Navarro / Pico Theatre

736 / 818 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90071  | map | 

Opened: 1913 as the Navarro Theatre. It was on the south side of the street, a half-block west of Figueroa.

Architects: Needham and Cline. The partners were Paul A. Needham and Edgar H. Cline. Their offices were at 405 S. Hill St., Room 616. This may have been their only theatre project.

Seating: 500 was the announced capacity. When the theatre closed in 1951 they advertised that they were selling 575 seats.  

 

 

The article appeared in the September 27, 1913 issue of the Los Angeles Express. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. Note the 528 address they used in this article.

This photo of the Navarro Theatre (with the name across the entrance arch) is the only one to surface so far. It's on the site Worthpoint where they note that we're seeing:

 ".. a large group gathered outside the Navarro Theatre on Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles around 1914. A large banner in front reads: 'We Show The Best - Mary Pickford, The Sweetheart of the Stories, in Lena and the Geese.' A picture banner hangs below that. A photo finishing studio can be seen next to the theatre, most likely the studio that took the photo with the credit 'F.E. Parret, 738 W. Pico' written in negative."

"Lena and the Geese" was a June 1912 release. Thanks to Joe Vogel for spotting the card. Glen Norman comments: 

"This street light was Llewellyn Iron Works' 'Pico' model. From what I've been able to piece together, they lined Pico Blvd. from Main Street West to Vermont Avenue. None survive; they were all pulled-out in the early 1950s."

 

It's listed in the city directories as the Navarro from 1914 through 1918. The address is sometimes listed as at 738 -- such as in the 1917 and 1918 directories. 

 

The theatre was in a block that had both 700 and 800 numbering. The location is circled on this detail from Plate 9 of the 1921 Baist Real Estate Survey Map from Historic Map Works. That's Pico running horizontally and Figueroa running vertically over toward the right. That "Little Theatre" on Figueroa south of Pico is the theatre better known as the Musart. 

In the 1922, 1923, 1927 and 1929 city directories it's called the Pico Theatre. In 1925 it was listed as the New West Pico Theatre. In 1926 it's the New Pico Theatre. Then it's back to just being the Pico Theatre. 

 

Looking for new vaudeville stars in the classifieds. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the ad. 

 

 

 

J.H. Gahan, the Pico's orchestra leader, lost a violin in 1927. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the April 13 story.

 

The owner was trying to get out in 1930. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the L.A. Times ad.

 

 

And a customer was also trying to get out in 1930. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this July 7 story.

A Pico listing in 1931 that was located by Ken McIntyre.

A 1934 program for the Pico. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for posting it on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles.

We had a bit of renumbering in the 40s. It's still listed in the 1942 city directory with a 736 address. By the time of a May 1956 phone company street address directory the only buildings with 700 addresses on the south side of the street were the Masonic Temple and its associated storefronts, 706-712. Everything west of a little alley on the block was then numbered 800s. When the theatre reopened around 1948 as the New Pico it was using an 818 W. Pico address. 

 

An April 1948 ad located by Ken McIntyre for a Facebook thread about the Pico on Ken's Movie Page. Also see the page here on this site about the Mission Theatre.  

 

 

 

Another fine April 1948 ad for the Mission and the Pico located by Ken. Note the use of an 812 address for the Pico in this one. 

 

 

"A Nite at the Follies" and "Wild Poker Party" were playing in July 1948.  

 

The Pico had a spell as a foreign film house with a slew of bookings of Russian films. 

 

"The greatest show ever produced." It's a 1948 ad for "The Great Glinka," the story of Russian composer Michael Glinka. The Times reviewed this 1946 film in their November 8, 1948 issue and called it "not only entertaining but enlightening." A May 22, 1949 listing in the Times noted that "The Great Glinka" was back as part of a Russian triple feature. That week it was playing along with "The Gypsies" and  "Jubilee by Checkhov" [sic]. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theatres for including this in a collage of Pico ads they posted on Cinema Treasures.

 

 

"The Lucky Bride" was a 1947 Russian film in "Soviet Magic Color" that got a U.S. release in January 1948. Presumably this run at the Pico was later than that. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for locating the ad. 

 

"Maid in the Hay" and Douglas Fairbanks in "The Private Life of Don Juan" were the salacious films running in late 1948. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the December 1 ad.  

 

 

A 1949 ad for a reissue booking of that 1940 "musical triumph from Leningrad" starring the tenor Sergei Lemeshev in "Musical Story." It played with the 1936 film "A Greater Promise." The Times reviewed the Pico's program in their February 1, 1949 issue noting, not favorably, that the production values of the main feature were "of another day." It's an ad located by Dallas Movie Theaters.

 

 

This was a February 1949 ad. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it.

 

 

Yes, Russian musical comedies. The L.A. Times reviewed the program in their March 28, 1949 issue and called it "delightfully buoyant." Both "Volga-Volga" and "They Met In Moscow" were reissues of 1938 films that originally had a U.S. release in 1941. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theatres for including this in their collage of Pico ads. "Volga-Volga" was said to be Stalin's favorite film.

 

 

"Are You Fit To Marry?" The exploitation era was winding down at the Pico in early 1949. Thanks to Ken for locating this April ad. 

 

 

It was back to the Russian films in June 1949. The Times reviewed "Symphony of Life" in their June 9 issue calling it "pleasant screen fare" in the headline and noting that Siberia hadn't been seen much as a background for films. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for locating the ad. 

The Pico had a silent movie fling in 1949. This September 1 ad for Rudolph Valentino in "The Eagle" along with Josephine Baker in "Princess Tam-Tam" appeared in the California Eagle, a paper catering to L.A.'s Black community. Thanks to Ranjit Sandhu for locating it for his article on Revival Cinemas. 

 

The week of October 2, 1950 they were playing "Heart of Vienna" and "Russian Ballerina." 

 

 

A January 9, 1951 listing in the Times for the 1948 Russian film "Under Sunny Skies" along with "Animal Theatre," presumably another Russian film. Ken McIntyre notes that this was the theatre's last ad in the paper. 

Closing: 1951 was the end. 

 

 

A February 1951 ad for an auction of the equipment. Thanks to Ken for locating it.

 

 

Another ad for the Auction. Thanks to whoever goes by the handle Dallas Movie Theatres for including this in their collage of Pico ads on Cinema Treasures.

Status: It's been demolished. This site just west of Figueroa is now part of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The Pico Theatre location on the south side of the street. Figueroa is off to the left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

More Information: Well, what you see here is all there currently is. Cinema Treasures does have a page on the Pico but there's really no additional data.

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