Los Angeles Theatres: Capri Theatre

444 S. Glendora Ave. West Covina, CA 91790 | map |

Opening: June 19, 1963 as a single screen house with one of the largest screens in the San Gabriel Valley. The initial film was "Bye Bye Birdie."

Seating: Around 1,200 initially.

Architect: Unknown

It was originally a Statewide Theatres house. Joe Vogel reports finding a September 11, 1961 Boxoffice article that mentions that it was one of three theatres being developed by Fred Stein Enterprises, the development arm of the circuit. The page 8 article about new theatre construction listed this house and one other house underway, a 1,200 seat "Deluxe" theatre in El Monte. They seem to have omitted the third Statewide project.

Also noted for West Covina was the 1,100 seat Eastland Theatre, in the Eastland Shopping Center, a $400,000 project for A.L. Sanborn & Sons.

Thanks to Elmorovivo for locating this rendering for a post on Cinema Treasures. That idea about a Christmas Day opening was overly optimistic.

A June 19, 1963 opening day ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it.

Loew's picked it up in 1967, as one of 30 theatres in the Statewide circuit. Joe Vogel notes that the acquisition was noted in the Loew's Theatres annual report for 1967. SRO then had it when they took over the L.A. area Loew's theatres around 1976.