Alpha Theatre

4065 Gage Ave. Bell, CA 90201 | map |

Opened: As the Maybell Theatre in 1922. It got the Alpha Theatre name with a major 1938 moderne style remodeling. The photo from that year is in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The building is on the north side of the street six blocks west of Atlantic Ave.

The Maybell was included in this column of theatre ads in the L.A. Times in 1923. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this. 

Architects: Julian T. Zeller designed the original building. Zeller also designed the Alcazar Theatre in Bell.

S. Charles Lee gave the theatre a major remodel in 1938. Joe Vogel found an item in the October 15, 1937 issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor noting that Lee was preparing the plans for the Maybell for Fox West Coast. He also notes that the newly remodeled and renamed Alpha was featured in the Better Theatres section of the May 28, 1938 issue of Motion Picture Herald. Thanks, Joe!

Seats: 656 after the remodel.

For decades this was a Fox West Coast operation. The circuit also had the nearby Alcazar. The third house in town was the Bell Theatre, opened in January 1938 by Frank Valuskis at 3934 Gage Ave. 

Closing: By 1975 the Alpha had closed with the space used for classes by the local parks & rec department. Catering hall use by several different owners followed. It sold and was then renamed Las Trancas in 2003. The building was on the market again in 2007 and sold in 2009.

Status: It's currently in use as a banquet hall called the Fiesta Mexicana. Jason Vega notes that the previous owners had restored the 1938 interior. Now it's all been gutted and replaced.

 

Recent interior views:

A lobby shot from the Fiesta Mexicana website. 

A view to the screen end of the space from the Fiesta Mexicana website.

  

 

A look back to the booth. 

More exterior views:

 

c. 1948 - A view east on Gage toward the Alpha taken by Doug White for Southern California Edison to show the glories of street lighting. It's in the Huntington Library collection. Thanks to Scott Collette for locating this for a post on his Facebook page Forgotten Los Angeles. He also has it on Instagram. His research report: 

 

"Officially captioned just as 'street lighting in a business district at night,' I was able to place this unidentified, undated photo as being taken in the city of Bell, looking east down Gage Avenue from Corona in the late 1940s, most likely in 1948. The major identifier here is the Alpha Theatre located in the center of the frame, about a half block down at 4065 Gage. 

 

"The billboard for Heinz Ketchup on the left displays the tagline 'Rich, Ripe Tomato Flavor!' which first appears in Heinz’s newspaper ads in 1941 and is used throughout that decade. Over on the far right is Borwick Realty, which was one of many new real estate companies that sprung up across the city during the post-war housing shortage of the late 1940s. 

 

"Borwick was formed in January of 1946 when Glendale resident A.H. Borwick asked his son William in Houston and asked him to move back to LA to help him with sales, and the company continued to grow substantially through the end of LA’s housing boom in 1949, when it became just another realty company with too many listings and not enough buyers. Center-left there’s a neon for a United Steelworkers (CIO) headquarters, with a sign for Union Auto Service down below."

 

See a similar view from 2022 that Scott obtained from Google Maps.  

c.1948 - A detail from the Doug White photo. Thanks, Scott!

1983 - The building turned into a catering hall imaginatively named "Hall." Thanks to American Classic Images for the photo from their collection.

2002 - A different look for the Hall. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for the photo, a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

2008 - A new look and a new name, Las Trancas. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2008 - Another angle on the redecorated building. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2008 - A closer look at the new neon on the upper part of the facade. Photo: Ken McIntyre

2009 - A view west from Michelle Gerdes that's included in her Theatres - California album on Flickr.

2009 - A neon detail. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - Theatres - California on Flickr. Thanks, Michelle! 

2013 - The bright lights of Las Trancas. It's a Ken McIntyre photo on Photos of Los Angeles.  Thanks, Ken!

2015 - The building as the Fiesta Mexicana banquet hall. We're looking east on Gage. Photo: Google Maps

 

2016 - Around the back looking toward the east side of the building. Photo: Google Maps

 

2022 - A look east toward the theatre from Corona Ave. Thanks to Scott Collette for obtaining the image from Google Maps. 

 

2022 - A closer look from Google Maps.

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Alpha. The Cinema Tour page has a 2004 exterior view.

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