Opened: June 3, 1907. It isn't yet known where along Windward the theatre was located. The Unique didn't get a listing in the 1907 Santa Monica/Venice city directory.
The Santa Monica Outlook for June 3 announced that the formal opening of the Unique would be that night. The show was to feature Jolly Zeb and his company of vaudeville artists along with Marie Stuart Dobb "musical artist" and Miss Evelyn Ellsworth, a singer from the Unique Theatre in Portland, Oregon. Along with the live show there were to be "moving pictures by the Uniqueograph."
Later in the 1907 season, the Unique was advertising Orpheum Circuit vaudeville acts -- "A Dollar Show for Ten Cents."
The big opening for the "Venice of America" resort had been in the summer of 1905, although many of the buildings along Windward Ave. weren't ready for the opening.
Closing: Unknown
More Information: Sorry, there isn't any yet. It's unknown if there was any connection but at this time there was also a Unique Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, that one operated by Flora E. Hentz and John U. Zallee.
A few photos of Windward Avenue:
[ ...and, no, none of these help locate where on the street the Unique Theatre was.]
1905 - Venice of America opening in July 1905 with much of the construction incomplete. We're looking at the southwest corner of Windward and Trolleyway (later renamed Pacific Ave.). It's a California Historical Society photo on the USC Digital Library website.
1905 - The St. Mark's Hotel on the northeast corner of Windward and Ocean Front Walk -- which looks still unfinished. Off to the right is the Windward Hotel. It's a California Historical Society photo appearing on the USC Digital Library website. It's also on the Huntington Library website where they credit it to C.C. Pierce.
1905 - Looking east in the colonnade of the St. Mark's Hotel. Note the unfinished buildings across the street on the south side of Windward. It's a California Historical Society photo on the USC Digital Library website.
c.1907 - The view west on Windward from the lagoon. The streetcar is on Trolleyway, later renamed Pacific Ave. The structure at the end of Windward with the peaked roof is the tower adjacent to the bandstand. It's a photo by Graham Photo Co. from the Ernest Marquez collection that appears on the Huntington Library website.
c.1910 - A lovely view looking along the colonnade of the Ocean Front Walk side of the St. Mark's Hotel toward Windward Ave. On the right it's the tower of the bandstand and the Thompson Scenic Railway. The photo is on the Huntington Library website from the Ernest Marquez collection. The coaster went up in 1910 and was dismantled in 1919. The California Theatre opened on the site in 1920.
1913 - Looking east toward the lagoon. It's a photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
1914 - A view toward the pier taken by G. Haven Bishop for Southern California Edison. It's in the Huntington Library collection. Also see another similar 1914 view by Bishop.
c.1915 - A view toward Trolleyway taken by M. de Haaf. It's in the Examiner Photographs Collection and appears on the USC Digital Library website.
c.1920 - A view west from Trollyway. It's a California Historical Society photo appearing on the USC Digital library website.
1929 - A view east toward Pacific Ave. from an engineering notebook of the Automobile Club of Southern California. The photo is on the USC Digital Library website.
1937 - A view from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
1939 - Looking toward the Pier. It's a Dick Whittington Studio photo appearing on the USC Digital Library website. The USC Library has over 700 Venice photos online if you care to go browsing.
1957 - The north side of Windward with St. Mark's Hotel on the left at the corner of Windward and Ocean Front Walk. It's a photo from Ron Acosta that appeared in a wonderful set of 52 photos titled "Trams Through The Years" on the Facebook page Venice, Ocean Park and Santa Monica.
2019 - A look up Windward Ave. from Ocean Front Walk. St. Mark's Hotel was once on the corner at the left edge of the image. Photo: Bill Counter
2019 - And, as long as we're here and the sun is out: a view from Pacific Ave. back down Windward to the beach. Photo: Bill Counter
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