319 on the Pike Long Beach, CA 90802 | map |
Opened: 1908. It was on the north side of The Pike in the middle of the block between Cedar Walk and Chestnut Pl. That's the tapered top of the theatre's stagehouse in the center of this detail from a c.1908 postcard. On the left is the Virginia Hotel, begun in 1906 and opened in 1908. Just to the right of the Bentley, behind that yellowish bandstand on the beach, can be seen the spires of the entrance to the Tarrytown Theatre. On the right is the curved roof and Mission-style facade of the Majestic Rink, with its "dancing" sign on the roof.
The Bentley building's address slopped around a bit, both when it was a theatre and later when it was repurposed as retail spaces: 315-317-319. At one time or another there were eight theatres on the 300 block. The Bentley's nearest theatre neighbors on the north side were the Tarrytown / Palace of Pictures / Pastime at 311-313 on the east and the Bijou Theatre, on the west at 333.
Construction of the new Bentley, along with other theatre action, had been noted in a March 5, 1908 L.A. Times that was located by Ken McIntyre:
"SURFEIT OF THEATERS The city, after a famine, is to have a surfeit
of playhouses. A deal for a third theater was closed today between the
Seaside Water Company and the E.C. Edmundson and R.C. McDonald, former
manager of the Long Beach Theater. The site leased is a 58 x 200 foot lot
between the bath-house and the Majestic Rink, and heretofore has been
used as a children's playground. Mr. McDonald has the plans and capital
for a modern theater which will be erected at once and will cost
$40,000. Meanwhile, the new Tarrytown, a block west, is being built, and
the Naples Construction Company today signed contracts to begin work on
the Bentley Theater, west of the Majestic Rink."
Evidently the "third
theater" noted in the article to be "erected at once" by McDonald didn't
happen. The site between the bathhouse and the rink got a theatre on it
in 1910, the Columbia, at 235 The Pike. Later on the site was Hoyt's, a
house that ended up as the
Strand Theatre.
Seating: 1,500
Architect: Unknown
Thre Bentley appears on the north side of The Pike (aka the "Walk of a Thousand Lights") in this detail from a 1908 Sanborn Map appearing courtesy of Ronald W. Mahan.
The
Byde-A-Wyle is shown in blue over on the lower left at 336 and the Art is across from the Bentley at 314.
In the 1908 Thurston city directory the Bentley Theatre is listed as 317 "On The Pike." It's listed as the Bentley Grand, 317 "On The Pike," in the 1909-1910 Thurston directory with Perry Girton as manager. In the 1911 through 1916 city directories of several different publishers it continued to be listed as the Bentley Grand at 317.
The theatre suffered some damage in a 1913 earthquake. This item appeared in the July 19, 1913 issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor:
"Long Beach -- plans are being prepared for the reconstruction of the Bentley-Grand Theater on The Pike, east of Chestnut Place, owned by Eastern capitalists, at the head of which is I. H. Bentley of Minneapolis. The building will be brick and will have a seating capacity of 1,200..."
In the 1916-17 Long Beach directory published by Los Angeles Directory Co. it's called the
Empress Bentley at 317 The Pike. E. E. Gagnon was the manager at the time. In 1917's directory by Seaside Printing Co. we get a listing under theatres for "Hart Bros." at 319 The Pike. In Seaside's 1918 directory it's the
Hart Theatre. The Hart guys also had a
Hart Theatre running out on Anaheim St. in 1923 - 24.
In the 1919 directory it's called the Hip, again at 319. An item in the May 7, 1919 issue of the Long Beach Press was headed "Real vaudeville to open tonight at Hip Theatre." The July 21, 1919 issue of the Long Beach Telegram noted "Big audience thinks at Hip Theater," whatever that meant.
In the 1920 city directory issued by Western Directory Co. it's called the Strand Theatre at 319 and under the management of Beier & Freshwater.
A December 21, 1920 Daily Telegram ad for the theatre as the Strand. Thanks to the Ronald W. Mahan Collection for sharing it. See the page about the other Strand Theatre, the former Hoyt's in the 200 block, that stayed with the name substantially longer.
Closing: 1921 was it for the Bentley. The Los Angeles Public Library's California Index summarized an item that had appeared in the January 21, 1921 issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor:
"The former Bentley Theater, Long Beach, will be remodeled into a dance hall; address given as 319 The Pike; estimated cost $25,000."
The theatre is not listed in the 1921 or later directories.
Status: The building was repurposed. In later years it saw use as a billiard hall, restaurant and Oriental art store called Wing's. At some point the stagehouse was removed. Demolition was sometime in the 1970s.
c.1907 - An early Pike postcard with not much development yet on the west end. The Virginia Hotel is under construction. This side of it there's no sign of the Bentley yet. The card was on eBay where Deleah2 got $12.50 for it. The building with the classical columns is the Bathhouse, dating from 1902. Beyond is the arched roof of the Majestic Rink, first used for roller skating, later for dancing.
c.1908
- This is the postcard view of the west end of The Pike that the detail at the top of the page was taken from. From the left, the
major buildings are the Virginia Hotel, the Bentley Theatre, the Majestic Rink with its arched roof,
and the Bathhouse. The
Tarrytown Theatre at 313 was to the right of the
Bentley. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for
spotting the card on eBay.
The rear of the card says: "VIEW OF STRAND,
LONG BEACH, CAL., Seen on Tilton's 100-Mile Trolley Trip. Here is what
it would cost you to visit the points seen on Tilton's Trip: Pasadena
and Ostrich Farm..... $.50 San Gabriel Mission and Orange
Groves..... .55 Long Beach.... .50 Alamitos Bay and Naples....
.20 Total individual cost.... $1.75. But all for $1.00 on Tilton's
Cars, with a reserved Chair Free and a Competent Guide. Cars leave
daily, 9 and 9:30 A.M., Pac. Elec. Depot, Cor. 6th & Main Sts., Los
Angeles. Phones, Main 8980 or F2444."
1910
- We're looking west with the Virginia Hotel in the distance. This side
of it the Bentley Theatre with its stagehouse
is visible. In front of the Bentley we get a unique view of the curvy facade of the Majestic Rink, here appearing very white. The
Theatorium, on Board Walk, here colored brick red, is on the far right. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for locating this in the collection of
Loyola Marymount University.
1910
- A detail from the card in the LMU collection giving us an oblique view of the Bentley's facade. The theatre has signage on its side wall saying "Bentley." It's unclear
what "10 years the standard" on the side of the stagehouse is supposed
to be advertising. Note
the pylons of the Tarrytown facade in the center of the image and the "Dancing" sign atop the arched roof of the
Majestic Rink.
c.1913 - Just beyond the Majestic Rink that's the Bentley's stagehouse with the ad for Owl cigars on the side. This photo taken from the pier is in the
Long Beach Public Library collection.
c.1915 - A photo of the Bentley stagehouse advertising El Belmont cigars. That's the Virginia Hotel over on the right. It's a photo from the Historical Society of Long Beach that appears on the
Cal State Long Beach page on the Bentley.
c.1918 - A fine shot of the back of the theatre sent off to friends or relatives by someone performing there. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for spotting this on eBay. In the margin it was written: "The back of our theater and the place where the rest live."
c.1918
- A lovely postcard view looking west on The Pike. That Hart Theatre sign on the right is the name the Bentley was going under at the time. On the far right
note the lit pylons of the Tarrytown/Pastime Theatre. The nicely lit clamshell
entrance on the left is the Art Theatre at 314. The card is from the
Ronald W. Mahan Collection and appears on the
Cal State Long Beach page about the Art Theatre.
c.1920
- An image from the Ronald W. Mahan collection where Ron has outlined
the Bentley. At the time of the photo it had been renamed the
Strand, as seen on the theatre's side wall. Just this side of the Strand
sign note the pylons of the Tarrytown facade, here seen as one very
dark, one brighter. At this time, if it were even still in business as a
theatre, it would have been called the Pastime.
The theatre this side of the Rink, on the site of the earlier Columbia Theatre, is Hoyt's at 235. It would later become the
Strand Theatre. The photo appears on the
Cal State Long Beach page about the Bentley.
c.1925
- On the bottom at the center it's a look down onto part of what had been the
Bentley. Here we see the brown side of the building with several windows in it. To the left of the former theatre are three of the four buildings (one's obscured from this
angle) to the east on the Tarrytown site. Then on the other side of
Cedar, it's the Majestic Rink. In the distance on the left note the
State Theatre and the
Municipal Auditorium.
The
building across The Pike with the circular red roof housed the Looff
carousel. The second building to the right of the Looff building, the
short one, had been the Art Theatre at 314. The building with the curvy
Mission-style facade right above the "C" in Card Cow was once the home
of the
Gaiety Theatre at 330 on the Pike. This copy of the card from the
Card Cow collection had a 1930 postmark.
1933 - A view east with part of the building that had once been the Bentley on the far left. The storefront we see was Wing's Oriental art store at 315. The location of that next group of four single-story buildings had decades earlier been the site of the
Tarrytown and Pastime Theatres at 311-313. The arched roof of the Majestic Rink can be seen just to the left of the arm of the streetlight. The roof sign of the Strand Theatre is beyond, against the tower of the Ocean Center building. It's a photo in the
Long Beach Public Library collection.
1933
- A post-quake view looking west along the 300 block toward Chestnut
Pl. The building with the
signage for "Wing's" and the hand identifying it as 315 The Pike, is the
repurposed Bentley Theatre building, 315-317-319. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the photo.
The large building in the center
of the image with the peaked roofline is on the site of the
Joyland Theatre at 335. Just this side of it with the curved parapet is
the former
Bijou Theatre location at 333. It's unknown if the building
we see here housed the theatre in the 1910s or if this was a later replacement. The Pastime Theatre had once been on the right at 311, perhaps where that
second building is, behind the scale.
1933
- A view in a bit closer to the former Bentley. Note those interesting
"lanterns" on either end of the facade. This Austin Studio view is in
the
California State Library collection, their item #01391404.
1940
- A look at the territory from above. The Rink is in the upper center.
The four buildings on the Tarrytown site are to the left of the Rink and
then there's the larger rebuilt Bentley Theatre building. To the right
of the rink is the Strand Theatre. It's a photo in the
Los Angeles Public Library collection.
1940 - A detail from the Library's photo indicating the rebuilt Bentley building.
1959
- A terrific view of the Pike with the Strand two thirds of the way up
on the right edge of the image. To
the left of the Strand is the big arched roof of the Majestic
Rink/Lido. Keep looking left across Cedar Walk and note the four long
skinny buildings, a site once for the Tarrytown / Pastime
theatres. The larger building to the left of those four is the building that was formerly the Bentley. It's right behind the
steeple of the circular Looff's carousel building. Thanks to Augie Castagnola for locating
the photo for a post on
Facebook. He notes that over on the left, up on Ocean Blvd., the Long Beach Superior Courthouse is under construction.
c.1965
- Wing's at 315 in the rebuilt Bentley building is seen in this view west. Beyond, it's the building with the curvy parapet
at the Bijou location and larger, two-story
building on the Joyland site. On the left note the "Looff's Amusements" sign on their old
carousel building. Thanks to Sarah in Vegas for sharing her photo.
2018 - Recognize the neighborhood? Straight ahead we're looking
west on The Pike, now dubbed "The Walk of a Thousand Lights." The
Bentley was once down there about a hundred feet on the right, with the
Tarrytown / Palace of Pictures / Pastime this side of it at various
times. On the right in the foreground it's Cedar Walk, heading up toward Ocean Blvd.
Photo: Google Maps
More information: There isn't any more about the Bentley.
The pages about the Gaiety, Tarrytown and the Joyland have additional views of the 300 block between Cedar Walk and Chestnut Pl.
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