Avalon Theatre

5258 Avalon Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90011  | map |

Opened: This South Park neighborhood house opened around 1913 as the K&K Theatre. It's listed in the 1913 city directory with an address of 5260 South Park Ave. The street later got renamed. The theatre was on the east side of the street between 52nd Pl. and 53rd St., about nine blocks south of Vernon Ave. The address varies in different city directories: 5244, 5256, 5258, 5260. In this photo, the only one of the theatre to surface, we're looking south. Thanks to Sean Ault for locating the image.

Seating: 450 was one number in circulation. 600 is the current number used on Cinema Treasures, presumably from a Film Daily Yearbook.

The K&K is shown in this detail from plate 21 of the 1914 Baist Real Estate Survey Map from Historic Map Works. That's South Park in the upper left with South Park Ave. running vertically down the middle. On the right (east) side of it note three reddish rectangles. The top one at 5202 South Park is the South Park Theatre. The second is identified as a garage. The lower one, on the second lot south of 52nd Pl. is the K&K. The three buildings are similarly shown on the 1921 Baist Map.

It's in the 1921 and 1923 through 1926 city directories as the Sunshine Theatre, 5244 South Park Ave. The listing under "motion picture theatres" in 1922 at 5244 was for J.F. Hill, presumably the proprietor at the time. In the 1927 and 1928 directories the address for the Sunshine has changed to Avalon Blvd.

There's no listing in the 1929 city directory but it surfaces in the 1932 and 1933 directories as the Avalon Theatre at 5242 Avalon Blvd. The address is listed as 5244 in 1936 directory, 5258 in 1938 and 5256 in 1942.  

 

A 1945 ad in the California Eagle, a newspaper covering the African-American community in Los Angeles. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

Thanks to Comfortably Cool for locating this January 1946 ad, a post on Cinema Treasures.

 

 

"Newly Renovated" -- It's a 1949 article from the California Eagle. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this as well as the three 1949 items below to add as comments to his post on Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

Another big show in 1949. This is from the California Eagle. 

 

 

Another 1949 California Eagle article.  

 

 

A 1949 California Eagle ad for a Criswell appearance.

Closing: The last ads in the L.A. Times were in November 1950, according to Ken McIntyre. They were using a 5258 address at the end. Cinema Treasures contributor Dallas Movie Theaters notes that the theatre closed March 31, 1951 when its lease was up. The final bill was "Golden Earrings" and "Dark City."

Joe Vogel notes: "In the 1956 Los Angeles Street Directory, 5250 Avalon is listed as the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, and the next address south of it is the Avalon Fountain Grill, at 5260 Avalon. There is no Avalon Theatre listed."

Status: It's been demolished. Dallas Movie Theaters notes that the demolition was in the late summer of 1964.

Looking south on Avalon Blvd. from 52nd Pl. The theatre was just beyond this building on the corner at 5250. The theatre's lot and several to the south of it are now the site of a housing project. Photo: Google Maps - 2020

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Avalon for some fine research by Joe Vogel and Ken McIntyre. 

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