Los Angeles Theatres: Lyric / Crest Theatre

205 E. Foothill Blvd. Monrovia, CA 91016 | map |

Opened: October 22, 1925 as the Lyric Theatre. It was on the north side of the street at Ivy Ave., two blocks east of Myrtle. The pre-opening photo by MacDougall Studio from the California Historical Society collection appears on the USC Digital Library website. On the marquee: "Magnificent Opening October Twenty Second - Surprises - Many Prominent Stars - Splendid Prologue - Feature Music."

Seating: 1,100

Pipe organ: It was a Wurlitzer 210 special that got moved to Monrovia High School in 1937, according to Cinema Treasures contributor Zeke.

Architects: Wilson, Merrill and Wilson. Thanks to Joe Vogel for the research. He notes:

"Southwest Builder & Contractor of January 9th, 1925, revealed that the plans for the Lyric Theatre were being prepared by the firm of Wilson, Merrill and Wilson, 128 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles. The building was to be 70' x 150' and the projected cost was $75,000. The owners and operators would be National Theatres."

Joe also notes that the project had been announced in the January 3, 1925 issue of the L.A. Times. The Times reported on May 3 that the contract for construction had been let.

The new theatre got the front page of the October 21, 1925 Monrovia Daily News. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the page for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

It's in the 1927 and 1930 city directories as The Lyric at 205 E. White Oak Ave. The street was later renamed Foothill Blvd. The Lyric is listed as being on Foothill Blvd. in the directories for 1931 and later years. For decades it was operated by Fox West Coast. Fox also had the Monrovia Theatre.

A printer's layout for a program cover, presumably from the 1930s. Thanks to Mark Johnson for sharing the image with the Monrovia's Past in Pictures Facebook group.

A 1931 flyer for the theatre that was located by Dallas Movie Theaters for a post on Cinema Treasures.

A February 1942 ad. Thanks to Texas2step for finding it for Cinema Treasures.

Fox gave it a re-do at some point, presumably in the 1950s, and it was renamed the Crest Theatre. They dropped the theatre from the circuit sometime before 1971 and within several years it had become a porno operation. In 1974, facing community opposition, the porno policy moved to the Buena Vista Cinema in Duarte and the Crest reverted to family films under the management of Winston Evans and a partner. The issues were discussed in a June 1974 article from the Pasadena Star-News that was located by Ken McIntyre:

"...When the Crest opened with 'Deep Throat' and 'Devil in Miss Jones' last month, Monrovia found reasons to close the theatre down. First it was closed for failure to comply with business license requirements and the manager was arrested. Later the Monrovia council passed an ordinance prohibiting the operation of an adult movie theater within 1,000 feet of a school, in this case, Clifton Middle School. Constitutionality of the ordinance was questioned, but the theater managers backed off before the issue was settled by the council. The owners of the movie house announced they would lease the theater to Evans and cancel the showing of X-rated films...."

The new operators, one white and one black, had difficulty attracting white patronage from Monrovia even under a one dollar bargain policy. They eventually started booking films that would appeal to a black clientele from Duarte. The customers were well behaved but troubles began with young whites from Monrovia coming by and causing difficulties.

Closing: The Crest closed in 1978.

The city council declared the building a public nuisance. Ken McIntyre located this article from the March 1, 1978 issue of the Monrovia News-Post:

"Three Monrovia properties Tuesday were deemed public nuisances and ordered demolished or rehabilitated by the Monrovia City Council. To be demolished are the Crest Theater building, 205 E. Foothill Blvd., and the dwellings at 428 E. Walnut Ave. and 421 E. Royal Oaks Drive. Constructed in the early 1920s, the Crest Theater building was ordered demolished because of numerous violations of the National Electric Code and the Uniform Building and Fire Code.

"Violations at the site were found in the form of illegally altered wiring, broken and missing electrical fixtures, graffiti on the outside of the building, combustible wastes strewn throughout the inside of the building and improperly supported fire hose water lines. The owner of the Foothill Boulevard property, S.M. Lazarus, asked the city to demolish the Crest Theater rather than allow it to be rehabilitated or repaired. At the Tuesday meeting, the council complied with Lazarus' wishes and placed a $30,000 lien against the property to pay for demolition."

Status: It was demolished in September 1979.

1925 - A detail from the MacDougall Studio photo.

1925 - The theatre running the December release "Soul Mates" starring Aileen Pringle and Edmund Lowe. It was based on a novel by Elinor Glyn. Thanks to Zeke for locating the shot for a post on Cinema Treasures.

1938 - A photo taken by G. Haven Bishop for Southern California Edison. It was part of a series taken to promote the virtues of air conditioning for business owners. The photo is in the Huntington Library collection.