the site of several live remote broadcasts of a music show called One Night Stand produced by the Armed Forces Radio Service during WWII?

The building also looks like it could have been a bowling alley. Bowling became a fad in the 1930s-1940s, and L.A. used to be littered with streamline moderne bowling alleys.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 12, 2008 at 10:23 pm

I was in this theater today. The cashier was nice enough to let me walk around and take pictures. The interior shots are not too good, but some of the others came out OK. Interestingly enough, just a block down the road was a building that I swear was a theater at one time. I will post those photos as well in case someone recognizes it.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 18, 2007 at 5:13 pm

In 1950, the theater was used for church services by the Christian Chapel. It looks like the church bought their own building a few years later.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 14, 2007 at 10:08 pm

Advertised as a Spanish language theater in the LA Times on 3/15/81.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 12, 2007 at 8:45 pm

Listed as Los Pinos Theater in the 1967 city directory.

millermike
millermike on January 16, 2007 at 11:51 am

I was born and raised in South Gate,Lived on Illinois Street. and went to the beautiful Vogue growing up. Always played two top featues, Didn’t always get the Roy Rogers movies which upset me. Summer wednesday matinee, a great western and 10 cartoons and a serial.Later became a small theatre chain called South-Lynn theatres. Today it has spanish movies with a stage show, i’ve heard. The name Vogue has disappeared completely from the building. It’s sad.

scissors
scissors on October 24, 2006 at 11:27 am

I lived in South Gate for many years and went to the Vogue Theatre every Saturday. Sometimes I would also go on Friday nights with my Mom, who loved films. I have so many fond memoies of this theatre. It was sold and became a latino church and who knows what by now, but I can still conjure up memories of seeing all the Elvis movies there and scary movies like The Fly with Vincent Price. I could walk there from my house, I lived on Illinois street. Looking back it was a really beautiful building. The ladies room was very nice with a long vanity and stools to sit on. Wow!

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 29, 2006 at 5:56 pm

Here are a few more photos from the UCLA collection:
http://tinyurl.com/n4erb

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 12, 2005 at 7:27 pm

1937-38, courtesy of the UCLA collection:

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