Opened: Sometime around 1912. It's in the 1912 city directory as the Novelty and kept that name until at least 1939. In 1915 it was listed as at 132. It was on the east side of the street between 1st and 2nd. Five features! "The Feud of the Trail" was a March 1937 release starring Tom Tyler and Harley Wood. "Phantom Patrol" came out in September 1936. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo taken for the Works Progress Administration.
Seating: It was listed in the 1926 Film Daily Yearbook as having 350 seats. Other numbers in various years range from 248 to 280.
It's listed in a "Paramount Week" ad that ran in the September 2, 1923 L.A. Times. In the 1942 city directory it's listed as the Chinese Theatre. It was also known as the Liberty in the 40's and running sex films.
This one's not to be confused with the earlier Liberty Theatre at 266 S. Main St. The Gayety Theatre, 523 S. Main, had opened as the Novelty in 1905.
An April 1942 L.A. Times ad for the theatre as the Liberty. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding it. Later in the 40's it was running Mexican films.
Closing: It evidently ran through the 50's. The closing date is unknown.
Status: The building has been demolished. The 100 S. Main Caltrans building is now on the site.
Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor BifRayRock for finding this Life magazine shot to include on his Noirish post #490450. "Law Beyond the Range" and "Men of the Hour" were 1935 releases.
A c.1937 look at the theatre by Herman Schultheis. It's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. "The Million Dollar Haul" was a 1935 release. "The Western Racketeer" with Bill Cody was out in 1934.
Thanks to Nathan Marsak for locating this fine 1946 shot taken when the theatre was running Spanish language product. He notes: "This was shot on February 5; which I know because there are other images from the same roll with newsstand headlines that peg it to that date."
We get a quick drive-by to check out the Liberty's new marquee 9:48 into nearly 11 minutes of 1950 footage intended for use as process shot
backgrounds in film or TV shows. A lovely colorized and remastered version is on YouTube
from NASS as "1950s - Views of Los Angeles in color..." The original footage is on Internet Archive as Pet 1067 R 4.
On Main St. we also get views of the Muse, Burbank, Optic, Gayety, Regent,
Follies and Hip theatres. 7th St. footage includes the Warner
and Loew's State.
The site of the Novelty on the east side of Main is now part of the Caltrans complex at 100 S. Main. 2nd St. is off to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page for a lively discussion. They list the theatre as the Liberty.
| back to top | Downtown: theatre district overview | Hill St. and farther west | Broadway theatres | Spring St. theatres | Main St. and farther east | downtown theatres by address | downtown theatres alphabetical list |
| Westside | Hollywood | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | [more] Los Angeles movie palaces | the main alphabetical list | theatre history resources | film and theatre tech resources | theatres in movies | LA Theatres on facebook | contact info | welcome and site navigation guide |
No comments:
Post a Comment