Hollywood Community Theatre / Troupers Club

1742 Ivar Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90028  | map |

Opened: 1918. It was a former bowling alley remodeled by a theatre group that had been started by Neely Dickson in September 1917. The address is between Hollywood Blvd. and Yucca St. on the east side of the street. It's listed as the Community Theatre under motion picture theatres in the 1918 city directory. 

Neely received financial support from Cecil's B. DeMille's brother William as well as from Aline Barnsdall. This was at the time Aline was staging shows at the Los Angeles Little Theatre, a venue on Figueroa later known as the Musart.

The Community Theatre was discussed in Henry Christeen Warnack's November 11, 1917 L.A. Times article titled "Hollywood Discovers the Community Theater." The Times covered one show in their March 11, 1918 article "Fifth Production at Community Theater."  

 

The building was still identified as "Billiards and Bowling" in this detail from plate 1023 of volume 10 of the 1919 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's in the Library of Congress collection. That's the east side of Ivar on the left. On their site it's image 28 out of 104 for this volume. Looking for something? See the index page for a list of the map's pages by street address. 

In 1919 after Aline had purchased the Olive Hill property, Neely and her group were offered a corner  piece to build a new theatre with the proviso that they would have to raise the money for construction. The project was discussed in "Plans of Hollywood Community Theater," an August 10, 1919 Times story. That project wasn't pursued.   

An article in the Los Angeles School Journal discussed the windup of the group's second season. The March 1920 issue of Theatre Magazine, on Google Books, has an article discussing the group's third season.

 

A September 24, 1920 ad in the Hollywood Citizen-News that was located by Lisa Kouza Braddock. 

A 1922 Holly Leaves article discussed plans for a new theatre for the group. It's unknown if it got built. See a "Studio of the Theatre" article about their new season on page 12 of the September 29 issue. It's on Google Books.

The Community Theatre of Hollywood was active at least into 1928. New tenants in 1929: 

By early 1929 the building had been taken over by the Troupers Club. This March 1929 photo is from the Herald Examiner collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. Their caption: 

 

"Exterior view of The Troupers' Greenroom, a club house at 1742 Ivar Street in Hollywood. Here members of the Troupers' Club, composed of old-time actors and actresses, assembled to present benefit plays for the assistance of those of their profession in need of aid. The building also served as a social club room."

 

The association of vaudevillians, stage actors and screen actors was formed in November 1926. Or was it 1925? Stories differ. The eleven original members initially met in the back room of a restaurant. Originally they required 30 years experience on stage or screen to join. By 1930 that had been reduced to 20 years. That year they had 700 members. In 1934 the experience requirement was reduced to five years. The group later moved their dinners to the Writers Club and then on to an Elks lodge before securing this new club house on Ivar Ave.  

 

This article by Lee Shippey appeared in the January 29, 1929 issue of the L.A. Times:

 

The restaurant of the initial meeting is here referred to playfully as "La Cafe D'Inty M'Ore." There wasn't a location in Hollywood but in the mid-1920s there were three branches of the Dinty Moore chain downtown. Thanks to Lisa Kouza Braddock for locating the article. 

In the 1930 city directory the building was listed as Troupers Green Room. This article appeared in the May 30, 1930 issue of the L.A. Times:

 

Closing: The date is unknown. There are no listings for this address in the 1931 or 1932 city directories.

Status: The building on Ivar has been demolished.    

 

By 1931 the group was in a new Troupers Club House at 1634 N. El Centro. By 1940 they had taken over the Las Palmas Theatre and had renamed it the Troupers Theatre. In 1943 the group moved into a new home at 1723 N. Highland Ave. Beginning in 1948 the Troupers Club had a facility at 1625/27 N. La Brea where they occupied a house and an adjacent 300 seat Troupers Auditorium building. There's now an apartment complex on that site. 

 

 

The site of the Community Theatre/Troupers Green Room. To the right of the Capitol Records building it's a bit of the stagehouse of the Hollywood Playhouse/Avalon. On the far right is the edge of the Knickerbocker Hotel. Photo: Google Maps - 2017

More Information: See a long article on the beginnings of the Hollywood Community Theatre in a 1919 issue of Theatre Arts. It's on Google Books.

John Crosse's 2012 Southern California Architecture article "R. M. Schindler, Edward Weston, Margrethe Mather, Anna Zacsek, Lloyd Wright, Lawrence Tibbett, Reginald Pole, Beatrice Wood and Their Dramatic Circles" has a wealth of information about shows at various little theatres groups in the 1910s and into 1920s.  

 

In 1926 the Art Theatre of Hollywood, perhaps not related to the Hollywood Community Theatre group,  was offered a building site on the Hollywood Bowl property. It was going to be a 1,024 seat design by Morgan, Walls & Clements but never got built. 

 

This article appeared in the September 16, 1926 issue of the L.A. Times. 

 
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