| 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: Either 1919 or 1920. This location was at the head of the Pickering/Ocean Park Pier between Pier Ave. and Marine St., on the north side of the pier entrance. It was a remodeled version of a building that had been constructed several years earlier on the site of the Ocean Park Auditorium Building that had burned in 1912.
In this 1920 postcard view we're looking seaward on the Pickering Pier. Earlier it had been called the Fraser Pier but Ernest Pickering had bought it in
1919 and put his name on it. The Rosemary, on the right, is running "Civilian Clothes," a
September release with Thomas Meighan and Martha Mansfield. The card was
a find on eBay of the late Chrys Atwood for a post on the Venice, Ocean Park & Santa Monica Facebook page. Bill Gabel has a slightly different version of it on Cinema Treasures.
The building down there on the left with the roof sign is the Breakers
Cafe. Just beyond it is the theatre that was Rosemary location #3. It had been renamed the Rialto Theatre by mid-1920 and was later repurposed as a roller skating venue.
This new location is listed as the "New Rosemary Ocean Front Promenade sw cor Pier Ave." in the 1919-20 Santa Monica city directory. It's listed at the same address plus a listing as "2946 Ocean Park Promenade" in the 1923-24 directory. Raymond Amusement Co. was the proprietor of this and the three earlier Rosemary locations.
Seating: Unknown
The Rosemary location 4 with the octagonal roof structure is seen as "Vacant" at the top of this detail from image 29 of the 1918
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's in the Library of Congress
collection. At the time the map was done they hadn't yet renovated the building and moved in. The Rosemary operation was still out on the pier, seen here on the left with their location 3, indicated as "Moving Pictures." 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 Demise: The pier, its attractions, and the adjacent buildings on the west side of Ocean Front Promenade were destroyed by fire on January 6, 1924. West Coast Theatres swooped in and bought the assets of the Pickering and Lick companies and started a rebuild.
The new Rosemary location #5 reused what had been the entrance to the Dome Theatre but was a new building behind that. The new Dome Theatre was just north of where it had been, next to the new pier entrance. After the rebuild, the 2946 address was listed as a "Fun Palace" in the 1927 directory and the "Casino Gardens" in the 1930-31 directory. The piers were remodeled in 1958 to become Pacific Ocean Park. POP ran until 1967.
1913 - The Fraser pier getting rebuilt after the September 1912 fire. 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 building that ended up in the big lot in the foreground was later remodeled to become location #4 for the Rosemary. The stagehouse of the then-new Rosemary #3 is visible beyond the Breakers Cafe in this construction photo from the Huntington Library collection.
c.1915 - We're looking south on the Promenade with the building on the right the one that would be converted to become the Rosemary location #4. Just beyond, if you take a right, you're heading out onto the pier. This lovely card was a find on eBay by Chrys Atwood for a post on the Venice, Ocean Park & Santa Monica Facebook page.
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.
c.1920 - A fine view of the diorama above the entrance, an area that has the look of a former bandstand. Signage on the second floor window says "Raymond Amusement Co. Rosemary Theatre." Thanks to Fred E. Basten for the photo. It's one appearing on page 165 of his book "Santa Monica Bay - Paradise By The Sea" (General Publishing Group, Los Angeles, 1997; Hennessey and Ingalls, Santa Monica, 2001). It's available on Amazon.
1920 - Looking south toward the Dome Theatre, originally a dance hall. The structure with the elaborate roof and fancy facade (just left of the "Cafeteria" sign) is the Rosemary. Thanks to Jeffrey Stanton for the photo from his collection, one appearing on his terrific Venice History Site hosted on Westland.net. On his map of the Pickering / Lick Piers - 1922 the Rosemary location #3 out on the pier is shown as #18. This new Rosemary location #4 on the Promenade is shown as #5. The pre-1924 Dome Theatre appears as #21.
See his articles about the "Fraser / Pickering / Lick Piers 1913-1924," "Ocean Park Pier (1926-1956)" and "Movie Making in Venice and Ocean Park." Mr. Stanton is the author of "Venice California - Coney Island of the Pacific," available direct by check or money order for $59.57, including tax. He's at 12525 Allin St. Los Angeles 90066. His email: jeffreystanton@yahoo.com.
c.1920 - A fine view out on the pier with something by Cecil B. De Mille playing at the Rosemary. It's a card from the site Card Cow.
c.1920 - A detail of Rosemary #4 from the photo above.
c.1921 - 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 Rosemary location #4. Here it looks
like there's scaffolding up to add a stagehouse. In the middle it's the La Petite Theatre above the Promenade. The first building this side of the Promenade in the center 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, later renamed the Rialto.
1924 - A view south toward the Rosemary during the January 6 fire. That's the theatre's vertical, just beyond the "Ritz" sign. It's one of six fire photos featured on a post from the Santa Monica History Museum Facebook page.
1924 - A fire view taken slightly later that's had a bit of retouching. It's in the Herald Examiner Collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. That's the Rosemary ruins on the right. Thanks to Vince Packard for finding it in the collection. He spotted the bottom of the theatre's fallen vertical sign in the debris on the lower right.
1924 - A closer look at the sign at the pier entrance. It's one of six fire photos featured on a post from the Santa Monica History Museum Facebook page.
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
More Information: See the listings at the bottom of the Theatres Along the Coast survey page for some Ocean Park history references. The Rosemary history is intertwined with that of the Dome. See the pages on the Dome Theatre - location #1 and Dome Theatre - location #2.
Cinema Treasures has a Rosemary page that contains data and photos for both this location and the post-1924 spot.
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