Alhambra Theatre

702 W. Main St. Alhambra, CA 91801 | map | 

 

Opened: Early 1924 is the best guess. It's mentioned in a March 1924 newspaper article as having been open for at least several months. It was on the south side of the street with the entrance just east of Atlantic Blvd., called Wilson Ave. at the time. 

 

This was the the third theatre to call itself the Alhambra and, when it opened, was the largest in the area. The first was at 101 E. Main, later called the Superba Theatre. The second Alhambra opened in 1917 at 130 W. Main. and ended as the Capri Theatre. In 1923 O.W. Lewis was the lessee of that second Alhambra and he closed it when he opened this new theatre. He kept the lease on his earlier theatre and by March 1924 had subleased it to other operators who renamed it the Plaza.  

 

That's James Edwards under the marquee in this early 30s view. The photo has appeared in many places, including as a post from Ken McIntyre on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page and in the Atlantic Theatre album of Nathan Solis on Flickr

The theatre had a full stage and in its early years ran plays and vaudeville in addition to film programs. It was listed at 700 W. Main in the 1931 thru the 1939 city directories. The auditorium was behind a commercial building and ran parallel to Main St. with the stagehouse backing up to Atlantic.

Architect: George Weir designed the original theatre. Thanks to Joe Vogel for the information.

Seating: Perhaps 1,000 originally. In 1940, the capacity was listed as 950 in the original theatre and 450 in the Annex, added that year. Later Film Daily Yearbooks listed 600 for the main house.

James Edwards had purchased the business in 1930 and a decade later added the second screen in an adjacent storefront to solve the "double-bill problem." Joe Vogel notes that the Alhambra was the second location for what would become the Edwards circuit. The first was the 1930 takeover of the Mission Theatre in Monterey Park, a house later renamed the Monterey.

 

 

 

This article discussing the project appeared in the July 23, 1938 issue of Boxoffice. Thanks to Joe Vogel for locating it. When the second house opened in 1940 the two were known as the Alhambra Theatre and the Annex, the first twin on the west coast. The Annex was also advertised as the Single Bill Theatre.

 

The new twin was featured in this January 20, 1943 article in The Exhibitor. Thanks to Jack Theakson for posting it on the Facebook group Motion Picture Technology. 

 

The original programming idea was to run the same double feature in both houses with the schedules reversed. You could see a single feature or stay for a double. Or if you came in in the middle at the main house, at intermission you move to the annex where, after intermission, you could see the beginning of the same film. The thought was that the double feature business was alienating the clientele who had grown up with single features and sometimes came in during the feature and didn't want to stay through a second feature just to see what they had missed. This way the complex could appeal to more people.

 

A November 5, 1941 ad for the Annex as the Single Bill Theater. Note the 626 W. Main address used for the second screen. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating this. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org

The second screen had been unused for a few years when it was renovated in the 60s. The two screens were then called the Alhambra and the Gold Cinema. Later they were the Alhambra Twin Cinemas. 

Closing: The October 1, 1987 Whittier earthquake was the end. Much of the original auditorium and its stagehouse was rubble. The complex was soon demolished.

Status: The Edwards Atlantic Palace 10 plex was built on the site, opening in May 1991. That building was demolished in 2011. There's now an L.A. County Housing Authority building on the site. 

 

More interior views:

 

 

The lobby of the Alhambra in 1940. The Annex is at the right, the inner lobby of the original house straight ahead. The photo appeared in the October 12, 1940 issue of Boxoffice with an article about the opening of the Annex. Thanks to Joe Vogel for finding the article.

 

 

On the left, a directional sign to get you to the Main Auditorium or the Annex. Photo: Exhibitor - January 20, 1943

 

The main Alhambra Theatre auditorium. Photo: Exhibitor - January 20, 1943

 

 

 

The Alhambra Annex. Photo: Exhibitor - January 20, 1943 

 

 

More exterior views: 

  

 

1940 - That "World's Only Double Bill - Single Bill Theatre - See Both Features or One" sign refers to the possibilities with the 1940 opening of the Annex in adjacent store space. Both houses ran the same double feature, with reversed showtimes. Both "Maryland" and "Untamed" were July releases. The photo appeared with the October 12, 1940 Boxoffice article about the opening of the second auditorium.

 

 

1941 - The Alhambra running "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde," an August release with Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana turner and Ian Hunter.  Thanks to Claudia Mullins for spotting this when it was posted on the Pacific Electric Railway Facebook group. No photographer was credited. 

1954 - The Alhambra and the Annex. "Cattle Queen of Montana" was a November release with Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. "The Golden Mistress" with John Agar and Rosemarie Stack was out in October. Thanks to Denise Ahlers for sharing the photo on the Historic Theatres Facebook page. She notes that working this theatre in 1985 and 1986 was her first job.

 

1954 - A detail from the previous image. Ken McIntyre located this version for a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

 

 

c.1960 - A fine view of the vertical. Thanks to Moviejs1944 for this one, a post on Cinema Treasures. 

 

 

1983 - A photo from the now-vanished American Classic Images website.

 

 

 

2019 - A view east on Main St. from Atlantic Blvd. The Alhambra, and later, the Edwards Atlantic, were over on the right. Photo: Google Maps

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Alhambra for a fine history by Joe Vogel. Cinema Tour also has a page on the Alhambra.

See "The Edwards Atlantic: Demolition Day," a 2011 Alhambra Source article by Nathan Solis for a brief history of the Alhambra and the Edwards circuit -- with corrections by Joe Vogel. Also see Nathan's Atlantic Theatre album on Flickr which includes a 1923 aerial view of the site.

 

A detail from the 1923 shot. That's Main St. running horizontally through the image and what is now Atlantic appearing vertically. The theatre site is on the lower right (southeast) corner of the intersection. It's hard to tell what we're looking at but it appears to be demolition of earlier buildings prior to the theatre construction.  

Jimmy Edwards died in 1997 at age 90. What's left of his circuit is now part of the Regal circuit, owned by the British company Cineworld.

| back to top | San Gabriel Valley, Pomona, Whittier theatres | theatres by address: San Gabriel Valley, Pomona, Whittier | South, South Central and Southeast theatres | Pasadena theatres | Downtown theatres | Westside theatres | Hollywood | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | [more] Los Angeles movie palaces | Los Angeles theatres - the main alphabetical list | theatre history resources | film and theatre tech resources | contact info | welcome and site navigation guide |