La Petite / Art Theatre

508 S. Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90013  | map |

The La Petite Theatre was another of the many nickelodeons that dotted Broadway in the first decade of the 20th century. It gets a listing on The Billboard magazine list for 1907 and 1908. It was on the east side of the street, just below 5th St.

Seating: 150

"Los Angeles Before Hollywood" by Jan Olsson notes that it opened in late 1907 and was the third house for the partnership of Billy Clune and Charles Bockoven, an entity that became Southwest Amusement Co. Olsson's book is available from Amazon or as a free pdf from the the National Library of Sweden.

The other early houses run by Southwest Amusement were the Playo Theatre, 349 N. Main, the Nickel at 255 S. Main (later called the Union Theatre and the New York Theatre) and the Scenic, 522 S. Spring St. Southwest was dissolved in 1908 and their many theatres were sold off to other operators, and in a lot of cases got new names. See the Cameo page for a timeline of Billy Clune's later theatrical adventures.

The La Petite was listed in the 1907, 1908 and 1909 city directories.  It was a favorite name used by the firm for their theatres in other cities as well. 

 

The La Petite's location is indicated on this detail from plate 220 of the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey Map from Historic Map Works. 

Later additions in 1910 after the map was drawn would be Clune's Broadway (later renamed the Cameo) farther down the block at 528. The Pantages (now called the Arcade) would be on the lot at 534 S. Broadway seen here as the Delaware Hotel. In 1914 they were joined by the Superba at 518. It's on this map as The Louise. On the other side of the street the Shell Theatre was at 547, down closer to 6th St. 

In the 1910 city directory, depending on whether you looked under "theatres" or "moving pictures & machines," this theatre was listed as both the La Petite and the Art Theatre. W.A. Kerr was running the Art in mid-1910. In the 1911 and 1912 city directories it's still there as the Art.

Status: The closing date is unknown. It's been demolished. The 508 lot became part of the site of the Guarantee Title / Jewelry Trades Building at 5th and Broadway. It dates from 1912. The Johnson / Pettebone Building next door, currently #510-12-14, was built in 1905.

A c.1910 view looking south from 5th St. The La Petite would have been over on the left, five storefronts down. Farther down the block we get a sliver of the Pantages/Arcade over on the left.

The photo is in the William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection in the California State Archives. It's cataloged as Album 5, Photograph 283. The collection includes over 3,000 photos taken by William and his wife Grace all over the country from about 1905 until 1938. Thanks to Kim Cooper and Richard Schave for posting about the newly digitized collection on their blog Esotouric.

 

 

A c.1912 view from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. That's 5th St. on the left. On the right we're looking south on Broadway with the arched entrance of the La Petite over on the right edge of the image. There's also a version of this shot in the USC Digital Library collection where they give it a c.1907 date. That fireproof hotel we see some of on the left is the Alexandria.

 

 

A 1912 view of the La Petite on the right as we look north toward 5th. It's a frame about eleven seconds into a clip of Broadway and Pershing Square footage running a minute and a half. Thanks to Alison Martino for sharing the clip on her Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. We also get a look at the Pantages/Arcade and Clune's Broadway/Cameo theatres. It's footage that had been restored by the Eye Film Museum in Amsterdam.

That "Lease Expired - Must Vacate" sign several doors up may have been a harbinger of doom indicating upcoming demolition for the erection on the site in 1912 of what is now known as the Jewelry Trades Building.

 

 

2018 - The site of the La Petite. It would have been in the spot just to the left of the alley. That alley, by the way, goes in a ways then takes a right to end up behind the Roxie, Cameo and Arcade Theatres. Photo: Bill Counter

2018 - A view north toward 5th St. It's the Guarantee Title / Jewelry Trades Building on the corner and the  Johnson / Pettebone Building on the right. Photo: Bill Counter 

More information: See the La Petite Theatre page on Cinema Treasures for several comments and a photo of the wrong building. It's listed in the 1907-1908 Henry's Official Western Theatrical Guide.

508 S. Broadway doesn't show as a theatre on the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey map from Historic Mapworks but it's interesting to see what was on the block at that time.  

Other La Petite locations: There was a Santa Monica La Petite, three locations occupied by the Ocean Park La Petite, the La Petite #4 in Riverside, as well as theatres called La Petite in Santa Barbara and San Bernardino.

One La Petite that's a mystery is La Petite #5, listed as being in Los Angeles on Billboard lists of theatres for 1906, 1907 and 1908. They give an address of 514 Main St., with no north or south indicated. Listed as manager was Mark Hanna, who was listed for many Southwest Amusement locations. Seating capacity was 580 and it was running six shows daily.

It's also listed (along with the La Petite on Broadway) in the 1907-1908 Henry's Theatrical Guide. The guess is that this started as one erroneous listing that got copied. 514 S. Main in L.A. wasn't a theatre during the 1906-1909 time period, although beginning in the 50s it was the Galway. And there are no even numbers in the 500 block of N. Main as the Plaza is on that side of the street.  

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