Federal Theatre

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

Opened: Sometime around 1913. It was on the northeast corner of Main and the now-vanished Commercial St. An equivalent location now is halfway between Temple and Aliso streets. The Baker Block was on the north end of the 300 block.

The 1913 city directory has a listing at 302 N. Main for H.G. Bailance under "motion picture theatres." As the Federal Theatre it's in the 1914 through 1917 city directories with the address as 300 N. Main. And in the 1917 directory it's only in the alphabetical section, not under "motion picture theatres." 

 

 

 

The building the Federal was located in is indicated in green across the street from the Post Office in this detail from Plate 003 of the 1914 Baist Real Estate Survey Map from Historic Map Works. Commercial St. was just to the south of the Federal's building. That's Main running vertically up the center of the image, Los Angeles St. on the right side.

That building in the upper left indicated as "Theatre" at 373 N. Main was the Teatro Hidalgo. There was also the Plaza/Playo Theatre at 349, just north of the St. Elmo hotel. Later, down in the 200 block, it was the Gay/Plaza Theatre at 224 N. Main, here seen as "Tract 313." The Roosevelt Theatre was at 212.

Closing: Well, 1917 might have been it. It's not in the 1918 city directory.

In the center of the image that's the building the Federal was once in. It's Main St. heading to the upper left, Commercial St. running horizontally. It's a detail from a much larger c.1930 photo from the California Historical Society that appears on the USC Digital Library website.  

In search of the Federal's location on the west side of Main St. We're looking north along main with Aliso St. and the 101 Freeway off to the left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019

More information: If, by any chance, you're looking for theatres that presented shows under the aegis of the WPA Federal Theatre project, look under Federal in the main alphabetical list.

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