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Star Theatre

E. 5th St. between Main and Los Angeles | map - approximate |

Opened: It was running as a high class film house in 1911. With a bit of Socialism evidently thrown into the mix. Opening date is unknown.



A March 12, 1911 L.A. Times ad for "Il Trovatore" at the Star. Yes, just thrown into a column of miscellaneous classifieds.



Another March 1911 ad. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the ads for a post on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles.

The only other data point to emerge for a theatre on this block is "Socialists Will Show True Labor Pictures in Own Theatre," an article on page 16 of the September 8, 1911 issue of Los Angeles Citizen, a Socialist paper. They noted that the theatre, on 5th St. between Main and Los Angeles St., would be running "True Labor Pictures" daily. The article promised that in the future several films would be made in L.A. specifically with a pro-labor theme.

The theatre had an ad on page 11 of the September 15 issue of the Citizen but evidently didn't survive long after that. Thanks to David E. James for finding the article and ad. The theatre, unnamed, is discussed on page 98 of his book "The Most Typical Avant-Garde - History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles" (University of California Press, 2005). The page is on Google Books.

James goes on to detail other Socialist filming and exhibition in Los Angeles, including an October 1913 premiere of "From Dawn To Dust" at the Mozart, later the Grand Theatre, on Grand Ave.

Closing: The date is unknown. The Star doesn't appear in either the 1911 or 1912 city directories.

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