Los Angeles Theatres: Star Theatre

151 Ocean Park Pier Ocean Park (Santa Monica), CA 90405 | map - approximate |

Operating dates: It's listed in the 1947-48 Santa Monica city directory with Sidney Cheldin as the operator. That's all the data so far. It's not in the 1938 or 1940 directories.

We get a fuzzy glimpse of the Star Theatre out on the pier in Norman Foster's "Woman on the Run" with Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe (Universal-International, 1950). It's set in San Francisco and we're pretending it's Playland at the Beach but we're really in Ocean Park. We also get a view of the Dome Theatre. See the Historic L.A. Theatres In Movies post for that shot.

The Star's location on the pier hasn't been determined. David Doherty noted the Joe E. Brown head on the right of the shot above. He comments: "'Woman on the Run' is a great movie! I think the giant Joe E. Brown head was located at the 'Fun In Movieland' attraction that was on the north side about half way down the midway."

Thanks to David for sharing this photo of Joe's head. The photo and David's comments appear as part of a post on the Venice, Ocean Park & Santa Monica Facebook page.

Closing: The Star may have been a short-lived attraction. In any case it wouldn't have been running beyond 1957 when the pier was shut down to get turned into Pacific Ocean Park.

Another Playhouse on the pier:

This building, on the south side of the pier out just beyond the stage end of the Dome Theatre, had many lives. The assumption at this point is that this location isn't the Star Theatre we see in "Woman on the Run."

c.1930 - The building's location just behind the Dome Theatre is indicated in this photo by Adelbert Bartlett in the Santa Monica Public Library collection. On the left it's a performer up on the roller coaster with a view behind him toward the entrance dome of the pier.

1940s? - The Playhouse building as a penny arcade. Thanks to David Doherty for the photo. In a post about the building on the Venice, Ocean Park & Santa Monica Facebook page David commented: "This building was a playhouse / arcade at one point, before it was the 'Life' show, as well as 'The Bug House' maze. During the POP era both spaces were turned into the Hall of Mirrors or 'Pirate Maze.'" Jack Amsell added that he thought at one time it had also been the Shamrock Bingo Parlor.

1950 - Mickey Rooney strolls down the pier in this shot from Irving Pichel's "Quicksand" (United Artists). We're looking east toward the Promenade with the dome over the the pier's entrance seen on the left. On the right the marquee of The Playhouse is seen two doors beyond The Whip. That's the side of the Dome Theatre with the stagehouse rising up at the center of the image.

c.1950 - Looking onto the pier from under the entrance dome. Thanks to David Doherty for the photo, added as a comment to a post on the Venice, Santa Monica and Ocean Park Facebook page. He comments: "Here is a view looking through it from the days when it was Ocean Park Pier. The room above it was the office of the owner, Jack Morehart, and he loved to watch the people come and go." The building above the entrance also housed the Dome Hotel. The Playhouse is the second building down on the left. The yellow sign for The Whip is just beyond.

1957 - "This show is not for junior." That's the stagehouse of the Dome Theatre rising up in the center of the photo. It's a photo in the Herald Examiner collection at the Los Angeles Public Library.

1958 - Looking toward the "International Promenade" and the exit under the dome from Pacific Ocean Park. On the right in the foreground the Playhouse building had become the Mirror Maze. Just beyond, also on the right, is the side of the Dome Theatre, repurposed as the Magic Carpet ride. The photo appeared on a 2009 Gorillas Don't Blog post titled "Pacific Ocean Park Monday."

David Doherty comments: "This is 1958 when the park first opened. The whole place had a different color scheme. The Dome and a lot of the park were repainted prior to the 1959 season." The base of the dome was white in the 1959 color scheme.

c.1961 - A better view of the buildings during the POP era. Thanks to David Doherty for the photo.

1961 - The back of the Dome Theatre's stagehouse is on the left and a bit of the remodeled Playhouse building is on the right. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo.

1970 - The Playhouse and its neighbor building are the ones we see in the lower left with the stripes on the upper part of the facade. In the lower left it's the foundation of what had been the Dome Theatre. This view was taken the day after the May 27, 1970 Aragon Ballroom fire. It was one in a series of fires in the ruins between late 1969 and the summer of 1974. The photo, from Bill Dahlquist and Don Nash of the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society, appears in a 16 photo "Pacific Ocean Park Pier Fire" album on Flickr.

Looking out to where the pier once was. Photo: Google Maps - 2019

Los Angeles Theatres

Star Theatre

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