Opened: Sometime around 1911. It's listed as the Plaza Theatre three times in the 1911 city directory. Under "theatres" it gets a 423 N. Main address. Under "moving picture theatres" it gets a 425 address with one also one there for the firm of Stern & Gore at 423. It was on the west side of the street between Commercial and Republic.
In the c.1924-25 photo we're looking at the Mareno Hotel building on the southwest corner of Main and Republic. The theatre entrance, here called the Teatro Principal is just beyond the second awning. The photo is part of a big collection of views taken when the city was spotting rats and trying to eradicate them to stop an outbreak of pneumonic plague. The photo is on Calisphere from the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for posting the photo as Noirish post #1419.
In the 1913, 14, 15 and 16 city directories it's the Plaza Theatre at 423 N. Main. 1913 also got it a listing as Gore and Monet.
The theatre entrance is shown as 421 in the Mareno Hotel building just south of Republic St. Off to the left (south) we get the Hidalgo at 473 opposite Arcadia St. and the Estella at 513-515 to the left of the church. It's a detail from plate 003 of the 1914 Baist Real Estate Survey from Historic Map Works.
In the 1922 city directory it's called the Metropolitan. In the 1923, 1926 and 1927 city directories it's the Principal. Main St. used to be called Calle Principal.
The Principal Theatre was listed in a September 2 "Paramount Week" ad in the L.A. Times but with the address as 223. It's unlikely there was ever a theatre at 223 as that address was at the very skinny north end of the Temple Block.
A 1928 news report from Ken McIntyre: "In July 1928, the manager was Jose Ibanez and the projectionist was Guin Milton. On 7/10/28, a fire broke out in the projection booth. Mr. Milton tossed his pet dog out the window to the street below before making his escape, leaving about 6000 feet of flim to burn into ashes."
A January 9, 1929 flyer from the collection of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, City of Industry. Their collection is at the USC Library.
The January 10, 1929 program at the Principal from the collection of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum Collection at USC. The flyers appear on a post on the Boyle Heights Historical Society's Boyle Heights History Blog about early Spanish language theatres. The post notes that at the time the theatre's proprietor was Dionisio Acosta, while the artistic director was Hilario Altamirano and the concert master was José de Léon Paniagua. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for spotting the post.
The two flyers also appear with "Broadsides Reveal L.A.'s Once-Booming Hispanic Vaudeville Scene," a 2020 KCET article by Afroxander. Thanks to Joe Vogel for locating the article.
Closing: Perhaps sometime around 1930. It's not in the 1932 city directory. According to the site Urban Diachrony, the building was demolished in 1950.
A 1930s view looking north toward Republic St. The photo comes from a post on the site Urban Diachrony. They comment: "While detailed records about the lost structures in this view are scarce, it seems that the light-colored buildings with second-floor bay windows were completed before the mid-1880s, while the larger building to the left was built in 1886. For the duration of their existence,
all were taken up by a single hotel, successively known as the Hotel Oxford, the Hoffman House, and the El Jalisco Hotel." Another name for the list: in the mid-20s the hotel was running as the Mareno.
In the photo the hotel is called the Jalisco (at 419 1/2 N. Main) and the theatre space has been repurposed. What had been the theatre entrance was the storefront just beyond the hotel's vertical sign. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for spotting the photo for Noirish post # 54274.
The site of the Principal. Republic Street would have been that driveway to the left of the Brunswig building. The theatre entrance was about where the parking lot entrance on the left now is. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019
A 1930s view looking north toward Republic St. The photo comes from a post on the site Urban Diachrony. They comment: "While detailed records about the lost structures in this view are scarce, it seems that the light-colored buildings with second-floor bay windows were completed before the mid-1880s, while the larger building to the left was built in 1886. For the duration of their existence,
all were taken up by a single hotel, successively known as the Hotel Oxford, the Hoffman House, and the El Jalisco Hotel." Another name for the list: in the mid-20s the hotel was running as the Mareno.
In the photo the hotel is called the Jalisco (at 419 1/2 N. Main) and the theatre space has been repurposed. What had been the theatre entrance was the storefront just beyond the hotel's vertical sign. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for spotting the photo for Noirish post # 54274.
The site of the Principal. Republic Street would have been that driveway to the left of the Brunswig building. The theatre entrance was about where the parking lot entrance on the left now is. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Principal Theatre for more speculations by Joe Vogel.
Also see the mention of the Principal and other venues offering Spanish language films and legit productions in "Handbook of Hispanic Cultures" on Google Books. It mentions the prime years for this theatre as from 1921 to 1929.
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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