Opened: March 9, 1949 with Ronald Reagan in "John Loves Mary" along with Madeline Carroll in "High Fury." The theatre was on the south side of Imperial about a block west of Crenshaw. Thanks to American Classic Images for the June 1984 photo of the closed theatre. The banner is advertising a concert film.
Seating: 1,300
Architects: George Vernon Russell and Eduardo J. Samaniego. Plans were announced in an item on page 58C in the July 31, 1948 issue of Boxoffice. Thanks to Joe Vogel for the research. See his 2010 comments on Cinema Treasures for interesting data about the architects and their many other projects. The Boxoffice item:
"A theatre to be located on Imperial highway is planned by Griffith Enterprises. It will be built of steel and gunite and will be of the stadium type with 1,200 seats. It was designed by Architects Russell and Samaniego of Los Angeles and will be erected by Contracting Engineers Co. of Los Angeles."
A March 9 ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. The La Tijera had opened January 12.
Soon the theatre's operation was taken over by Phil Isley who didn't do well with it. He also had the La Tijera, which did even worse.
Isley's unprofitable adventures as a theatre operator were discussed in this article that appeared on page 26 of the December 20, 1952 issue of Boxoffice. Thanks to Joe Vogel for locating it. It's just a guess that the third theatre named in the article was the California Theatre in Burbank, a house that opened in 1950 and had a closing in 1952. Earlier Isley had operated the Lankershim Theatre and one of the Meralta Theatres, although it's not known which one.
The Imperial evidently had a number of openings and closings. In 1955 it was reopened by Helm and Hoffman Enterprises.
Donald John Long commented on Cinema Treasures: "Man, this was a beautiful theater back in 1960 when I went there for the premiere of George Pal’s 'The Time Machine.' In fact, the whole neighborhood then was very nice and upscale, with the modern Crenshaw district shopping center nearby. It had an ultramodern facade with lots of glass doors and windows, and black glossy siding with stainless steel silver trim, and the spiral staircase was clearly visible from the street. A classy theater...."
In the 60s it was operated by Statewide Theatres, then Century Theatres (not related to the Syufy chain) and Loew's. Possibly General Cinema ran it for a brief period when they took over the Loew's sites in 1972. In the early 70s Gordon Bachlund and a partner tried operating it without much luck. Later they went on to run the Nubel in Bellflower and the Arden in Lynwood.
Closing: Sometime in the early 80s.
Status: It was demolished in July 2006. The property has been redeveloped with a Burlington Coat Factory and other tenants on the site.
c.2000 - A view of the abandoned building taken by Ken Mcintyre. Also see another view from this time by Ken that appeared as a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.
c.2005 - This photo by Ken McIntyre and the one below appeared as comments on a thread about the theatre on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.
2006 - Demolition is underway on the back half of the building. It's another photo by Ken McIntyre.
2006 - Thanks to contributor Homeboy for this demolition view appearing on Cinema Treasures. The site also has seven other photos he took.
2017 - This whole section of the south side of Imperial Highway where the theatre once was has been redeveloped. Photo: Google Maps
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Imperial where Joe Vogel has done some interesting research on the theatre's architectural team.
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