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Happy Hour Theatre

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

Opened: Sometime around 1906. In the alphabetical section of the 1906 and 1907 city directories Thos. W. Johns is listed as running an "amusements" business at this address. The location was on the west side of the street between 1st and 2nd, just a couple doors north of Mott's Hall. The Grand Opera House and the Novelty/Liberty Theatre were across the street at 110 and 136.  
 

125 S. Main is shown as an arcade with "Automatic Slot Machines" in this detail from Image 10 of Volume 2 of the 1906 Sanborn Real Estate Map that's in the Library of Congress collection. Frequently that "slot machines" designation meant peep show machines manufactured by Mutoscope, Edison and others.


"Where To Go Tonight." The "Original Penny Arcade" was included in this September 1907 column of ads from the Los Angeles Record. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

One would guess they had made a transition to being an actual theatre by this point with their copy saying: "And motion picture theater. Best pictures in town. 5c."

The other advertisers: The Royal Theatre was at 246 S. Broadway. "Automatic Vaudeville" at 434 S. Spring was evidently the theatre later known as the Edison. The Theatorium at 444 S. Main was just north of the location of the current Regent Theatre. The Scenic Theatre was, as the ad says, at 522 S. Spring. The business at 258 S. Main offering "all the latest songs and moving pictures, 1c" was Kingsley, Moles & Collins Co. They were mostly a printing and stationery firm and it appears that they added some peep show machines.

In the 1908 city directory under "theatres" the proprietor is listed as T.W. Johns. In 1909 he's under "moving pictures and machines." The 1910 and 1911 listings are as the Happy Hour Theatre. In 1912 the listing is for Johns again. The 1913 and 1914 listings are for it as the Happy Hour.

Closing: 1914 might have been it for Johns and the Happy Hour. The theatre isn't listed in the 1915 and 1916 city directories. 

Status: Whatever the building was, it's long gone. The Los Angeles Police Department headquarters building now occupies the whole block.


The west side of the block with the LAPD building on it. On the left that's the Higgins Building at 2nd and Main. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

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