Opened: 1940 or 1941 on the site of the Belvedere Theatre. The c.1945 photo is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Yes, a great double bill. "The Shanghai Cobra" with Sidney Toler was a September 1945 release. That wonderful musical epic "Springtime in Texas" was a June 1945 release with Jimmy Wakely and Dennis Moore.
The location was mid-block on the west side of the street between 2nd and 3rd. It was in the block north of the Fox Pomona.
Seats: 502
Architect: Clifford A. Balch. Thanks to Joe Vogel for the research. He reports:
"Southwest Builder and Contractor issue of March 1st, 1940,
announced that architect C.A. Balch was preparing plans for the State
Theatre, for Fox West Coast. The previous year, other issues of
the same publication had announced plans for a theater on the same site,
to have been built for John Drew, named as the operator of the Temple
Theater in Glendale. This theater would have had a balcony and a total
of 800 seats, but the project was never carried out. The interesting
thing about these earlier announcements, though, is that they revealed
that the State was built on the site of the former Belvedere Theater,
which was destroyed by a fire. The fire story was covered in a Los
Angeles Times article of November 21st, 1933."
Closing: The date is unknown. One commentator notes that it was gone by 1968.
Status: It's been demolished. The site is now a parking lot.
Looking south on Garey toward the Fox at 3rd St. The State Theatre once just beyond the corner of the bank building seen on the far right. Take a right on 3rd and go west a block and you're at the United Artists. Photo: Google Maps - 2019
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the State Theatre.
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Thanks for a great, detailed write up of the State Theater in Pomona. To think that back in the 1940s through to the 1970s there were 3 large, standalone theaters within one block of each other in tiny downtown Pomona. As a kid I would go to all of them, but not as much to the Fox because it was the most expensive, with the United Artists significantly less and the State having the best prices of all. The State also had the best balcony because it hung way out over the seats on the lower floor. When you sat front row in that balcony, the screen filled your eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe State was gone by 1968 when I used to walk by Home Savings every day on my way to high school.I do remember the States polished steel front entrance doors when I was a younger kid and my brothers would take me to the State and the UA.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that 1968 data point!
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