Opened: 1914 as Warner's Photoplay. It was on the south side of the street, a half block east of Fair Oaks Ave. In this fall 1914 photo they're running "Trixie Joins the Auto Club" starring vaudeville star (and budding screen actress) Trixie Friganza. The Auto Club of Southern California was involved in promoting the engagement. The photo from the Pasadena Museum of History appears on the website of the Pasadena Digital History Collaboration. It also makes an appearance on page 27 of "Pasadena, A Business History" by Patrick Conyers, Cedar Phillips and the Pasadena Museum of History (Arcadia Publishing, 2007). The page with the photo is included in the book's preview on Google Books.
The Pasadena Museum of History puts the opening date as August 3. Cinema Treasures researcher Joe Vogel lists August 13 as the opening, citing a Pasadena Star-News account the following day reporting that the theatre was packed for its debut. It's listed in the 1915-1916 city directory. The theatre was a project of Henry L. Warner, no relation to the more famous Warner Bros. In 1924 Warner opened Warner's Egyptian, a theatre later known as the Uptown.
Later this venue was known as the Pasadena Photoplay. Ken McIntyre found a January 12, 1927 L.A. Times article noting an explosion and fire at the theatre with the explosion blowing the theater’s metal front doors off of their hinges.
Architect: Unknown. It was a remodel of an existing building.
Seating: Unknown
Closing: It was still running in 1927 but had closed by 1930.
Status: The building it was in has been demolished. The current building on the site dates from 1930.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Pasadena Photoplay for research by Joe Vogel.
Henry Warner almost got a second downtown Pasadena theatre, a 1921 project that was to be called the Mission Theatre. You can read all about it in the 2013 Hometown Pasadena article by Sheryl Peters: "Mrs. Feynes and the Movies: The Mission Theater."
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