Opened: Perhaps as early as 1910. The location was on the north side of the street just west of Chicago St. This address gets a listing in the 1912 city directory as the Athens Theatre. In the 1914 directory it's The Nickelodeon. Upstairs was a hall called Stone's Hall at 2129 1/2 used for various lodge meetings.
The Nickelodeon appeared in a 1914 directory ad with the address "East 1st near Chicago." Thanks to Jeff Bridges for locating this. See his post of the full ad on Flickr. Another theatre in the same ad was the New Lyceum, a block farther west at 2035 E. 1st. It was later known as the Meralta Theatre.
The Nickelodeon is not in the 1915 or 1916 directories. In the 1917 city directory it's back as the New Library Theatre.
Closing: Perhaps 1917 was the end of it. That seems to be its last city directory listing.
Status: It's been demolished. This side of the block has all been redeveloped.
Looking west on 1st from Chicago St. The theatre would have been over on the right on this side of the Hollenbeck Community Police Station. Photo: Google Maps - 2019
More information: There isn't any yet.
The 2129 address pops up in a November 1910 ad about an Airdome offered for sale:
Ken McIntyre included the ad in a Photos of Los Angeles Facebook thread about a mystery shooting in 1910 at an Airdome on S. Central. It's unknown if it was that Airdome for sale or a different one. But the guy running the Athens/Nickelodeon Theatre was evidently the proprietor of whatever was being offered. See the page about the Airdome Moving Picture Theatre at 1126 S. Central Ave. for more on that venue.
There was indeed an Airdome Theatre somewhere on E. 1st St. that was operating in 1911. The story "Juvenile
Actor Is Stabbed In Quarrel" in the August 15, 1911 issue of the Times
was about one of its employees. The injured boy was a runaway who "was
unable to resist the lure of the footlights." The Times didn't give an address for the establishment.
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