Washington Gardens / Chutes Park / Luna Park Theatre

Washington Blvd. at S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90015 | map |

Opening: The park opened perhaps in 1886 on the southwest corner of Washington and Main as the Washington Gardens Park. The property had earlier been the site of a hotel and was purchased by David Waldron who began to redevelop it. It was a trolley park -- arrangements were made for a horse drawn trolley to take patrons to the park. 

 

 

A c.1887 Washington Gardens photo by C.C. Pierce. It's in the collection of the California Historical Society and appears on the USC Digital Library website. 

 

Usually the park was advertising their band concerts and animals on exhibit, especially ostriches. Messrs. Cawston and Fox were the ostrich impresarios.  

 

An interesting news item about a journey the ostriches had been on as well as "Another Attraction," the impending construction of a new 90' diameter building for exhibition of the "Battle of Gettysburg" panorama. This appeared in the February 20, 1887 issue of the Los Angeles Herald.  

 

This panorama painting had first been exhibited in 1884 in New Orleans and after closing had been sold at a foreclosure auction. Gene Meier has located several items. The October 18 issue of the New Orleans Times-Picayune advised on the construction, but had the wrong address:

"There is likely to be a sufficient number of places of amusement open in the city of New Orleans. The building at the corner of Canal and Dauphine streets, for the exhibition of the BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, is progressing rapidly."

 

The November 2, 1884 issue of the Times-Picayune noted:

"The Union Panorama and Scenic Company, have prepared a Pavilion at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Josephine street for the exhibition of the famous panorama illustrating 'The First and Second Days of the Battle of Gettysburg.' This painting is over 300 feet long and 50 feet high when in position. Exhibitions will commence next Saturday."

 

In their November 9 issue they called it "the great painting known as the 'Battle of Gettysburg,' an immense moving picture illustrating events of the second day of the battle." Two other panoramas were in New Orleans for the 1884-5 World's Industrial & Cotton Exposition. "The Battle of Sedan" by Louis Braun and "The Siege of Paris," brought from Chicago by William Wehner, also competed for business. "Gettysburg" soon closed. The Times-Picayune reported on December 8, 1884: 

"Constables Sale. Chas. Ballejo vs. the Union Panorama and Scenic Company et al. First City Court of New Orleans. No.7271 - By virtue of an order to me, directed by the Hon. Thos. R. Rozier, Judge of the First City Court of New Orleans, I will proceed to sell at public auction on Tuesday December the 9th, 1884, at 12 pm, on the premises, corner of St. Charles and Josephine streets, the Union Panorama an Scenic Company's show, paraphernalia, etc., per inventory on file in my office. Terms: Cash on the spot. P.A. Looby, Constable"

 

A review of "The Battle of Gettysburg" that appeared in a column of miscellaneous news items in the the October 15, 1887 issue of the Los Angeles Herald. 

 

A May 3, 1888 ad for the park in the Herald. No mention of the panorama. We had a new proprietor, a D. Pearl. 

 

An August 19, 1888 ad from the Herald.

The panorama evidently closed sometime in mid-1888. By summer it was in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Herald-Republican reported on the informal opening of "The Battle of Gettysburg" in that city in their August 11 issue. Their August 21 issue noted:

"This grand panorama is now on exhibition in Salt Lake City, the entirely new building in which it is placed being on West Temple Street between the Herald building and Valley House. The painting was purchased from the proprietor at a cost of $55,000 and has been on exhibition at the World's Fair New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles..."

It's interesting that they mention San Francisco as one stop for this particular "Gettysburg." If true, this one in Los Angeles must have been the version painted by Carl Browne and exhibited in a San Francisco Tent Panorama in 1886. Later the 10th & Market Panorama Building in San Francisco showed one by John Francis Smith. But that was 1890 so doesn't fit the timeline.

By 1889 the other panorama in Los Angeles, "The Siege of Paris," also fell on hard times. It was in the Panorama Building on Main St. between 3rd and 4th, the site of the later Hippodrome Theatre.

The May 13, 1889 issue of the L.A. Herald carried an article titled "The Siege of Paris. It is Attached and Closed to the Public." It's on the website of the California Digital Newspaper Collection. The Washington Gardens and its panorama got a mention:

"So great was the success of the affair [the 'Siege of Paris' exhibition on Main St.] that a rival was induced to come to town in the shape of 'The Battle of Gettysburg,' which was placed in position near the Washington Gardens. It also did well, but in the course of time, after the sight-seeing public had visited it, it began to lose money, and one day was compelled to close up...."

Carl Browne wrote an October 1889 letter to the owners of the building where "Siege" had been exhibited offering to paint a Yosemite panorama, a project that wasn't executed. Interestingly he noted that he had painted the "Gettysburg" that played San Francisco in 1886 but made no mention of an L.A. engagement for his version. 

 

It's unknown if there was any later use of the Washington Gardens panorama building. Thanks to panorama researcher Gene Meier for locating these items. 

 

In 1899 the park was sold to new operators, the Los Angeles County Improvement Co., and they renamed it Chutes Park. It had a brief fall 1900 season then closed December 1 for improvements. The highlight of the redeveloped park was the water ride with the top of the slide 75' high. There was a mechanical lift to take patrons to the top.

 

The park's theatre: It debuted in 1901 as the Chutes Theatre. Later, after the park was renamed, it was known as the Luna Park Theatre. 

Seating: 1,400

 

 

Thanks to Elizabeth Fuller for including this Chutes Theatre card from her collection in her Old Los Angeles Postcards album on Flickr. Want to go browsing? At last look she had 686 cards. Her copy of this card has a 1908 postmark. 

A c.1902 view of the pond and the Chutes Theatre from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

Another c.1902 look at the theatre from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Also in the Library's collection are views of the ride before theatre construction and a shot looking down from the top, again before the theatre was built.

A view of the facade from page one of the Early L.A. Buildings section of the Water & Power Associates Museum pages. 

A c.1902 postcard version of the previous shot from the California State Library collection, their item #001384756.

 

"Free Vaudeville Theater." It's a 1902 ad for the park that appeared in the L.A. Times.

 

A September 1903 ad. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating these two ads.

A card with a 1905 postmark that Noirish Los Angeles contributor Hoss C found on eBay. He had it on his post #19205 and on post #19077. On the latter post he's included some vintage maps and an aerial view of the park site. 

 

 

Another version of the "Shooting the Chutes" card. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this one on Flickr. Also in Eric's collection see a card view across the "electric fountain" over to the left toward the roller coaster.

A 1909 snapshot Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality came across on eBay. Thanks, E.R., for posting it on Noirish post #21668.  

The park was renamed Luna Park in 1910. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this November 1910 ad mentioning Hyman's Vaudeville Theatre and their Ladies Orchestra. 

The December 1, 1910  issue of the trade magazine Nickelodeon reported that Arthur S. Hyman leased:

"the moving picture and vaudeville theater in Luna Park, Los Angeles and will make extensive improvements." 

See the page about the College Theatre for more about Arthur Hyman and his theatre circuit.

The park as it appeared on Plate 10 of the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey Map. Grand Ave. is running vertically on the left, Main St. on the right. This is from the site Historic Map Works.

A December 1910 ad for the renamed Luna Park. Thanks to Jeffrey Stanton for including the ad with his article "Chutes & Luna Park" on the site Westland.net.

The 1912 city directory uses an address of 1501 S. Main St.-- off by about 4 blocks. 1901 was more like it.

Closed: The amusement park closed in 1914.

Status: It all got demolished. A baseball stadium was built on the west side of the grounds.

The site now. On the left we're looking south on Main. On the right it's a view west on scenic Washington Blvd. Photo: Google Maps - 2020

More information: There's a fine article by Jeffrey Stanton on Chutes and Luna Park as part of his coverage of Los Angeles area amusement districts on the site Westland.net. But note that at least one of his photos is of Chutes Park at 10th & Fulton in San Francisco and a 1900 newspaper map of the proposed Chutes Park seems to bear little resemblance to the Chutes as it was built in Los Angeles. 

See the Wikipedia article on Chutes Park. Also, there's a nice post about the park on the blog Dear Old Hollywood.

The USC Digital Library has a number of views of the park but none of these show the theatre. Many of their dates are dubious: in the park looking south | Fisher's store - NW corner Main & Washington - c.1890 | water ride - USC dates it as c.1905 - probably earlier | water ride pool - c.1905 | water ride - theatre out of the frame to the right - c.1906 | later baseball field | 

There's a photo of the ostriches at the park on Calisphere from the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library.

There's no connection between this location and the much later (20s-40s) Luna Park Zoo in the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles.

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