87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre, CA 91024 | map |
Architect: Unknown. Ron Pierce notes that the building dates from 1910 according to the county assessor's office. It had been the Burgien Brothers "Furniture and House Furnishing Establishment." The Sierra Madre Playhouse website gives a 1923 opening date but several other dates they have are erroneous.
Seating: 400 was the number in the 1943 Film Daily yearbook where
they had the name as "Wisterial," according to Ken Roe. In the 1940
edition it had been listed as closed. In the 1952 edition the capacity
given was 390. It's now an Equity Waiver theatre with 99 seats.
A 1930 ad from the Playhouse's collection that appeared in Patt Diroll's 2023 Pasadena Star-News article "Sierra Madre Theatre is all grown up, with 100th year on the horizon." Thanks to April Wright for spotting it. "They Had To See Paris" was a September 1929 release. "South Sea Rose" was out in December 1929.
Mike Rivest notes that L.A. Times ads for the Wistaria didn't start appearing until 1940. The name is also seen as Wisteria.
The theatre kept the Wistaria name until 1943 when it was renamed the Sierra Madre Theatre. Ken McIntyre found an item in a January 1943 issue of Boxoffice:
"Harold Stein, owner of the Boulevard Theater here and co-owner of the Ritz in Inglewood, is taking over the Wisteria in Sierra Madre from George Tiderik. Stein will change the name of the showplace to the Sierra Madre."
Mike Rivest notes that the L.A. Times ads started using the Sierra Madre name in February 1943. Beginning in 1968 it operated as an art house called the Bogart Theatre. Matt Hormann notes that it ran as a film house until 1971.
An interior view:
Thanks to Ben Boquist for sharing this shot as one of seven photos in a 2024 post about the theatre for the private Facebook group Theatre Architecture.
More exterior views:
2005 - Thanks to Ken Roe for his photo, a post on Cinema Treasures.
2008 - Thanks to Ross Care for this photo, one he's posted on Flickr as "A Treasure of Sierra Madre."
The Sierra Madre Theatre on TV:
Thanks to Lou Rugani for this 1955 shot. The theatre was running "Pete Kelly's Blues," a July release. The image was a post on Cinema Treasures where Lou comments: "That’s Thomas Mitchell in the photo, doing a scene as a doctor for the TV series 'Screen Directors Playhouse.' He was heading to the one-story art deco building next door, which is still there."
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Sierra Madre Playhouse for all the available data.
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