Opening: This first venue to use the Westlake Theatre name was in the 1912 and 1913 city directories with the 680 S. Alvarado address. It also shows up in a 1914 ad as being on "S. Alvarado near 7th St."
That's 7th St. across the bottom of the image and Alvarado running vertically along the edge of the park. We had two theatres on the block. The first reddish rectangle south of Orange St. is the Theatre De Luxe and is identified as such. The Westlake's location below that is labeled "garage." Orange St. became Wilshire when it was extended through the park in the 30s.
It's a detail from Plate 15 of the 1914 Baist Real Estate Survey Map from Historic Map Works. The site of the Westlake was shown similarly on the 1921 Baist Map. It's seen as a vacant lot on the 1910 Baist Map.
The Westlake is at the top of the right column in this 1914 ad from the L.A. Times. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it.
A detail from the ad.
Closing: Well, perhaps 1914 was it. The De Luxe up the block was hanging on until the late 20s.
A look at the block in 1923. On the left it's Orange St. The light colored building at Orange and Alvarado would be demolished when Wilshire got pushed through the park and Orange became the path of Wilshire. The second building with a nice arched entrance is the De Luxe Theatre, 656 S. Alvarado St. South of it is another large building, a garage. The one set back from the street is an apartment house at 668-670 S. Alvarado. The next building, with an interesting faux-gabled entrance, would have been the site of the Westlake Theatre. On the far right is 7th St.
The image is a detail from a superb 1923 view featured by John Bengtson on his Silent Locations post "Buster Keaton - Hard Luck, The Goat - Closeups At Westlake Park." John's post is about the filming in the area for the 1921 Buster Keaton films "The Goat" and "Hard Luck." He also discusses other films shot nearby. Thanks, John!
A closer look at the Westlake's former location, 680 S. Alvarado. The building to the left of the theatre's location that's set back from the street is an apartment house. All sorts of interesting new construction appears to be happening. The skinny building #1 toward the right is a post office, probably with a 684 address. The low skinny one was at 686.
Here's the full photo from the National Archives. See a larger version on John's site where you can click on it to expand and pan around. That's 7th St. on the right with the Alvarado/Park Theatre, 710 S. Alvarado St. in the upper right corner of the image. The building the Lake Theatre was in at 2118 W. 7th St. can be seen a few storefronts this side of Alvarado.
More information: There isn't any yet. The current Westlake Theatre at 638 S. Alvarado dates from 1926.
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