Los Angeles Theatres: Dohs Theatre

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

Opening: 1911 or a bit earlier. It's unknown what the name of the theatre even was. All that is known is that the 1911 city directory had a listing under "moving picture theaters" for William Dohs at this address. In the 1910 directory 166 N. Main had been a restaurant.

David Ross gets the listing as proprietor in the 1912 directory under "moving picture theatres" and in the 1913 directory this address gets a listing for C.R. Walrod. In neither case do we get a hint of the theatre's name.

The theatre was in a storefront in the United States Hotel building on the southeast corner of Main and Market St. That block of Market was sometimes called Requena St. There had been earlier versions of the U.S. Hotel going back to around 1862. This last one, a three-story building, was constructed in 1874. The Temple Block was across the street to the west. Market St. vanished with redevelopment east of City Hall.

The U.S. Hotel building location is indicated in green in this detail from plate 003 of the 1914 Baist Real Estate Survey Map from Historic Map Works. That's Spring St. coming in at an angle on the left, a sliver of Los Angeles St. on the far right.

Closing: Evidently the theatre didn't work out too well for these guys. In the 1914 directory a George W. Yarrow has the premises. It was then evidently a combination billiards hall and barber shop.

Status: The hotel building the theatre was in was demolished in 1939.

c.1880 - A shot by an unknown photographer. That lower building on the far left was also part of the hotel. They advertised that they had entrances on three streets.

1993 - A fanciful drawing showing the hotel facade with twice its actual width. Thanks to the Pacific Coast Architecture Database for sharing this ad from the September 1893 issue of the Rural Californian on their page about the United States Hotel.

c.1930 - A view looking east with the U.S. Hotel in the lower center. To the left, across Market St., it's the Amestoy Block, a building that was constructed in 1887 and survived until 1958. The photo from the California Historical Society appears on the USC Digital Library website.

c.1935 - A photo from the collection of the California Historical Society collection appearing on the USC Digital Library website. The U.S. Hotel is in the center. Off to the left it's the Amestoy and the Roosevelt Theatre beyond, at 212 N. Main.

c.1938 - The theatre location in the U.S. Hotel had been that storefront on the right painted white. The entrance to the hotel, here using a 172 address, is seen in the center of the facade with double doors. Across Market St. is the Amestoy Block and the building the Roosevelt Theatre was in. It's a Dick Whittington Studio photo in the USC Digital Library collection. Also see a wider view looking north in the USC collection.

c.1938 - A view down Market St. from the USC Digital Library collection. That's the Amestoy on the left and the U.S. Hotel on the right. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Los Angeles Past for sharing this photo and others in a discussion about Market St. on his Noirish post #8884.

1939 - A Herald Examiner shot in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

1939 - Demolition underway in March. It's a photo in the Herald Examiner collection of the Los Angeles Public Library.

2019 - The theatre site. That's City Hall East on the left and, through the trees, Parker Center getting dismantled. Photo: Bill Counter

Los Angeles Theatres

Dohs Theatre

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