Start your Los Angeles area historic theatre explorations by heading to one of these major sections: Downtown | North of Downtown + East L.A. | San Fernando Valley | Glendale | Pasadena | San Gabriel Valley, Pomona and Whittier | South, South Central and Southeast | Hollywood | Westside | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | Long Beach | [more] L.A. Movie Palaces |
To see what's recently been added to the mix visit the Theatres in Movies site and the Los Angeles Theatres Facebook page.

Congress Theatre

7506 S. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90044 | map |


Opened: 1939. It's also been listed with an address of 7510 S. Vermont. We're on the east side of the street three blocks south of Florence Ave. and three blocks west of the 110. We're looking north in this October 1960 photo. Thanks to Sean Ault for locating it.



A May 25, 1939 opening day ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. 

Architect: Clarence J. Smale. Joe Vogel notes that Smale was listed as the architect in the 2005 Arcadia Publishing book "Art Deco Los Angeles" by Suzanne Tarbell Cooper and Amy Ronnebeck Hall. 

Seats: 869



A booth view. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for locating the trade magazine photo for a post on Cinema Treasures. It evidently appeared with this caption: "The New Congress Theatre’s projection room has two Simplex E-7 projectors, Four-Star Sound System, Magnarc lamps and GE Copper Oxide Rectifiers." They add: "And that’s asbestos-backed linoleum which was being promoted as a new must have innovation for projection rooms."

In 1941 the Congress was taken over by Vinnicof Theatres, headed by Harry Vinnicof. It had been operated by the Steinberg brothers. Thanks to Joe Vogel for locating a mention of the transfer in the April 22 issue of Daily Variety. Joe comments: 

"The Vinnicof Theatre Circuit was around for a long time. They owned a half interest in the Garfield Theatre in Alhambra in the 1950s, the other half being silently owned by the Edwards Theatre Circuit. Vinnicof also operated the Grove Theatre in Garden Grove at that time. At least as far back as the 1930s they operated some theatres in the Eagle Rock-Highland Park area. In 1941, Harry Vinnicof bought the Congress Theatre a couple of miles down Vermont from the Temple."
 
 

A 1945 listing for the Vinnicof Theatre Circuit in the film Daily Yearbook.  
 
 

A 1945 listing for the other company associated with Vinnicof. Note Jimmy Edwards working as the secretary-treasurer. He would later run some of these theatres under his own banner including the Tumbleweed and the Monterey. 
 
By 1949 Harry Popkin's Eastland Theatres would be running the Brooklyn, Crystal, Jewel, Joy,  Meralta, National, Vern, Terrace and Wabash in East L.A. as well as the Linda and Largo in Watts. The 1949 Film Daily Yearbook also listed the Jewel as part of James Nicholson's Academies of Proven Hits.
 

Part of a January 1948 Vinnicof Theatres ad in the Southwest Wave. It's one located by Ken McIntyre for a post of South Central theatre ads on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

At the time Harry Vinnicof was the King of S. Vermont. He didn't have the Balboa but in addition to the Madrid and the Regent his Vermont Ave. operations included the Temple and Vermont theatres. On S. Broadway at this time he operated the Strand and the American.


A September 1958 Times ad located by Ken McIntyre. 
 
 

A September 1960 listing located by Ken for a thread about the theatre on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

Closing: September 1960 was evidently the end of the line for the Congress as a movie house. Ken notes that there weren't any newspaper listings after that month.

Status: It was a church for decades. It went through an abandoned period after 2015. It was used again briefly in early 2019 by another church group but now seems to be headed for another period of no use.


1983 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this view. Note that the readerboard still had changeable letters on it at this time. Up on the tower the outline can be seen remaining from the removed "Congress" letters. 



2009 - A view south taken by Don Solosan that was part of a survey by the now-dormant Historic Theatre Committee of the L.A. Conservancy to determine the condition of surviving historic theatre buildings in L.A. Thanks to Hillsman Wright of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation for making Don's photos available.



2009 - Looking north. Photo: Don Solosan



2009 - A tower detail. It must have been fun at night when it was properly lit. Photo: Don Solosan



2009 - The entrance. No more boxoffice but the ceiling coves and the terrazzo survive. Photo: Don Solosan



2009 - A terrazzo detail. Photo: Don Solosan. Thanks for these, Don! 



c.2010 - A view from Mary Jane Seltzer appearing on page three of the vast California Theatres section of her site Roadside Architecture



2015 - Looking north on scenic Vermont Ave. Photo: Google Maps



2019 - The view south across the facade of the abandoned theatre. Photo: Bill Counter



2019 - A tower detail. Photo: Bill Counter



2019 - The north side of the screen end of the building. Photo: Bill Counter 

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Congress. The Cinema Tour page has three 2007 exterior views from Bob Meza.

| back to top | South, South Central and Southeast theatres | Downtown theatres | Westside theatres | Hollywood | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | [more] Los Angeles movie palaces | Los Angeles theatres - the main alphabetical list | Los Angeles theatres - list by address | theatre history resources | film and theatre tech resources | contact info | welcome and site navigation guide |

2 comments:

  1. I was born just a few blocks away two years before the thaeatre was built. My mother danced in many of the other nearby theatres. Then, the ‘Talkies’ arrived and her career ended.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you, Bill. I think I worked for Vinicoff. His name is very familiar.

    ReplyDelete