Plaza Theatre

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

Opening: Sometime around 1925. It's listed in the 1925 city directory as the Gay Theatre. The location was in the middle of the block on the east side of the street between Market and Commercial. It was just a few doors north of the Roosevelt Theatre.

In the 1927, 1929 and 1930 city directories it's the Plaza Theatre.

Closing: 1930 might have been the end. It's not in the 1931 city directory. 

Status: It's been demolished. The site was about where the north side of Temple St. is now.

 

 

 

c.1890 - A drawing of the east side of the 200 block of North Main. The two-story building the Gay Theatre would later be housed in is just left of center, here with the First National Bank as tenant. The three-story structure in the center is the Lanfranco Building, a Curlett, Eisen & Cuthbertson design from 1888 with addresses 218-222. See a 1924 photo. Farther right is the building the Electric / Roosevelt Theatre would later go in, with an address of 212 N. Main. On the far right it's the Amestoy Block at the corner of Main and Requena, a street later renamed Market. Thanks to Joe Vogel for finding this in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

 

 

c.1890 - A detail from the LAPL drawing of the building that would later house the Gay Theatre. 

 

 

 

c.1926 - The new Bank of Italy building that replaced the Lanfranco. The permit for it was issued February 1, 1926. On the far left we get a sliver of the Gay Theatre. On the far right it's the Electric/Roosevelt. It's a California State Library photo. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Hoss C for locating it in the collection for his his Noirish post #33420 that also includes a 1955 demolition photo of the bank.

 

c.1926 - The Gay Theatre's entrance is on the left of this detail from the California State Library photo.

 

 

 

c.1926 - A closer look at the posters, apparently for "Argentine Love," an Alan Dwan film for Paramount starring Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez. It was a December 1924 release.  

On Main looking at the east side of the street in search of the Plaza Theatre site. Temple St. is just off to the right. The piece of art is called the Triforium. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

More information: Well, there isn't any.

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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