Linda Lea / Downtown Independent

251 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 | map |

The news: It's for lease. The broker is Rob Galanti with L & R Group, the owner of the building. He's at 310-702-3636. Seats and booth equipment have been removed. The assumption had been that the owners would at some point demolish the building. But that now appears to be pushed into the indefinite future. 

Opened: The first theatre on the site opened in 1925 as the Arrow Theatre with George Carpenter as the initial owner. This detail from a 1939 Dick Whittington Studio photo in the USC Digital Library collection shows the strangely-sized marquee added to the original facade. The location is the west side of the street mid-block between 2nd and 3rd. Down at the end of the block that's the Higgins Building, still there at 2nd and Main.

The original structure was rebuilt as the ImaginAsian Center in 2007. It soon became the Downtown Independent, a venue that was in operation until early 2020.

Online but inactive since 2020: www.facebook.com/downtownindependent

Original architect: John E. Kunst. Noirish Los Angeles contributor Tovangar 2's Noirish post #30848 includes a copy of the October 14, 1924 building permit, signed by the architect.

Seating: 500. It had a balcony and a cry room.

An October 19, 1924 item in the L.A. Times located by Jeff Bridges noted: 

 

"A.A. Laisy & Co., have the contract for a one-story theater and office building to be erected at 251 South Main street. It will have a seating capacity of 500 people and two stores."

 

A 1925 ad for the new theatre advising that they featured a "Wonderful Handplayed Pipe Organ."  Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a post for the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles.

 

In the late 30s it was running Spanish language product. By 1940 it was being called the Azteca Theatre as an operation of Frank Fouce, who also had the California Theatre, and others later.

 

 

A 1940 article that mentions Fouce as the operator. 

 

 

A 1940 ad for "Cancion del Milagro." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating these for a Facebook post about the theatre on Ken's Movie Page. 

 

In 1941 the programming shifted from Spanish language films to burlesque shows along with a quite different kind of film. The 1941 and 1942 city directories still had it as the Azteca. It was evidently also called the Civic at one point.

"60 Gorgeous Girls From The World of Tomorrow." A 1941 ad for the Azteca as a burlesque house. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for posting this and another ad for the theatre on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook group. 

 

Harry Farris and Eddie Skolak and a Mr. Wenzler (Arthur?) were looking for burlesque dancers for their "World's Fair Follies." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating these August 1941 ads. Note that by the time of this ad they had dropped the final "A" and it was the Aztec Theatre.

A December 31, 1941 ad in the L.A. Times. 5 big shows that day showing off the "New Year's Nudies." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the ad for a post on Photos of Los Angeles.

A 1942 L.A. Times ad for the Aztec.  

Another exciting week in 1942.

 

 

The Aztec had matches for you in case you wanted to light up during the show. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding this image posted on Flickr by StrikerChick. It's one of 84 items in her lovely L.A. matchbook collection. 

 

Another Aztec design from the collection of StrikerChick. Thanks!

A 1942 Times item about Ms. Sugar Robison doing the Can-Can. 

Yet another 1942 Times ad. It's unknown how long the burlesque policy at the theatre lasted. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding these last four Times items for another post on Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

It became the Linda Lea Theatre in the early 1950s. According to a relative of one of the owners, the name came from a Chinese businessman who had named the earlier Linda Lea Theatre (the former Fuji Kan) on 1st. St. after his wife. He later moved the name to the Main St. house and it remained as such after being acquired by a Japanese family around 1957.

 

Running Filipino movies in August 1965. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for posting this Times listing on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. Kinema East is the former Meralta Theatre.

Closing as the Linda Lea: After decades of successfully running both Chinese and Japanese product at different times, the Linda Lea closed in the mid-80s. Part of the issue was competition from three theatres on the westside running Japanese product. After closing, the building was owned by Metropolitan News, who had an office on Spring St. They were using it for storage of files.

The rebuild: The Linda Lea was nearly demolished in 2007 to make way for a new theatre. The two side walls and half of the roof structure are the only things that would remain from the original building. The project was discussed in a March 3, 2007 L.A. Times article by David Pierson:

"Curtain Rises Again in Little Tokyo - Downtown's first new theater in more than 20 years will replace the once-popular Linda Lea. Like its predecessor, it will feature Asian films. For three decades, the Linda Lea theater sat empty and boarded up on the edge of Little Tokyo, with the image of a kimono-clad woman looking down like a ghost from the marquee. In its heyday, the theater was among the nation's premier exhibitors of Japanese movies. But as downtown L.A. declined, so did the Linda Lea.

"Crews completed demolition of the theater this week, and the act marks both an end and a beginning. A new movie theater will soon rise on the site, the first downtown in more than two decades. And like the Linda Lea, it will show movies from Asia. When workers were gutting the cinema on Main Street, they made a surprising discovery hidden behind the drywall above the crumbling venue's pitch-dark balcony and projection room: 11 Japanese movie posters with cherry blossom festival and samurai scenes more than half a century old and in remarkably good condition. The posters provide a tangible reminder of the theater's history. They were a welcome find, the property's owners said.

"'It was so exciting because we're trying to preserve as much as we can,' said Sue Ann Kirst, who with her husband owns Cinema Properties Group, which bought the theater two years ago. 'Because of our proximity to Little Tokyo and Chinatown and the history of this place, we wanted to keep an Asian American theme.' Kirst struck a deal with an Asian American multimedia company headquartered in New York named ImaginAsian that runs a 24-hour cable television network and a cinema in midtown Manhattan. The company will operate the new theater, which will be called the ImaginAsian Center. It is scheduled to open late in the summer.

"The goal is to lure not only young and trendy people who inhabit downtown's lofts and condos but also Asiaphiles and Asian and South Asian Americans who want to see first-run movies from Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and India. Kirst and ImaginAsian believe Asian pop culture has enough of a following to support the venture. The new center will be a modern steel-and-glass building containing a theater with stadium seating for 256, a cafe, a mezzanine and space for live performances. It was designed by Hodgetts & Fung Design Associates, an L.A. firm that restored Hollywood's Egyptian Theater and the new shell at the Hollywood Bowl. It will be a far cry from the original building's configuration when it opened in 1924 as the Arrow Theater.

"Workers over the last few weeks have unearthed Art Deco-era blocks with fleur-de-lis patterns, numbered in the back to form an intricate design on the building's old facade. At some point, the building was said to have been a Japanese burlesque house. The Linda Lea opened in the late 1940s, not long after most of its Japanese American patrons were released from World War II internment camps. With its pastel plastic facade depicting butterflies and with the woman in the kimono, the Linda Lea was nearly the only place in L.A. to catch samurai flicks or yakuza thrillers with English subtitles.

"'These were B movies from Japan,' said Jim Matsuoka, a regular there in the late 1950s and early '60s. 'It had that down-home neighborhood feeling. They had a popcorn machine with a red heat lamp. It was nothing like these movie theaters in the mega malls.' Matsuoka, a second-generation Japanese American, said the films were his only contact with his parents' homeland. He said most of the movies shown at the Linda Lea ended in a blood bath and reckons he wrongly developed an impression of Japan as violent. 'I wondered how anyone there could have been alive after watching these movies,' said Matsuoka, 70.

"One time, reality and film seemed to merge for Matsuoka. During a visit to the Linda Lea, he noticed one of his aunts sobbing in the movie house after watching a film about the yakuza, Japanese organized crime. When Matsuoka went home to tell his mother what he saw, she reluctantly told him that his great-uncle had been a yakuza member. 'She was neglected by him and was overcome by the movie,' Matsuoka said.

"Those days in the '60s were said to be the theater's best. Matsuoka remembers full houses and many other nisei — second-generation Japanese Americans — wanting a taste of their culture. But later years were harsh. Japanese theaters showing newer movies began to sprout on the Westside. Other Japanese programming was available on tapes and TV. The Linda Lea's patronage began to decline, and it closed in the early 1980s. The theater was bought by the Grace family, which owns the Metropolitan News Co. based nearby on Spring Street. The family used it to store files.

"When Kirst's company took over the property, it had to clean up the mess made by thousands of pigeons, a leaky roof and squatters who lived in the projection room. When workers tried to take down the plastic facade in one piece, it cracked. The hot-riveted steel trusses that form the framework for the ceiling were left untouched after they were found to be structurally sound.

"Workers also found Filipino handbills from the days when the theater was known as the Aztec, paper lanterns and a sign written in Japanese that read, 'No Standing in the Hallway.' Kirst said the Japanese posters were probably protected from damage by being rolled up and stored in an area surrounded by plaster and drywall. They measure 24 by 36 inches and appear to be hand-tinted from black-and-white photographs. They show dramatic actors in heavy white makeup prepared to battle with swords and women dancing with traditional fans.

"Kirst is having them examined by experts but believes they could be scenes from Toei films, made by a Japanese movie company whose logo was displayed high above the theater. The new center 'means a lot to the Little Tokyo community,' said Tom Kamei, chairman of the Little Tokyo Community Council, which was presented with one of the posters, framed. 'People have a lot of fond memories of the Linda Lea. It will honor the legacy of the old-time nisei who built up the area.'...The new theater is expected to open in the summer."

2007 project architects: Hodgetts & Fung, who also did the 1998 Egyptian Theatre renovations.

A rendering of the new theatre from the architects. 

Reopened: December 1, 2007 as the ImaginAsian Center. The developer, Cinema Properties Group, had purchased the building several years earlier from the Grace family, owners of Metropolitan News. ImaginAsian was a multinational media group that also operated a theatre in New York.

Seating: 222 in the main auditorium. A separate event area upstairs was used for a second screening room with a capacity of about 30.

Projection: The theatre was DCP capable and also had two Simplex XL 35s. Also in the booth were two 35mm Tokiwa projectors on LP Associates 3Kw Xenon consoles. Those Japanese machines were fitted with 16mm attachments on the front. Projection in the second upstairs room was from a ceiling mounted digital unit.

The theatre was renamed the Downtown Independent in 2008, morphing into a hip venue for indie films, foreign cinema and documentaries. The theatre was operated by Jim Kirst. For a time on Sundays Eric Kurland ran a private club in the theatre to screen DCPs of 3-D films not otherwise available in L.A.  

Closing: The theatre closed due to Covid restrictions in March 2020. 

Status: Seats and other equipment were removed from the building in 2021 and early 2022. The assumption was that this building and others on the south end of the block would be demolished. A project was announced in 2021 for the northeast corner of 3rd and Spring and it may eventually morph into something larger. But as of mid-2023, the building is being offered for lease. The broker is Rob Galanti with L & R Group, the building's owner. He's at 310-702-3636.

 

The possibility of demolition of all the buildings on the south end of the block had emerged in 2016. Bianca Barragan's May 28 Curbed LA story "Here's What We Know About the Demolition..." discussed the issue. The building north of the Independent once was the home of the Crystal Theatre. Tenants were the nightclub The Smell at 247 and the New Jalisco bar at 245. The one-story building on the south end of the block dates from 1905 but it's been messed with a lot including getting its upper stories chopped off at some point. If these three buildings were demolished, it would leave the entire west side of the block cleared except for the Higgins building at 2nd & Main. 

 
After acquisitions in 2015 and 2016 everything on the west side of the 200 block (except for the Higgins) is now owned by the L & R Group of Companies, operators of Joe's Auto Parks and other ventures. They already operate two lots on the west side of the block. Other 2016 stories about the limbo of the block, largely focused on The Smell, not the theatre, are on Southern California Public Radio and LAist.

The Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live, and the Alamo Drafthouse at the Bloc are the only downtown Los Angeles theatres regularly running movies. 

Lobby views:

 

Looking out from the stair landing on the north side of the lobby. It's a photo that once appeared on the Downtown Independent website.

 

 

The view out the windows. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for her February 2022 photos that appear here. They're part of a ten photo set in a Facebook post. 

 

The stairs as seen from the front doors. That upper landing with the greenish glass is the stair to the roof, once used as a public space. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

A stair detail. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - Facebook - February 2022

 

 

The south side of the lobby. The event space / auditorium #2 is behind the metal curtain seen at the top of the image. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

A look in the south side of the lobby to the snackbar and inner lobby beyond. That's Vito, who was removing equipment from the building. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

A view back to the street. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

The inner lobby. The ladies room is out of the frame to the left, the men's room is behind the glass wall. The two 35mm Tokiwa projectors also had 16mm attachments that fit on the front. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

Peeking around the projectors toward the entrance to the auditorium. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

Looking out from the inner lobby. The auditorium entrance is behind us. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022 

 

The stair landing. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - Facebook - February 2022

 

The auditorium: 

 

A view from the back of the house that once appeared on the Downtown Independent website.

A c.2018 photo with the sidewall screens in a somewhat more colorful mode. Thanks to Ariel Schudson of the Independent for the photo.  

 

The stripped-out auditorium, silver screen still in place. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - Facebook - February 2022. Thanks, Michelle! 

 

 

Behind the screen looking to house left. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

 

Looking toward house right. The curtain motor is seen in the lower center of the image. The masking motor is up on the ledge beyond. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

A look to the rear. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

The electric service room, half way down the entrance vomitory. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

 

The top of the seating area. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

A last look at the waterfall curtain. It was pulled down shortly after the photo was taken. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

Upstairs:  

 

In the event space on the house left side of the second floor. It had occasionally been used as a second auditorium. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

The view toward Main St. from the event space. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

Looking toward the stairs. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

A peek into the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

An office on the house right side of the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

Looking toward house left in the upstairs corridor. The booth door is just out of the frame to the right. That door to the left at the far end goes to the event space. The auditorium entrance is to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

 

The stairs to the main floor. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2022

 

Thanks to Henry and Vito for their courtesy in allowing us to explore the building in February 2022. 

More exterior views:

early 20s - Looking north toward 2nd before the Arrow Theatre's construction. Note the nine single story storefronts in the middle. The first five were still there after the Arrow was built, the next two were demolished for the Arrow, two remained north of the Arrow. That lighter colored one without the awning most likely had been the location of the Crystal Theatre. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

c.1930 - Looking south toward the Arrow Theatre. The storefront this side of the Arrow had once been the home to the Crystal Theatre, 247 S. Main. It's a photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

c.1930 - A marquee detail. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

c.1937 - A photo by Herman Schultheis in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

1939 - A Dick Whittington studio view north from 3rd. This is the full image that the detail at the top of the page was taken from. That building on the corner is still around, now only a single story. The photo is in the USC Digital Library collection.

1939 - Another detail from the Dick Whittington photo. At this point they were advertising two Spanish language features plus a stage show for 15 cents -- despite the old price still being on the roof sign. 

1940 - A Pacific Electric streetcar hooked this guy's bumper and sent him driving into what was then called the Azteca. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the photo that was in the November 20 L.A. Times.

c.1954 - Looking north on Main from 3rd St. It's a photo in the California State Library collection. Their set also includes four other Main St. views.

 

c.1954 - A detail from the California State Library photo. In addition to the films on the program, the marquee advises that they were also offering a "Ginza Stage Show." 

 

1956 - The back end of the Linda Lea is seen on the right side of this Palmer Connor slide from the Huntington Library collection. The building on the left was the Workman Block at 230-234 S. Spring. There's a parking garage now on that site.

c.1960 - A photo by Ralph Crane for Life with the Linda Lea over on the right. It was shot in front of the Union Rescue Mission when it was still on the 200 block of Main. It's on Google/Life images. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Tourmaline for including this shot on Noirish post #35742. Many other Life photos are on the post, mostly about restaurants. At the bottom, however are several Main St. photos, mostly of crowds outside the Union Rescue Mission.

c.1970 - Looking south toward the theatre from 2nd St. On the right that's a look at the Higgins Building, pre-renovation. Many thanks to L.A. transit historian Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection.   

1983 - A photo from the now-vanished American Classic Images website.

c.1985 - A look at the theatre after closing taken by cinematographer and filmmaker Gary Graver. Thanks to Sean Graver for use of the photo. See many of the photos of dying theatres Gary took in the 80s in two compilations on YouTube: "Second Run - part 1" and "Second Run - part 2"  

1998 - Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor Socal09 for the photo. It appears on the site's page about the Linda Lea.

c.2001 - A facade view by Martin of Stuttgart, Germany that appeared on his now-vanished site You-Are-Here.com.

2002 - A view to the west. That's one of the L.A. Times buildings in the background and a sliver of the Higgins Building on the far right. Thanks to Dennis Walker for his photo.

2002 - A closer look at the marquee. Thanks to Dennis Walker for his photo. 

2005 - A signage detail. Thanks to Pete Woodhead for his photo on Flickr.

c.2005 - A look from a bit to the north from You-Are-Here.

2006 - A facade detail from Rex Fulcrum on Flickr. It looks like someone got up there and set the formerly dangling "D" back in place.

 

c.2006 - Looking north with the Higgins Building in the background. Photo: Ken McIntyre - Photos of Los Angeles Facebook group

 

2006 - "Your seats are waiting." It's a photo by Ed Fuentes. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for spotting it on Flickr.

2007 - A January view from Ken McIntyre on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

2007 - The theatre in February after the plastic facade had been peeled off. This original facade was later demolished. Thanks to Supra21v for the photo on Flickr.

2007 - Looking through the partially demolished Linda Lea. The roof structure from the 20s would be retained. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2007 - A look through toward Main St. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2007 - A street view after selective demolition. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2007 - New steel rising for the front of the building in July. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2007 - A July construction view from the south. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2008 - A boxoffice photo that once appeared on the now-vanished blog Love and Hate L.A.

2008 - Looking north across the facade. Photo: Love and Hate L.A.

 

2008 - The doors of the ImagineAsian Center. Photo: Love and Hate L.A.

 

2008 - Thanks to Daniel Rouse for this fine shot. He added it as a comment to a 2017 post about the theatre on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. It surfaced again in a 2021 post by Terrence Butcher on the Images and Memories of Los Angeles page.

2010 - The ImaginAsian logo was still on the top of the facade. Photo: Bill Counter

2019 - A late afternoon view. The building to the right, seen here with the club called The Smell and the Jalisco bar, was once the home of the Crystal Theatre. Photo: Bill Counter

 

2019 - A view from the north. 3rd St. is off to the left. Photo: Bill Counter

 

2022 - The facade of the doomed building. At the time of the photo seats were gone and other equipment was being removed. Photo: Bill Counter

 

2022 - The south side of the building. Photo: Bill Counter

 

2022 - In the alley looking north. Photo: Bill Counter

 

2022 - The view from the parking lot north of the two buildings. Photo: Bill Counter
 

The Linda Lea in the Movies:

 

About 50 minutes into "Black Belt Jones" (Warner Bros., 1974) we go for a drive on Main St. so Gloria Hendry can kick some sense into some henchmen of an associate of her late father. Here we see the marquee of the Follies Theatre, 337 S. Main, on the left and the Linda Lea Theatre in the distance. Jim Kelly stars as the title character in this Blaxploitation saga directed by Robert Clouse. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for two more Main St. shots including a fuzzy view of the Regent Theatre.

Vincent Perez (back from the dead) visits the Linda Lea in "The Crow: City of Angels" (Dimension Films, 1996). He's hunting down the men who killed him and his young son and hears that one of them is at the theatre. It's set up as a panoram venue with coin-in-the-slot booths to watch naked ladies. He finds his man and we get a fight in the lobby. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the lobby as well as a view of the north side of the Los Angeles and lots of action at the United Artists.   

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures pages on the Linda Lea and the Downtown Independent.

The other theatre using the Linda Lea name was at 324 E. 1st St., also known as the Fuji Kan. See that page here on this site for some photos and data.

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