Montrose Theatre

2226 Honolulu Ave. Montrose, CA  91020  | map |

Opened: October 16, 1924. The theatre was on the south side of the street a block west of Montrose Ave. The Historical Society of Crescenta Valley notes that it was "just a little west of the Glendale and Montrose Trolley stop at Verdugo Road, right next to the Montrose Hotel." The neighborhood is an unincorporated area north of Glendale.

In this 1924 photo the theatre is running "Monsieur Beaucaire," an August release with Rudolph Valentino and Bebe Daniels. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for finding the photo for a post on Cinema Treasures.

Architect: Carl Boller of the firm Boller Bros. According to research by J. Drayman, the theatre was a project of prominent Montrose developer Stephen M. Meyers, one of the first to invest in and promote commercial properties in the area. 

Seating: 543

An auditorium view. While without fly capability, the theatre did offer limited vaudeville programs along with the films. This postcard image from the Glendale Public Library appears on page 60 of the 2007 Arcadia Publishing book "Glendale" by Juliet M. Arroyo, Katherine Peters Yamada and George Ellison. The page with the image is included in the book's preview on Google Books. They note that the house was decorated in shades of blue and orange.

It's unknown who the original lessee was. We get partial, and seemingly conflicting, information in 1930 and 1931. In a 1930 story the L.A. Times noted that Joseph L. Carr was the proprietor. In 1931 the Times noted that the house had been managed by K.K. Marston for the previous five years. 

 

The July 20, 1930 issue of the Times carried this story about the demise of Carr:

 

"DEATH QUIZ ORDERED FOR THEATER OWNER - Coroner Nance yesterday ordered an autopsy on the body of Joseph L. Carr, 60 years of age, proprietor of the Montrose Theater in Montrose, who died late Friday under circumstances which led Sheriff's office investigators to believe he took his own life. Inability of the investigators to determine the method by which he came to his death resulted in the autopsy being ordered. 

 

"Carr was found on the floor of the washroom of the theater. An overturned tumbler was found in the washbowl and on the body a note addressed to Carr's wife, Mrs. Shirley M. Carr, in which the theater man blamed himself as a failure and gave directions regarding his body and the future conduct of his business."

J. Drayman notes that the 1930 U.S. Census data listed Carr as a "worker" at the theatre, not as the lessee, and gave his wife's name as Charlott, not Shirley.

An item in the March 24, 1931 issue of the Times noted that the theatre had been sold:

"MONTROSE THEATER SOLD - Montrose, March 23 - Announcement is made here of the sale of the Montrose Theater to B.G. Meyers, formerly of St. Cloud, Minn. The theater company heretofore has been a corporation and K.K. Marston has been a manager for the last five years. Meyers is son of M.P. Meyers [sic], pioneer property owner in the Montrose section."

 

J. Drayman comments that the Times item got the genealogy wrong:

 

"The reference to 'M. P. Meyers' being a prominent Montrose developer is incorrect. His name was Stephen M. Meyers, and he was indeed one of the first to invest in and promote Montrose commercial properties. I have no idea who 'M.P. Meyers' was, but it is clearly an error since the history of the town is quite well documented from that time period. Also, Stephen Meyers and his wife Sigrid had only one son. His name was Stephen F. E. Meyers and he passed away in 1931 at the age of 32 years. B.G. Meyers/Robert Meyers may have acquired the Montrose Theater and others, but he was not the son early Montrose pioneer investor Stephen M. Meyers."

Evidently B.G. Meyers sold the venue in 1950. Marianne McKee Arieli notes that from 1950 until 1957 the theatre was owned and operated by her parents, Hugh and Dorothy McKee. An anonymous commentator who worked in the theatre as a projectionist in the 1950s notes that it was later run by Joseph Hertzberg before being taken over by the Edwards circuit in the early 1960s.

In 1963 the theatre adopted a policy of running foreign films and other specialized product. Ron Strong reports that as the Montrose Art, managed by Charles Minor, it only lasted a couple of weeks. It was then back to the normal third-run bookings, and presumably then an operation of the Edwards circuit. 

Ron Strong comments that in 1967 Bob Meyers, perhaps a son of the B.G. Meyers who earlier had owned the theatre, took over operation of the Montrose. Presumably he was leasing from Jimmy Edwards. The Edwards chain at the time was focusing its energies on new construction and bigger venues. Bob Meyers also operated two theatres in Glendale: the Sands Theatre and the U.S. Cinema, the former Temple Theatre.  

Closing: The Montrose burned in 1987. The theatre was still owned by Jimmy Edwards. J. Drayman comments: 

"At the time of the fire, Edwards stated that he planned to rebuild the theater. This, of course, never happened. However, his ownership at that time was further documented when Stephen Meyers' grandson sold the former Montrose Hotel property, also developed by Meyers in the 1920s and immediately next door to the Montrose Theatre property. 

"The purchaser, and current owner of both the former hotel property and the former theater property, discovered during the transaction and litigation over the ownership of the two sites that the theatre property, which was by then a parking lot, belonged to Edwards and not Meyers' heirs."

A March 23, 1987 L.A. Times report that was located by Chris Thomas: 

"Fire Destroys Montrose Theater - The Montrose Theater in the Verdugo City [sic] area north of Glendale was destroyed today in a fire that broke out before dawn. Sixty-five firefighters battled the blaze about 90 minutes before they finally brought it under control at 6 a.m, authorities said. There were no injuries. Investigators were trying to determine what caused the fire in the 5,000-square-foot movie theater at 2226 Honolulu Ave."

An article in the March 24, 1987 issue of the Los Angeles Daily News that was located by Ken McIntyre noted:

"The Montrose Theater was destroyed by fire early Monday morning in what many longtime residents called a sad end to what had been an important part of the community for more than 60 years. The fire erupted at 4:22 a.m. in the stage area — a remnant of the days when the theater hosted live vaudeville shows as well as motion pictures, said John Orr, a fire investigator with the Glendale Fire Department." 

Mr. Orr was later convicted of a number of arson fires. It's unknown if he was responsible for the demise of the Montrose. In a post about the theatre on the Historical Society of Crescenta Valley Facebook page the post's author commented: 

"John Orr was the famous Glendale fire investigator turned arsonist. He often was the investigator of the very fires he started! Well, he was the investigator of the Montrose Theater fire. In recent years, many people, including me, came to the seemingly logical conclusion that the fire was started by Orr. However, I spoke to a local tradesman who had done some work on the theater. He said that the wiring of the theater was a fire waiting to happen. He said there were obvious burn marks from bad wiring. He said he warned the theater owner, but nothing was done. That was just before the fire. So really, it could have been either arson or electrical. I tend to think electrical makes more sense, so that's what I wrote."

Status: It's now a parking lot.

 

1960 - Thanks to Chris Thomas for this photo. It's one he added as a comment to a thread about the theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres Facebook page.

1961 - Thanks to Will Markham for this great December view looking west on Honolulu Ave. The theatre is in the shadows over on the left. The photo was a post on the page for the non-public Facebook group Mid Century Modern.

1963 - A holiday look west with the Montrose on the left running "55 Days at Peking" and "The Haunting." It's a photo appearing on page 42 of the Arcadia Publishing book "Glendale 1940-2000" by Juliet M. Arroyo. She credits the photo to the Special Collections Room at the Glendale Public Library. The page with the photo is included in the book's preview on Google Books.

1982 - A photo of the Montrose that appeared on the now-vanished American Classic Images website.

1987 - A newspaper article about the fire. Thanks to Ron Strong for locating it for the page about the Montrose on his site Bijou Memories.

1987 - A post-fire newspaper photo by Dale Hartman that appeared with this caption: "Tired firefighters rest outside the Montrose Theatre after putting out the fire that gutted the building, causing nearly a half million dollars in damages." Thanks to Mark Havlik for finding this one.

2019 - The site of the Montrose Theatre. Photo: Google Maps

More information: See Ron Strong's delightful page about the Montrose on his site Bijou Memories. Also see the Cinema Treasures page on the Montrose.

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