Lyric Theatre

128 S. Spring St. Los Angeles, CA 90013 | map |

Opened: 1911 or a bit earlier. A 1912 city directory listing for this address under "motion picture theatres" is for G A Howell. It's listed in the 1913 through 1919 city directories as the Lyric Theatre.

The photo appeared in the December 9, 1911 issue of Moving Picture News with a heading identifying the theatre as "A Prominent Independent House." The accompanying article:

"The Lyric Theater, 130 South Spring street, Los Angeles, Cal., is one of the prettiest and best of the five-cent houses in the city, and since changing from Trust to Independent service several months ago, business has wonderfully increased. Four reels of pictures are shown, the program changing twice a week. 

"The seating capacity of this popular theater is 400, and under the judicious management of Messrs. Howell and Skinner, it is always kept filled. A $1,000 Peerless organ has recently been installed, which adds greatly to the pictures. Two machines are used and these, under the charge of Mr. E. Geary, always insure the best of projection."

The Moving Picture News issue can be viewed on Internet Archive. Thanks to Brooklyn-based theatre historian Cezar DelValle for locating it. Check out the latest investigations on his Theatre Talks blog. 

In March 1912 Howell and Skinner took over operation of the Grand Opera House on Main St. but didn't stay long. At the time they were also operating the Bentley Grand in Long Beach.

Closing: The Lyric evidently closed sometime around 1919.

Status: The building the Lyric was in has been demolished. The Los Angeles Police Department headquarters building is now on the block.

 A 1912 Memorial Day parade photo looking north on Spring St. The Lyric's vertical sign can be seen above the front of the streetcar. Thanks to Stephen Russo for spotting this photo. It was once on the L.A. Times Facebook page but the post seems to have vanished.

Spring St. curved east to meet Main at Temple St. until a re-alignment was done as part of the City Hall construction program in the mid-1920s. The building on the far left is what had been Hamburger's Department Store. They moved to 8th and Broadway in 1908. 

 

A c.1920 view north from 2nd St. The Lyric had been in the fourth building in from the right but their signage was gone by the time of this photo. This was shared by Jack Feldman in a post on the Images and Memories of Los Angeles Facebook group. It appears on a W&PA Museum page of Early Street Views. Another take from the same shoot is in the Los  Angeles Public Library collection. 

 

A detail from the previous photo with the Lyric's building indicated. 

A later short-lived venue on the block was the Ideal Theatre at 134 S. Spring St., in the building just to the right of where the Lyric had been. See an 1896 drawing of the east side of the block in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. 

The block between 1st and 2nd in 1921. It's a detail from plate 003 of the Baist Real Estate Survey Map from Historic Mapworks. The building the Lyric had been in, the fourth up from the corner, is shown as 128-130 S. Spring. That building indicated as "Theatre" up on 1st just east of Spring was the Princess. 

Looking north on Spring toward 1st. St. The Lyric would have been over on the right where the LAPD building now is. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

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