Trolleyway between Pier Ave. & Kinney St. Ocean Park (Santa Monica), CA 90405
| map - approximate |
There were five different locations for the Rosemary, all within several blocks:
Rosemary #1: Ocean Front Promenade north of Pier Ave. - c.1910 - 1912
Rosemary #2: Trolleyway between Kinney St. and Pier Ave. - 1912 - 1913
Rosemary #3: 6 Ocean Park Pier - 1913 - c.1919
Rosemary #4: 2946 Ocean Front Promenade - c.1919 - 1924
Rosemary #5: 3034 Ocean Front Promenade - 1924 - 1969
Opening: It's unknown exactly when this second location of the Rosemary Theatre got running. The earlier location on Ocean Front Promenade had burned in the September 3, 1912 pier fire. This section of Trolleyway was later renamed Neilson Way. South of Marine St., beyond the Santa Monica city limits, it became Pacific Ave.
The September 17, 1912 Santa Monica Outlook had a report:
"NEW THEATER FOR SOUTH SIDE PLACE - Charles Sams and the Raymond Brothers are reported as announcing that they would erect a modern semi-fireproof theater building on the new 'boardwalk' on Trolleyway next to the Revolving Cage Grotto, work to begin immediately. The new theatre which will be called the Rosemary, will have a frontage of fifty feet and a depth of 100 feet. It will have a seating capacity of 600 persons, and will be a permanent structure and an ornament to the new amusement district. Only first class motion pictures and good vaudeville sketches will be seen in this playhouse, which will be the first one in Ocean Park since the fire."
The Rosemary again gets a mention in the January 21, 1913 paper about its shows and on April 4, 1913 about a benefit for flood victims.
Closing: This location closed when the Rosemary Theatre management moved out to their new building on the Fraser Pier. The rebuilt pier reopened on May 30, 1913.
In the 1913 Santa Monica city directory published by the Los Angeles Directory Co. both the new location on the pier as well as this one are listed. They identify this one on Trolleyway as the Old Rosemary with an address between Pier and Kinney. That directory also lists the New Grotto Cafe as being between Pier and Kinney.
Status: It's not known what later happened to this structure.
The east side of the block between Kinney and Pier is occupied by a vintage building housing the Enterprise Fish Co. as well as a small two-story office and retail building at Neilson and Pier. The west side of the block has been redeveloped and is now the site of the Sea Colony Condo project.
Looking north on Trolleyway, now called Neilson Way, toward Kinney St. The Rosemary's second location was somewhere on this block. It's condos on the west side, with Barnard Way and the beach beyond. The vintage building on the right is at the corner of Neilson and Pier Ave. Farther up the block, the brick building is the Enterprise Fish Co. Photo: Google Maps - 2017
The view south on Neilson toward Pier Ave. Take a left on Kinney St. as this car is doing and go east one block and you hit Main St. Photo: Google Maps - 2019
More Information: So far there isn't anything more known about this second Rosemary location. See the listings at the bottom of the Theatres Along the Coast survey page for some Ocean Park history sources.
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