Opened: The Optic Theatre was a nickelodeon that opened in 1907 or a bit earlier on the east side of the street between 4th and 5th. Thanks to Cinema Treasures researcher Joe Vogel for finding this October 1907 California Historical Society photo in the USC Digital Library collection.
It's in the 1907 city directory as being at 460 S. Broadway, presumably a typo as that address doesn't exist. Paul Freeman was listed as the proprietor. It's in the 1908 and 1909 city directories with the 446 1/2 S. Broadway address. The later proprietor was Robert W. Woodley, who later ran Woodley's Theatre at 838 S. Broadway, a house later renamed the Mission Theatre by Mack Sennett.
Closing: This one closed prior to December 1910. There's no listing for it in the 1910 city directory.
An item mentioning Woodley was in the L.A. Times on December 25, 1910: "Negotiations have just been closed with R.W. Woodley, the former proprietor of the Optic Theater on South Broadway, for a motion-picture theater, to be erected at No. 533 South Main Street. The place will have a seating capacity of about 900." Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor Jeff Bridges for finding the mention in the Times.
Woodley's new Optic Theatre on Main Street opened in 1911 and had a much longer run.
Status: The building has been demolished. The "Broadway Mall" is now on the site.
A larger version of the photo at the top of the page. We're looking north on Broadway between 4th and 5th in 1907. The Optic Theatre is in the building in the bottom right, below the sign advertising the Belasco's production "On the Quiet." It played the theatre October 21 through 28, 1907. This was not the current Belasco on Hill St. but the earlier theatre by that name at 337 S. Main St., later known as the Follies. It's a California Historical Society photo in the USC Digital Library collection.
The "Broadway Mall" is now on the site of the Optic. It's on lots 440 to 448. To the left is the Bumiller Building, once housing the Eden Musee. Beyond is the Broadway Central/Judson Building, once home to the Broadway Theatre. The squat building on the right is 450 S. Broadway, dating from 1908.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Optic on Main St. for a bit of discussion by Joe Vogel and Jeff Bridges on the Broadway Optic. It's tangled in with lots of interesting data about various Main Street theatres.
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Thanks for this bit of L.A. hostory!
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