Opened: The Sunbeam Theatre was running by 1919, but the opening date is unknown. It was on the northwest corner of Compton Ave. and E. 66th St. The location is in the Florence neighborhood, west of Huntington Park.
The 1925 directory has the theatre at 6857 Compton Ave. A 1923 Times article and a 1925 Film Daily item both refer to the location being at 69th St.
There was a renumbering of the side streets in this area in the mid 1920s, something that also occurred along stretches of S. Central Ave. In 1927 it's listed with a new address as 6557. The 1928 and 1929 city directories use an address of 6521 for the theatre.
Seats: 1,200 perhaps originally. The 1925 rebuilt version had 1,400.
Architects: Unknown
They were in trouble in 1920. This page one item from the January 31, 1920, edition of the Cleveland Advocate describes racial segregation at the Sunbeam Theater in Los Angeles:
The article appears on the Cinema Tour page about the theatre. The page doesn't state how it's known that the item doesn't refer to one of the two other theatres using the same name at the time. We had a Sunbeam on Pico Blvd. and one in Highland Park. The Second Baptist church was at 740 Maple, closer to the Pico theatre than this one on Compton Ave.
In 1923 there was a booth fire during a show that caused serious damage. And there's no doubt which Sunbeam Theatre this involved. This article appeared in the August 11 issue of the L.A. Times:
The theatre was rebuilt. Thanks to Joe Vogel for finding this item in the March 4, 1925 issue of The Film Daily:
"Sunbeam, New L. A. House - (Special to The Film Daily) Los Angeles — The Sunbeam built jointly by C. W. Grubbs and West Coast Theaters, Inc., at Compton Ave. and 69th St. has opened. It seats 1,400. The owners recently opened another, but smaller house, known as the Kinema, at Manchester and Compton Aves."
A December 2, 1931 account from the L.A. Times. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a thread about the theatre (and the later one built on the site) on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.
The theatre didn't reopen.
Status: The Gentry Theatre was erected on the site in 1937. It's still there but not being used for a business that's open to the public.
The site of the Sunbeam, now with the unused Gentry Theatre on it. Straight ahead we're looking north on Compton Ave. Gage Ave. is three blocks ahead. On the left that's E. 66th St. Photo: Google Maps - 2019
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Sunbeam. The site Cinema Tour has a page but the main item on it is the 1920 article about the discrimination lawsuit.
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