Los Angeles Theatres: Rosemary Theatre: location #3 / RialtoTheatre

6 Ocean Park Pier 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: The rebuilt Fraser pier and new location of the Rosemary Theatre opened May 30, 1913. The previous structure and all its attractions, plus most of the Ocean Park business district, had burned in a September 3, 1912 fire. The new theatre was halfway out on the Fraser pier, just beyond the Breakers Restaurant.

In this card looking north the theatre is seen on the far left out on the newly reopened pier. The entrance faced in toward the midway down the center of the pier and here we see the south-facing back wall of the stagehouse. It was a different orientation but approximately in the same location as the Starland Theatre that had burned. The card was a find of the late Chrys Atwood for a post on the Venice, Ocean Park and Santa Monica Facebook page.

The Santa Monica Outlook for June 23, 1913 had this item:

"AT THE ROSEMARY - The New Rosemary Theater at Ocean Park is doing a 'land office' business; the Rosemary is most commodious, well managed and presents a fine program of up to date pictures together with refined vaudeville; the ladies' orchestra is also an attractive feature."

A June 1914 ad located by Ken McIntyre.

The Rosemary is listed as "Ocean Park Pier" in the 1913-14 city directory and as "6 Ocean Park Pier" in the 1915-16 city directory. The Raymond Amusement Company's listings also show the same addresses in these two directories. The was another pier fire in 1915 but the Rosemary escaped destruction. Buildings farther out on the pier were not so lucky.

A 1917 Venice Vanguard ad located by Ken McIntyre for a Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group post. "The Wharf Rat" was a December 1916 release.

In the 1917 Santa Monica city directory the officers of Raymond Amusement were listed as LeRoy Raymond as president, C.H. Raymond as vice-president, H.H. Raymond as secretary-treasurer, Jas Sams as general manager. The address in that edition was Ocean Park Pier. In the 1918 directory the theatre again was listed as being on Ocean Park Pier.

The Rosemary is indicated on the left as "Moving Pictures" in this detail from image 29 of the 1918 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Santa Monica that's in the Library of Congress collection. The large building at the top with the octagonal roof structure would soon become Rosemary location 4. At the bottom of the image is a bit of the Dome, at this point still a dance hall. It would be converted into a theatre in 1922. That site (but not that building) would be Rosemary location 5 after 1924.

The pier became known as the Pickering Pier with a July 2, 1919 purchase by Ernest Pickering. He did a big expansion in 1920. The pier soon got some company to the south. The Dome dance hall on the Promenade south of the pier had opened in 1916 and in 1921 Charles Lick, Austin McFadden and George Leihy built a new pier behind it that was known as Lick Pier.

In 1919 or 1920 the Rosemary moved on to a new location on Ocean Front Promenade, just north of the entrance to the pier. Their old building on the pier became the Rialto Theatre and then was repurposed as a roller skating venue.

Thanks to Jeffrey Stanton for this map of the Pickering / Lick Piers - 1923 appearing on Westland.net. The Rosemary/Rialto location out on the pier is #18, a venue he identifies as the Strand Theatre. By the time of the drawing, the Rosemary had moved to their new location on the Ocean Front Promenade. Stanton shows that one as #5. Stanton also has a fine article about the Fraser / Pickering / Lick Piers 1913-1924, part of his fine Venice History Site. He's the author of "Venice California - Coney Island of the Pacific."

More exterior views:
[ Sorry, no interior photos have surfaced. ]

1913 - The stagehouse of the new Rosemary is visible beyond the Breakers Cafe in this construction photo from the Huntington Library collection. Fraser was having a property dispute with the City of Santa Monica so he had to build his new pier farther out from Ocean Front Promenade than he desired. Eventually that was resolved and he constructed new buildings on either side of the pier entrance. The big lot in the foreground got a building that was later remodeled to become Rosemary location #4.

1913 - A detail from the Huntington Library photo. Note the ladder going up to the stagehouse roof.

c.1913 - A bit better view of the theatre's facade beyond the Breakers Cafe. Perhaps this was the pier's grand opening. Thanks to Sharrye Hagins for sharing this card on the Lost Angeles Facebook page.

c.1914 - The Rosemary is on the far left in this view looking seaward on the pier. Or perhaps it has already become the Rialto by the time of this image. It's from the site Card Cow. There are also versions of the card with Jeffrey Stanton's "Fraser / Pickering / Lick Piers (1913-1924" article and in the Santa Monica Public Library collection.

c.1914 - "Three Typical Surf Bathers." It's a card Chrys Atwood found on eBay for a post on the Venice, Ocean Park & Santa Monica Facebook page.

1915 - A photo taken in the summer of that year from the collection of Alexander Dana, one taken by his great grandmother. He notes that not long after the photo was taken much of the seaward end of the pier burned, including part of the roller coaster, the Ben-Hur. The Rosemary was spared. The photo was a post on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. Thanks, Alexander!

c.1915 - Thanks to Michael Hayashi for sharing this one on Facebook, a post that later vanished. One comment was that the guy's actually out of his jurisdiction. The beach this side of the pier was in Venice.

c.1920 - A lovely view from the Venice Historical Society that appeared as a post on the Santa Monica Conservancy Facebook page. The former Rosemary, just right of center, here has signage on the stagehouse saying "Pickering Pleasure Pier - Rialto Theatre." The Dome, seen on the right, didn't get converted into a theatre until 1922. The circular Rosemary building #4 is seen beyond the Dome.

c.1920 - A detail from the photo above.

c.1921 - The Ocean Front Promenade is running horizontally across the top of the image with Pier Ave. along the left side of the image. In the middle, the first building this side of Ocean Front is a billiards hall and bowling alley. Below it is the Breakers Cafe. And just out closer to us on the pier is the Rosemary Theatre location #3, by this time renamed the Rialto Theatre.

To the left of the bowling alley, the building with the circular structure on the roof was Rosemary location #4. Here it looks like there's scaffolding up to add a stagehouse. In the upper right, hard to miss, is the dance hall that would become the Dome Theatre. On the seaward side of it on the new Lick Pier they're building the Zip roller coaster, which would open April 15, 1922. It's a detail from a photo from the Ernest Marquez collection appearing on the Huntington Library website.

c.1922 - The theatre repurposed as a roller skating venue. We're looking out toward the end of the pier. The building on the extreme left is the Breakers Cafe. The card is from the Card Cow collection. If you'd care to go browsing the site: Ocean Park | Venice | More cards can be found on the Penny Postcards from California site: Santa Monica and Ocean Park | Venice |

1924 - A spectacular fire view. Thanks to Jeffrey Stanton for the photo. It's one that appears with "Fraser / Pickering / Lick Piers 1913-1924," his article that's part of his terrific Venice History Site.

1924 - A photo of the ruins taken in May after much of the debris had been cleared. On the left it's the Ocean Park Municipal Auditorium. In the lower center we have the ruins of the Big Dipper coaster. On the right it's the Bon Ton Ballroom. It's a detail from a photo in the Ernest Marquez collection that appears on the Huntington Library website.

2019 - Looking out to where the pier once was. Behind us it's all condos. There's no more Ocean Park business district unless you go several blocks east to Neilson Way/Pacific Ave. or Main St. Photo: Google Maps

The Rosemary in the Movies:

We get the Rosemary in the background of this shot from "They Were On Their Honeymoon" (Nestor, 1915). The film stars Eddie Lyons, Lee Moran and Victoria Forde. Lyons directed. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

Stan Laurel stars in "Just Rambling Along" (Hal Roach/Pathé, 1918), a one-reeler filmed on and around the pier. Here near the beginning we get a view looking north toward the stagehouse of the Rosemary. The film can be seen on YouTube.

The Harold Lloyd two-reeler "Number, Please?" (Hal Roach/Pathé) was released in December 1920. Here in this shot near the end of the film we're looking north toward the theatre, which has been renamed the Rialto. The Rosemary operation had moved to a new location on Ocean Front Promenade just north of the Pier entrance. By this time the pier was called the Pickering Pleasure Pier.

The film gives us a delightful intercut mix of great amusement-area views from Venice, Ocean Park and The Pike at Long Beach. See the Historic L.A. Theatres In Movies post for another Ocean Park shot as well as views of the Strand in Long Beach and the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium.

More Information: See the listings at the bottom of the Theatres Along the Coast survey page for some additional Ocean Park history references.

Los Angeles Theatres

Rosemary Theatre: location #3 / RialtoTheatre

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