Opened: April 1, 1926 as the Mesa Theatre in the Hyde Park / Angeles Mesa area, a neighborhood they're now calling Park Mesa Heights. The opening attraction was "Mike" from MGM. The 1945 photo is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. They were running "Along Came Jones" with Gary Cooper and Loretta Young along with "Captain Eddie" with Fred MacMurray and Lyn Bari.
It was on the west side of the street just south of Slauson. The street has been renamed. 5843 Angeles Mesa Drive was the theatres's original address. It was constructed for West Coast Theatres, the firm which later morphed into Fox West Coast. It's also been known as the West Coast Mesa and Fox Mesa.
Architect: Lewis A. Smith. The building also had apartments on the second floor facing Crenshaw Blvd. as well as lodge rooms. Note the sign with the Masonic logo on the photo above. The ground floor had retail space. The theatre had a full stage with dressing rooms in the basement.
Seating: 1,442 seats, with no balcony.
Organ: Robert Morton 2/12
A truck mounted ad for the Mesa. "Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl" was a 1926 release with Madge Bellamy. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo.
They put a bigger searchlight on the roof to signal when they were previewing new films. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this 1932 article.
A 1948 remodel and reopening. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the L.A. Times article. The house got another remodel in the early 50s to deal with CinemaScope.
National General, the successor company to the Fox West Coast circuit, was the last to run the Mesa. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this final ad that appeared September 16, 1963.
Status: It had a fire in April 1964. Thanks to Ken McInyre for locating this article:
Thanks to Joe Vogel for locating the article in the Los Angeles Public Library's collection.
There's now a gas station and several fast food restaurants on the corner with a shopping center behind. The design for the Shell station that was being planned had received a "Beautiful Los Angeles" commendation the previous year.
Lobby area views:
One section of a Martin Charles Huggins relief etching. The multiple panels of the work reflected the Southwest. This panel is called "Northwoods." It's a 1929 trade magazine photo located by Dallas Movie Theaters for a post on Cinema Treasures.
"Rubber tile of black and gold and objet d'art in the lobby of the Fox Mesa Theatre." Photo: Dallas Movie Theaters - Cinema Treasures
A look at the Mesa snack bar in 1952. It's a photo from the Ann Peery collection. Ms. Peery met her late husband at the Mesa Theatre. She worked for Fox West Coast in the offices carved out
of the Boulevard Theatre stagehouse. Among other duties, she wrote the bonus checks for theatre managers. Thanks, Ann!
The auditorium:
An early proscenium view from the Ronald W. Mahan Collection. It's a photo by Dwyer that was once in the Tony Heinsbergen collection. That's the asbestos we're looking at. We also get a view of the elaborate valance that had vanished by the time of the Los Angeles Public Library's early 40s photo below.
A trade magazine photo located by Dallas Movie Theaters for a post on Cinema Treasures. A version of the photo with different cropping appeared in the December 14, 1929 issue of the trade magazine Movie Age with a story about Acousti-Celotex sound treatment in the auditorium. That publication was a precursor of Boxoffice. Thanks to Joe Vogel for spotting the article.
A look toward the stage with a view of the house traveler. Note these cushier loge seats at the back of the house. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo that they date as c.1942.
The Library also has two additional auditorium photos they identify as the Mesa but they're obviously not. They're down at the bottom of the page and we're looking for information as to where they were taken.
The auditorium after the 1948 Skouras renovations. It's a photo from the Ronald W. Mahan Collection taken by Nate Singer/Western Photo Co. and once part of the Grosh Scenic Studios collection. Ron notes that a lot of the Skouras decoration here looks "flat." Much of the ornament the circuit was using in those days was just spray painted on flat panels such as the decoration we see here above where the organ grilles had been and the long piece in front of the first row of seats. Thanks, Ron!
More exterior views:
1942 - The Mesa running "Tortilla Flat" with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr along with "Nazi Agent" with Conrad Veidt. This photo from Marc Wanamaker's Bison Archives appears on page 112 of the fine 2008 Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres in Los Angeles" by Suzanne Tarbell Cooper, Amy Ronnebeck Hall and Mr. Wanamaker. The book notes that one space in the building was used in 1948 as a location where men could register for the draft. The book is available on Amazon or from your local bookseller. There's a preview on Google Books.
2019 - Looking across Slauson and the new Crenshaw line Metro tracks toward the gas station, fast food restaurants, and shopping center now on the site of the Mesa. Photo: Google Maps
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page which includes some nice research by John Chappell, Ken McIntyre, Joe Vogel and other contributors. As well, there are a few stories on the page by Mesa moviegoers. Cinema Tour also has a page on the Mesa.
Mystery photos: In addition to the c.1942 interior view higher on the page that's from the Los Angeles Public Library collection they also identify these two photos as the Mesa:
A mystery theatre proscenium. It's on the Los Angeles Public Library website identified as the Mesa but it's obviously not.
This view of the rear of an auditorium is also on the Los Angeles Public Library website as the Mesa Theatre. It seems to be a match for the photo above. But again, not fancy enough to be the Mesa.
Any idea what theatre these photos were taken in? Comments, please: counterb@gmail.com
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