-- In the Ocean Park Auditorium Building, from about 1906 until sometime in 1909.
-- Across the street at 3015 Ocean Front Promenade, until the September 1912 pier fire.
-- In a new building that replaced the one lost in the fire, running until 1923.
Location #1
Auditorium Building, Ocean Front Promenade between Pier Ave. and Marine St.
Ocean Park (Santa Monica), CA 90405 | map - approximate |
The La Petite Theatre, a film house with limited vaudeville, moved into one
of the storefronts of the Ocean Park Auditorium Building sometime in 1906, the year of the building's opening. Here we're looking north along the building with the theatre's signage seen above a south storefront. It's a card that was located by the late Chrys Atwood. There's a copy of the card on the site Card Cow that has an October 1908 postmark.
It may have been the first of many small theatres that Southwest Amusement Co, used the name for. It's listed as the La Petite Theatre No. 1 in
the 1907-1908 Henry's Official Western Theatrical Guide.
It's on Google Books. Henry's gives an address of just "Ocean Front."
Mark Hanna is listed as manager, as he was for many of the Southwest locations. The capacity is listed as 150 and they
were running 10 shows a day. The same information appears in the
listings in the trade magazine The Billboard for 1906, 1907 and 1908. The 1908 Billboard list is on Google Books.
The Santa Monica Outlook of June 11, 1908 refers to the theatre as the
"La Petite in Ocean Park." In an ad in the October 30, 1908 Outlook. Bert Atwood is
listed as manager at the time. They were offering "Refined Vaudeville & Motion
Pictures." The program was changing 3 times a week and included four
reels of motion pictures, two illustrated songs and one act of
vaudeville. Admission was 10 cents with nightly shows at 7:15 and 8:15.
There was also a La Petite
in downtown Santa Monica as well as several in Los Angeles and other cities. Southwest Amusement was a firm operated
by Billy Clune and C.M. Bockoven. For a time Southwest was also operating the Family Theatre in the Casino Building, just north of the pier. By 1908 the company was being
dissolved and the various theatres were unloaded on other operators.
Clune was also involved in the the Starland Theatre, opening out on the pier in 1911. Head to the bottom of the page on downtown L.A.'s Cameo Theatre for more about Southwest Amusement.
The La Petite location is indicated as "Moving Pictures" in this map of the Auditorium Building, here called the Ocean Park Dancing Pavilion. It's a detail from plate 35 of the April 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map in the collection of the Library of Congress. That's a bit of the Casino building at the top of the image and Ocean Front promenade along the right.
Closing: Sometime in 1909. The space was evidently repurposed for retail use. Early in 1909 the La Petite management, then
under the direction of B. A. Wheelock, was already constructing a new
building across the street at 3015 Ocean Front Promenade.
c.1906 - Looking north along the Auditorium Building when the La Petite was a tenant. On the far right it's a bit of the Casino, a building that had opened in 1903. It's a card from the collection of Chrys Atwood.
c.1907 - A view south with the "La Petite 10¢ Theatre" signage on the building. That's the Venice Auditorium in the distance, out on the end of the Abbott Kinney Pier. Southern California Realty Co. was on the south corner with the La Petite in the next two bays. That space just to the left of the bandstand has signage saying "Home of the Post Card." It's a card in the USC Digital Library collection.
c.1908 - A view south a bit later. This copy of the card has a September 1909 postmark. In the lower right a shooting gallery is a new tenant in one of the storefronts. It's a card in the author's collection.
c.1908 - Another view south from the site Card Cow. Note that the Examiner has taken over the storefront to the right of the bandstand.
Location #2:
3015 Ocean Front Promenade Ocean Park (Santa Monica), CA 90405 | map - approximate |
This second La Petite location was certainly open before the end of
1909. The
December 24 issue of the Santa Monica Outlook ran an ad for the Pacific
Souvenir Co. in the Auditorium Building, saying they were "opposite La
Petite Theatre."
Architect: Evidently it was Alfred Rosenheim. Thanks to Joe Vogel for locating a January 25, 1909 article in the Santa Monica Outlook detailing the plans of B.A. Wheelock of the La Petit Theatre [sic] to engage Rosenheim to design a theatre in Ocean Park. Joe adds that the February 16, 1909 Outlook announced that a contract for the building had been let.
The
April 26, 1910 Santa Monica Outlook had an article about the attorney
for La Petite's Wheelock (and partner J.M. Boland) protesting against a frame
theatre building being constructed on the Marine St. Pier "within the
fire limits" and "being constructed without the necessary building
permit." The building they were protesting was the Starland Theatre, a project of Billy Clune's that opened on the pier in 1911 as part of the "Fraser's Million Dollar Pier" expansion project. Rosenheim was also the architect for that project. Boland ended up taking it over from Clune and then unloaded it on Globe Amusement. The timing of Globe's acquisition was unfortunate. The theatre burned after only 15 months of operation, within a month or less of Globe's takeover.
The La Petite is in the 1911 city directory at "Ocean Front
Promenade ne cor Marine." In the 1912 city directory Wheelock and Boland were listed as proprietors. In February, 1912 their
operation was sold to Messrs. Kramer and Stineman
who planned to erect a larger theatre on the site. Joe Vogel located a February 12, 1912 Venice
Vanguard article announcing the purchase.
The demise: If the new owners had embarked on a building project, the timing was unfortunate. Whatever theatre was there burned in
the September 3, 1912 pier fire. The September 4, 1912 Santa Monica Outlook
reported that the fire caused a $25,000 loss for the owners of the La
Petite. A new theatre was constructed on the site.
c.1910 - A trade magazine view. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for finding this one for a post on Cinema Treasures. Note no vertical sign on the corner of the building yet.
c.1910 - The La Petite is on the far right in this look north. Note the vertical sign letters protruding from the building. Here we can also see down the Promenade to where a carousel and the Dragon Gorge Scenic Railroad would soon be. It's a card appearing on the site Card Cow.
A monochrome version appears on page 117 of the 2008 Arcadia Publishing Postcard History Series book "Early Los Angeles County Attractions" by Cory & Sarah Stargel. The page with the photo is included in the preview on Google Books.
Location #3:
3015 Ocean Front Promenade Ocean Park (Santa Monica), CA 90405 | map - approximate |
Opening: 1913. The theatre got a new building after the September 1912 pier fire. It was at the same location as before, on the northeast corner of Ocean Front Promenade and Marine St. The theatre entrance was at the north end of the building with a drug store on the corner that survived for decades. The upper floors of the building were the Decatur Hotel, with an entrance around on the side at 107 Marine St. Before the fire the Decatur had been in a building a block farther south. In this card from the collection of the author we see the theatre entrance just beyond the drug store and Pier Ave. at the end of the block.
Architect: Unknown. Perhaps they hired Rosenheim again.
The
1913 Santa Monica city directory lists the La Petite as being on the Promenade
between Pier and Navy in the classified section under "theatres" and between Pier and Marine in the alphabetical section. At the time, E.D. Hostetter was president of the La Petite Theatre Co. with S.B. Kramer as secretary-treasurer, F.L. Stineman as vice-president and manager. One listing noted they were "opposite Ocean Park Pier."
A November 26, 1921 ad in the Venice Vanguard. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for posting it on Photos of Los Angeles.
The La Petite is still in the 1921-1922 city directory as well as being in the Film Daily Yearbook for both the 1921 and 1922
editions.
Closing: The
La Petite was around until 1923 when it was converted into a store. Joe Vogel found mention in a February 17, 1923 Venice Vanguard article noting the conversion. The
1923-24 city directory lists this address as "Hamberger's Art Shop" and
in 1927 as "O M Hamberger - ladies clothes."
c.1913 - A view east on Marine St. along the side of the new theatre and hotel building. It's from the site Card Cow. If you care to browse on the site: Ocean Park cards | Venice cards | More cards can be seen on the Penny Postcards from California site: Santa Monica and Ocean Park | Venice |
c.1915 - That white three story building on the left with the arch is the
post-1912 La Petite. There's a sign advertising a Mack
Sennett attraction hanging out from the building. Take a left beyond
the La Petite building and you're on Marine St. That Moorish looking
fantasia in the distance is the Ocean Park Bathhouse. And where's the
Dome dance hall, later to become the Dome Theatre? It would come along in 1916.
c.1915 - Another view south with the gleaming white La Petite building on the left. And here we get a bit more of the future Rosemary on the right. It's a card that once appeared on eBay.
1916 - Furs and a wagon to attract attention to the run of "God's Country and The Woman." Thanks to Suzanne O'Connell for sharing this photo on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. She noted that her grandfather, actor and director George Ansell Holt, was in the film and lived on 5th St. in Santa Monica.
Russell Potter commented: "Many of the extras in the film came from the Eskimo Village then operating at the Ocean Park pier in Santa Monica ... it was an exciting production, as the actors became snowbound and had to subsist upon crackers, prunes, and (according to one article) the boiled strings of one actor's violin!"
c.1921 - A lovely view north toward the La Petite building at Marine St. from the Santa Monica Public Library collection. The entrance toward the right end of the building was for the Decatur Hotel.
On the upper left note the sign for "Dome Dancing." The building, unseen here, opened in 1916 and was converted into the Dome Theatre in 1922. The vacant lot on the right is still seen to be vacant in photos of the September 1924 pier fire but they evidently had started work at the time on the Palace dance hall that would rise there.
c.1921 - A closer look at the La Petite, on the right. It's a Santa Monica Public Library photo. They credit both of these views to the Ansco Company, Binghampton, N.Y. Presumably they just did the processing or the images were printed on their paper.
c.1921 - An entrance detail from the Library's photo.
c.1921 - The La Petite is in the upper center. The Dome is over on the right and seaward of it on the new Lick Pier they're building the Zip roller coaster, which opened April 15, 1922. The Ocean Front Promenade is running horizontally across the top of the image with Pier Ave. down the left side. In the upper left, the building with the circular structure on the roof was the Rosemary location #4. Here it looks like there's scaffolding up to add a stagehouse.
In the upper center the first building this side of the Promenade is a billiards hall and bowling alley. Below it is the Breakers Cafe. And the next building out closer to us on the pier is the Rosemary location #3, by the time of the photo renamed the Rialto Theatre. It's a detail from a photo from the Ernest Marquez collection appearing on the Huntington Library website.
1925 - We get a bit of the Palace dance hall on the far right with the building that used to house the La Petite on the corner across Marine Ave., here seen with a Sunset Drug Co sign on the corner. The Dome's marquee is advertising Singer's Midgets and
Orpheum Vaudeville. The small oval readerboard is promoting the
Halloween Carnival on October 31st. Note the Dome's roof sign in the upper left
that was positioned to be visible from Marine Ave. It's a card that
once appeared on eBay.
1926 - Here the old Dome Theatre entrance is seen as repurposed for the new Rosemary Theatre. The big Dome in the distance is over the new entrance to the Ocean Park Pier. The new Dome Theatre location is actually this side of it. Thanks to Ken Roe for locating the photo. A smaller version of the image appears with Jeffrey Stanton's fine article "Ocean Park Pier 1926-1956."
2019 - A view southwest to where the intersection of Ocean Front Promenade and Marine St. once was. Photo: Google Maps.
More Information: The listings at the bottom of the Theatres Along the Coast survey page offer some Ocean Park history references.
See Joe Vogel's fine research on the theatre on the Cinema Treasures page about the La Petite.
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