Opened: 1888. It was a project of Donald M. Graham and Richard J. Mohr and also known as the Graham and Mohr Opera House. The theatre space was on the 2nd floor of the building with retail below. The building, also known as the Graham and Mohr Block, was on the south side of the street between Glendon Way and Meridian Ave. Center St. was renamed El Centro in 1908.
That's the South Pasadena Post Office on the right in this postcard view from the South Pasadena Public Library. It's on the Online Archive of California website courtesy of Norma LeValley and Gilbert Hershberger AIA. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for finding the photo to include in his Noirish post # 44135.
The building probably didn't see a lot of action as a theatre. The city council had a room there in the late 1880s. In 1889 the South Pasadena Citizen began printing in the building. Also in 1889 the South Pasadena Public Library opened in one of the storefronts.
A 1900 view from the South Pasadena Public Library on Flickr. Note the Library in the center storefront.
In 1905 the the building became home to the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge #367. Wally Nieber comments:
"When the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge occupied the building it was known
as #367. The lodge became #290 with the merger of Fellowship Lodge
into South Pasadena Lodge in 1992. The lower lodge number is always used
when lodges merge."
This c.1906 photo is on Flickr from the South Pasadena Public Library. The sign on the side of the building says "Hand Weaving."
Status: The Opera House Building was demolished in 1939.
The Opera House in the Movies:
The Opera House is across the street from the train station as Pat O'Brien summons a cab in "College Coach" (Warner Bros., 1933). He's been
hired by cash-strapped Calvert College to develop a football team that
will sell tickets and ease the school's financial difficulties. On the train were his wife, Ann Dvorak, as well as Lyle Talbot, one of his new players.
Thanks
to Colleen Connell for identifying the location of this scene and
recognizing the Opera House. She's an archivist with the South Pasadena Preservation Foundation. The film also features Dick Powell, Arthur Byron, Hugh Herbert, Donald
Meek and Berton Churchill. William A. Wellman directed. The
cinematography was by Arthur L. Todd. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for seven more shots from the scene.
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When the South Pasadena Masonic Lodge occupied the building it was known as #367....the lodge became #290 with the merger of Fellowship Lodge into South Pasadena Lodge in 1992. The lower lodge number is always used when lodges merge.
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