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Norwalk Theatre

115 W. Broadway / 12039 Firestone Blvd., Norwalk, CA 90650 | map |  

Opening: Around 1927. It was on the north side of the street and just west of what is now called San Antonio Dr. The location is just a couple blocks south of the 5. The 1938 photo is from the Ronald W. Mahan Collection. "Her Jungle Love" with Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland was an April release. "Over the Wall" with Dick Foran and June Travis was also out the same month. Thanks for sharing this, Ron. 

Evidently there was an earlier Norwalk Theatre. See some data and speculation at the bottom of the page. 

Seating: 680. It was in the 1936 Film Daily Yearbook with a count of 636 according to Adam Love.  Joe Vogel notes that a Boxoffice item from April 3, 1972 noted the recent twinning and gave a capacity of 300 for each auditorium.

Architect: The original architect is unknown. Joe Vogel comments: 
 
"The [Los Angeles Public Library] California Index quotes Southwest Builder & Contractor issue of 4/15/1927 announcing plans for the Norwalk Theatre. It was to cost $30,000, to seat about 600, and was to be built for a company called Principal Theaters. The name of the architect is not mentioned."
 

Thanks to Dick Morris for this detail from a 1930 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. He's researched the street names and comments: 

"1st Ave. is now San Antonio and Broadway is now Firestone. Although Manchester is a continuation of Firestone, the Manchester name never carried through to Norwalk. In Norwalk, Firestone was originally Church Street, then Broadway. When the theater was built it was probably already Broadway and didn't continue very far either direction of downtown Norwalk. It became Firestone as part of the process to make it a continuous road connecting Norwalk to Downey and Buena Park in the early 1930s."

Dick also investigated the theatre's lot on an earlier map:  

"In a 1920 Sanborn map the lot where the theater was later built was considered outside of the developed area of town. The theater lot is at a far corner of the map and is vacant."

The Norwalk suffered some damage in the 1933 earthquake This appeared in the October 26, 1933 issue of the L.A. Times: 

 Thanks to Dick Morris for locating this item.

John A. Norback did a 1954 remodel, after which the theatre was advertised as the New Norwalk.

In the 60s the theatre was operated by E.R. Cummings Theater Corp. Mr. Cummings also had the Avenue and Meralta theatres in Downey. Ken McIntyre found this item in a January 1963 issue of Boxoffice:

"Downey, Calif - The Avenue Theater in Downey is now undergoing a $50,000 remodeling program in preparation for a policy of long-run pictures. The reconstruction job will include a new marquee and front, increased seating capacity and new restrooms. E.R. Cummings Theater Corp., owner and operator of the Avenue Theater, has also scheduled the immediate remodeling of the Norwalk Theater in Norwalk, Calif. The firm recently remodeled the Meralta in Downey, at a cost in excess of $100,000."

That "immediate remodeling" of the Norwalk evidently didn't take place until later in the year. Thanks to Scott Pitzer for locating this item in a November 1963 issue of the Norwalk Call-Advertiser:

"Theatre is Undergoing Remodeling - The Norwalk Theatre, currently undergoing a complete face lifting, will soon become the brightest spot on Firestone Boulevard, according to manager Warren Cundiff. A complete new brilliantly lighted marquee will illuminate the front of the theatre and the entire building, interior and exterior is being redecorated. New and colorful vinyls and paints will be used in the foyer, the floor of which is to be covered with plush new carpeting. 

"A decorating firm has been retained to coordinate the colors and materials used in the project. New modifications have been made to the sound and projection systems to provide the latest improvements in reproduction. The theatre will continue to operate during the remodelling period and Cundiff asks the patrons to "excuse our dust" during the next two weeks."

The theatre was twinned in 1972 with a wall down the middle. It later played a bit of porno and then reverted to a family policy.

Closing: It was running as late as 1985. The closing date is unknown.

Status: It was demolished in 1987. It appears to have been a case of the city using eminent domain to get rid of a building because they were unhappy with the kind of films they were showing. There's now a strip mall on the site. 


More exterior views: 
 

1930s - Thanks to Adam Love for locating this image for a post on Cinema Treasures. He comments:
 "This picture was scanned from a 1930’s promotional brochure put out by the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce. The brochure states that the theatre was built for $75,000.00. No date is given anywhere in the brochure, but it does state that Norwalk had only one elementary school (with 24 teachers and 650 students) and one high school, Excelsior Union (with 60 teachers and over 1200 students) at the time." The photo also appears on Flickr.



1953 - The theatre running "Pinky," a November 1949 release with Jeanne Crain and Ethel Barrymore, along with "Cry of the City," a September 1948 release with Victor Mature and Richard Conte directed by Robert Siodmack.



1953 - A closer look at the theatre running "Pinky." Thanks to Adam Love for locating both this image and the wider view above for posts on Cinema Treasures. He notes that the date was December 1953.   



1962 - Thanks to Chris B for grabbing this shot from the Santa Fe High School yearbook for a post on Cinema Treasures.



c.1982 - Picketers in front during the theatre's brief time as a porno venue. Thanks to Monsters For Sale for posting the image on Flickr



 
1984 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this view of the theatre as a twin -- after going back to a family policy. Nice to see "All Seats" on the marquee but evidently the admission price was a secret. 
 
 

1987 - Thanks to Scott Pitzer for finding this demolition photo in the March 12 issue of the Norwalk Herald-American. Their headline was "Building for the Future."  The paper's copy: 

"Does redevelopment work? It does when handled properly. Norwalk's answer can be found at the intersection of Firestone and Norwalk boulevards. The corner was anchored for many years by Norwalk Cinema, focus of much controversy, and other transient businesses. Those structures have been leveled, to be replaced soon by a modern mini-shopping mall that will provide testimony to the city council's proper use of its redevelopment powers."

Scott comments: 

"A then-resident of Norwalk who went into the news biz reminded me a local representative got in hot water because of favors done for him by... the porn operators of the Norwalk, I believe. During the drive to get it shut down."

 

2019 - On the left we're looking west on Firestone. The theatre site was just down a bit from the corner. That's San Antonio Dr. on the right. Photo: Google Maps


More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Norwalk for many stories. 

An earlier Norwalk Theatre: While Dick Morris notes that there wasn't any theatre evident on a 1920 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Ken McIntyre reports that a venue called the Norwalk Theatre in Norwalk got a one-line listing in a September 6, 1925 Paramount Week ad. The venue doesn't appear in the Paramount Week ads in 1924 or 1926. 
 
Dick Morris notes that the Los Angeles Daily News ran a September 7, 1925 ad for the serial "The Fighting Ranger" at the Norwalk Theatre.

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7 comments:

  1. I'm confident that the bottom photo is not of a an earlier theater in Norwalk, California. Front Street was Norwalk's business district between the 1890s and early 1950s and was the only street with commercial buildings similar to the photo. If this was Front Street, the photo would be facing west and the larger building just right of center would have been the Glazier building. While the height and brick construction are similar, this building looks a bit narrow for the Glazier building.
    In a ca. 1925 photo of Front Street, parking was at an angle, in the photo above it was parallel. Across the street from the Glacier building in the in the cs. 1925 photo was a row of mature trees overhanging the street. A 1947 article mentioned the pepper trees being removed after having been planted there 60 years earlier. There are no trees in the posted photo.

    If this was Norwalk, the building at the center would have been the Bank of Norwalk. A 1923 photo of the Bank of Norwalk shows that is larger and more ornate than the building in the posted photo.

    My guess is that the 1957 Excelsior Union High School annual staff misidentified the photo of an "earlier Norwalk theater" posted above.

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    1. Many thanks for all your comments and research about the Excelsior yearbook photo. I certainly can't argue with any of it. I want to walk into the distance to read what town's name is on the sign hanging across the street. It appears that this one may have to get tossed into the "mystery theatres" pile. It ended up on this page solely because it appeared in a Norwalk area yearbook so someone must have had some reason to think that either it was Norwalk or a nearby community. But people are often mistaken about these things. Hmmm....

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  2. I found where the theater identified as possibly the first Norwalk theater. It's actually the Bellflower theater in Bellflower, CA. It's not surprising that the Excelsior Union High School Annual would have a photo of a theater in Bellflower. Bellflower had been in the EUHS attendance area until about 1950 when Bellflower High School was built. https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6353494&postcount=17910

    Dick Morris

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    1. Damn! As I was looking at your earlier comment and (before reading this one) I thought about checking my page on the Bellflower Theatre. It certainly wasn't the Chevy dealer that triggered it -- it was something about that sign across the street in the distance. And you beat me to it. Nice work, Dick! Terrific to not have this as a mystery photo. I'll get it on the Bellflower page: https://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com/2020/07/bellflower-theatre.html

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  3. I found a September 7, 1925 ad for the "The Fighting Ranger," a 1925 silent serial in the Los Angeles Daily News, so the Norwalk theater dates to at least that date. Dick Morris

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    1. And was this an ad saying specifically at the Norwalk Theatre? If so, then it would appear that it was playing the earlier theatre. We do have that 1927 announcement in SW B&C for the construction of the new theatre.

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  4. There were about eight "The Fighting Ranger" ads that ran through November. "Norwalk Theater . . . Norwalk" was one of about sixty theaters where the serial was showing.

    I lost a message that I had composed before I sent it, by my recollection is that in 1926 I found a notice that a $40,000 theater was to be built in Norwalk. I also found an 1926 article saying that E.E. Beattie operated a theater in Norwalk and he had reported the theft of Saturday night's admission and that his 15 year old projectionist had confessed to doing the deed. I found E.E. Beattie operating a theater in Banning about three years later.

    So . . . there was some form of movie theater operating in Norwalk in 1925, but it's likely that the building on Firestone wasn't built until 1927.

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