Nickel / Playo / Plaza Theatre

349 N. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 | map |

Opening: It opened in late 1906. It's in the 1907 city directory as the Nickel Theatre with a "C.B. Bockover" as manager. In other city directories he's listed as C.M. Bockoven, including the listing under the Bs in the 1907 directory. The theatre was across the street from the Baker Block, on the west side of Main between Temple St. and Arcadia St.

Seating: 250

It's listed as the Playo Theatre in the trade publication The Billboard for 1907, 1908 and 1909. See a Billboard 1908 list on Google Books. It's also listed in the 1907-1908 Henry's Western Theatrical Guide as the Playo Theatre. In both publications Southwest Amusement Co. is listed as the operator. Southwest was a partnership of William Clune and Charles Bockoven. See the Cameo Theatre page for a timeline of Clune's other theatrical adventures.

This was the 2nd storefront theatre for Southwest, according to Jan Olsson on page 123 of "Los Angeles Before Hollywood - Journalism and American Film Culture, 1905-1915." The book is available from Amazon or as a free pdf from the National Library of Sweden. Olsson notes that a permit for the theatre conversion was issued November 1, 1906.

It's listed in the 1908 city directory as the Plaza Theatre with Southwest as operators.

Closing: The date is unknown. The Plaza isn't in the 1909 city directory. The Southwest partnership was getting dissolved and many theatres were sold to other operators. Perhaps this one just closed. 

Status: The 300 block has been long gone. The site is about where Aliso St. now is is along the south edge of the 101.

 

The 349 N. Main building the Plaza Theatre was in shows just to the north (right) of the St. Elmo Hotel. But here in this detail from plate 003 of the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey from Historic Map Works there's no indication of a theatre tenant. That's Temple St. running vertically on the left of the Post Office and Main St. horizontally across the middle.

 

Looking north on Main toward the Plaza c.1932. The 349 N. Main Building where the Plaza had once been is the second building from the left with the Schireson Bros. as tenants, sellers of musical instruments and radios. The Teatro Hidalgo is about 2/3 of the way down the block. It's a photo by Anton Wagner from the California Historical Society collection.
 

Another c.1932 photo by Anton Wagner from the California Historical Society collection. Here the Schireson Bros., former location of the Plaza, is seen on the right. The Azteca Hotel was at 341 1/2 N. Main. Earlier, the hotel was called the La Fayette, the Cosmopolitan and the St. Elmo. 

 

A detail from the Wagner photo giving us a closer look at the building at 349 N. Main that had housed the theatre. 

Wagner took hundreds of photos of the L.A. area in 1932 and 1933 for a thesis topic having to do with the way the area's topology influenced the character of its inhabitants. The California Historical Society has collected over 400 of them for their album "Anton Wagner: Los Angeles 1932-33."

 

The Los Angeles Public Library has a view perhaps taken around 1890 with an earlier building on the site, at the time housing a book and stationary store.  

Looking southwest toward where the 300 block of N. Main and the Playo Theatre once were. It was gobbled up for construction of the 101. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

More information: Clune and Bockoven also operated another Nickel Theatre at 255 S. Main, later called the Union, the New York and the Western.

Several other theatres were calling themselves the Plaza at various times. See the downtown alphabetical / alternate name list for links to them.

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