National Theatre

2229 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave. Boyle Heights (Los Angeles), CA 90033 | map |

Opened: Sometime around 1914 on the north side of the street a block and a half west of Soto St. At the time, the street the theatre was on was called Brooklyn Ave.

This photo from the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California appears in the 2005 Arcadia Publishing book "Los Angeles's Boyle Heights" by the Japanese American Museum. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for spotting it for a post on the Ken's Movie Page Facebook group. The "Constant Woman" was out in March 1933. "Tarzan the Fearless" was an August 1933 release starring Buster Crabbe and Julie Bishop. The book's caption: 

"In this 1933 photograph, the owner and his niece stand in front of the National Theater on Brooklyn Avenue, one of several theaters where residents went for entertainment."

Architect: Unknown

Seating: 1,224

It's in the 1914 through 1921 city directories as the Brooklyn Theatre. In the 1922 city directory the theatre is called the New Poppy. In the 1923 and 1925 directories it was called the Poppy Theatre. In the 1929 directory it's the National.

 

An August 1935 ad for the National from the Eastside Journal. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

 

 

A September 26, 1935 ad appearing in the Eastside Journal. It was another find by Ken McIntyre for the Photos of Los Angeles page.  

 

 

An August 1938 ad for the Wabash, Brooklyn and National that Ken McIntyre spotted in the Eastside Journal. He shared the ad in a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

 

This November 22, 1938 L.A. Daily News photo documented an anti-Nazi protest. The photo is on Calisphere from the UCLA Daily News Negatives collection. It can also be seen on the UCLA website. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. "Toy Wife," the theatre's film that week, was a June 1938 release. 

 

A midnight benefit featuring Yiddish stage and screen stars. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this March 1941 item in the Eastside Journal.   

 

 

By 1942 Eastland Theatres was running the National. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating these April 1942 listings from the L.A. Times. He added this as a comment to his post of the August 1935 ad.

The page of film listings appearing in the January 27, 1947 issue of the Eastside Journal. Ken McIntyre shared it as a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

 

 

The May 21, 1952 listings for Eastland Theatres in the L.A. Times.  

 

Closing: Mid-1952, according to research by Ken McIntyre.

 

 

 

It was gone by June 1952. It's another L.A. Times listing located by Ken.   

Status: It was eventually demolished with a single-story concrete block retail building replacing it. The city's Zimas database notes that the 12,000 s.f. building now on the site dates from 1963.

Looking west on Cesar Chavez. The block building with the blue awning housing Denim Exchange is on the site, using an address of 2225. On the far right is a bit of a new Walgreens building. Photo: Google Maps - 2019

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the National.

There's a fine post about the 1938 anti-Nazi demonstration and the general rise of pro-German sentiment in L.A. in the 1930s on Barrio Boychik, a site subtitled "Your Latino-Jewish friend in the Los Angeles Eastside." 

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