Opening: The theatre was running by 1914 as the Lyceum Theatre. It's in the 1914-15 Watts city directory with a 225 W. Main address. It was on the north side of the street west of the tracks in the block between Villa Ave. (the present Grandee Ave.) and Compton Ave. At the time, the tracks were for Pacific Electric. Main St. in Watts was renamed E. 103rd St. in the early 1920s.
Seating: 669 was the capacity listed much later in the theatre's life.
By 1919 it's become the Yeager Theatre. The 1919 Watts city directory lists both the theatre and the Yeager Building at the address. James H. Price was the theatre's proprietor at the time.
In 1921 Mr. Yeager was already planning to build a new one. The Los Angeles Public Library's California Index includes this item from the August 26, 1921 issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor: "Mr. Yeager, proprietor of the Yeager Theatre, has purchased a site west of the present theater and will erect a new building to cost $25,000."
Presumably this didn't happen. Although the listings-by-address in the 1921 Watts directory lists the Yeager at 221 W. Main (which would have been to the east of the original building, not west), the alphabetical listings still had it at 225. It's still at 225 in the 1922-23 directory.
An early 1923 column of ads in the L.A. Times included the Yaeger. It was a find by Ken McIntyre. The theatre got an organ installed in 1925 according to a comment on the Cinema Treasures page about the Strand in Phoenix. The instrument had been installed in the Strand in 1920.
An item in the May 9, 1924 issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor identified Paul Farron as the manager at the time of the Yeager. He was planning on building a new theatre: "Watts -- Paul Ferron, manager of the Yeager Theater, is taking preliminary bids for construction of a two-story fireproof theater, 145 x 65 feet, on East Main St. It will be of Spanish style and and will have especially designed fly loft. Mr. Ferron was formerly connected with the Lasky Studio."
That theatre was the Largo, which opened in 1923. In the 1925 Watts directory it's listed with an address of 339 E. Main. Later the address became 1827 E. 103rd St.
The Yeager is still listed at 225 W. Main in the 1925 Watts directory.
"We show only the best pictures." It's a 1926 column of Times ads that included the Yeager. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. The Yeager was also listed in the a Paramount Week ad in the Times on Sept 2, 1926.
In the 1927-28 Watts directory Walter Ferdna is listed as manager and the address has become 1635 E. 103rd St. in the alphabetical listings and 1625 in the listings-by-address. In the 1932 Watts directory it's listed with a 1635 address.
At some unknown date it got renamed the Linda Theatre. Ken McIntyre notes that it was still running in early 1950. Bill Gabel adds that it was then part of the Eastland Theatres circuit.
Closing: The date is unknown.
Status: It's been demolished. The north side of that block is now part of a shopping center.
We're looking west on 103rd St., formerly called Main St. The Linda Theatre would have been over on the right. The Blue Line Tracks, on the old Pacific Electric right of way, are a half block behind us. Photo: Google Maps - 2017
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Linda Theatre. See our page here on this site about the Largo Theatre.
A nice map of Watts from the 1919 Watts city directory that's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Head to the one on the Library's site for an expandable version. The darker lines are the Pacific Electric routes. Main St. is running horizontally across the center of the map.
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I was just reading some memoirs of my father who grew up in Watts. He said there was a theater on 103rd St. He said Richard Barthel MS was in the big poster advertised at the theater. He was dressed as a pilot with a helmet and goggles looking at the sky. Clearly that movie came out in 1930 called The Dawn Patrol.
ReplyDeleteWonderful to find this!
Thanks! Glad you like the page. And I'm assuming you figured out that the Largo Theatre was also on 103rd. Cheers!
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