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Western Theatre

3930 S. Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90062 | map |


Opened: Perhaps late 1926 or early 1927. The location was on the east side of the street about five blocks south of Exposition Blvd. It's an area northeast of Leimert Park. 1927 was the theatre's first city directory listing. The closed theatre is on the right in this view looking south from the Sean Ault collection. Tina Asher also found a copy of it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

Architect: Unknown

Seating: 904

When operated by Fox West Coast, it was known as the Fox Western.

Closing: It was running into the early 1950s. Bill Gabel notes that it had closed by 1952. It was later used as a church.


A detail of the closed theatre from Sean's photo. 

Status: It's been demolished. The site is now part of the Martin Luther King Therapeutic Recreation Center.



A view of the theatre that appeared in the October 15, 1959 issue of the Los Angeles Sentinel with the caption "Old Home of Liberty Baptist Church." Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Mackerm for locating the photo for inclusion in Noirish post # 55370.  He notes that after use by a string of churches, in 1965 the building was the home of Oliver's Artificial Flowers and Trees.



The theatre was on the right about where the parking lot now is. We're looking north on Western toward 39th St. Photo: Google Maps - 2018

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Western.

If you were looking for theatres that specialized in running westerns, see our pages here on this site about the Hitching Post Theatre - Hollywood, the Hitching Post - Santa Monica or the Hitching Post - Beverly Hills, later known as the Beverly Canon.

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