Tarrytown / Palace of Pictures / Pastime Theatre

311-313 on The Pike Long Beach, CA 90802  | map | 

Opened: The first Tarrytown Theatre was constructed in the summer of 1907 and was built too late to get an entry in the 1907 Thurston Long Beach city directory. We're looking west in this 1907 photo with the signage presumably saying "Tarrytown Vaudeville Theatre - Admission 10 cents." Beyond the complex there would soon be more development including the Bentley Theatre next door. 

The photo from the Long Beach Historical Society appears on the Cal State Long Beach page about the theatre. The 313 address comes from that page. That second archway with the "theatre" sign was erected first. It appears, without the closer one, in a panoramic shot that's in the Library of Congress collection. In the panorama there's no Bentley Theatre yet and the Virginia Hotel beyond Chestnut Pl. was still unfinished.

The first Tarrytown burned December 23, 1907. A new one was constructed 1908. The main theatre space was an open air venue that had a canvas top that could be drawn across when necessary. Ron Mahan notes that the theatre was a multi-purpose venue that hosted a variety of theatrical and musical events including performances by opera singers. Tarrytown was a large complex that encompassed a main open-air theatre space, a smaller Palace of Pictures nickelodeon, and other retail spaces.

Construction of the new complex, along with other theatre action, had been noted in March 5, 1908 issue of the L.A. Times:

"SURFEIT OF THEATERS The city, after a famine, is to have a surfeit of playhouses. A deal for a third theater was closed today between the Seaside Water Company and the E.C. Edmundson and R.C. McDonald, former manager of the Long Beach Theater. The site leased is a 58x200 foot lot between the bath-house and the Majestic Rink, and heretofore has been used as a children's playground. Mr. McDonald has the plans and capital for a modern theater which will be erected at once and will cost $40,000. Meanwhile, the new Tarrytown, a block west, is being built, and the Naples Construction Company today signed contracts to begin work on the Bentley Theater, west of the Majestic Rink."

Evidently the "third theater" noted in the article to be "erected at once" by McDonald didn't happen. The site between the bathhouse and the rink got a theatre on it in 1910, the Columbia, at 235 The Pike. Later on the site was Hoyt's, a house that ended up as the Strand Theatre.

 

 

 

A detail from a 1908 Sanborn Map appearing courtesy of Ronald W. Mahan. The Pike is shown as the "Walk of a Thousand Lights." The Tarrytown complex was between the Bentley Theatre and Cedar Walk. To the right of Cedar is the Majestic Rink. Also see a larger section of the map.

 

An outdoor performance at the Tarrytown. It's an undated photo from the Long Beach Historical Society that appears on the Cal State Long Beach page about the theatre. 

 

Seating: 800 in the main outdoor theatre space according to the research of Ron Mahan. 

 

The Tarrytown is listed in Thurston's 1908 city directory as "on The Pike" with Long Beach Recreation Co. as the proprietors.  

 

Tarrytown closing: Perhaps 1908 was it for the venue. It's not listed in the 1909-1910 or 1911 Thurston city directories.    

The Palace of Pictures venue in the complex was evidently running in 1907 and, in the rebuilt complex, perhaps lasted into 1909. It's not listed in the 1907 Morris-Thurston directory. It's also not in one publisher's 1908 city directory but it does appear in Thurston's 1908 edition as "on the Pike."

The Palace of Pictures gets a listing in the 1907-1908 edition of "Henry's Official Western Theatrical Guide." The page with the listing can be seen on Google Books. It notes that Southwest Amusement Co. was the operator and they're doing 3 shows a day. The Long Beach Theatre that's also in the listing was at the foot of Locust Ave.

The Palace of Pictures is also in the nickelodeon listings in the trade magazine The Billboard for 1907, 1908 and 1909. The other operation in town for Southwest Amusement was the La Petite Theatre on Pine Ave. Southwest was getting dissolved in 1908 and most of their theatres got sold off to other operators with many getting renamed. There's more about the company down at the bottom of the page about L.A.'s Cameo Theatre.

Seating: 250

Palace of Pictures closing: Sometime around 1910 is the guess. It's not in the Thurston 1909-1910 or 1911 city directories.

 

The Pastime Theatre was presumably a refurbished venue in the Palace of Pictures location. They're listed in the 1911 Thurston city directory with a 311 The Pike address and Brown and Bryan as the proprietors. They didn't have a listing in the 1909-1910 directory. 

The Pastime appears in the 1912, 1913-14 and 1914-15 city directories.

 

 

Ads from August 30, 1913 for the Pastime and several of its competitors on the Pike. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a thread for the Ken's Movie Page Facebook group.  

 

The Pastime Theatre is seen indicated as "Moving Pictures" at 311 in this detail from on image 28 of a 1914 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map in the Library of Congress collection. West of the Pastime on the north side of The Pike were the Bentley at 319 and, shown as "Moving Pictures," the Bijou Theatre at 333 (here seen as 329-331 and [sic] 335) and the Arrowhead / Joyland at 339. On the Beach side were the Art Theatre at 314, the Wonderland / Gaiety at 330-332, and the Boston at 348-360. Earlier that one had been called the Byde-A-Wyle with an entrance at 336. The circle in the lower right is the Looff carousel. 

Pastime closing: Presumably sometime around 1918. The old Tarrytown facade appears lit up in a postcard view from around that date. It's lower on this page.  

Status: Everything once on the site has been demolished. It has turned into a village of condos.

 

c.1908 - A rare early look at the west end of The Pike. From the left, the major buildings are the Virginia Hotel, the Bentley Theatre with its tapered roof on the stagehouse, the Majestic Rink with its arched roof, and the colonnaded Bathhouse. The Tarrytown was to the right of the Bentley. See the detail.  

 

 

 

c.1908 - A detail from the card. One version of the Tarrytown's facade is seen above that yellowish bandstand in the center of the image. It's between the Bentley on the left and the Rink, with its rooftop "Dancing" sign, on the right.

The rear of the card says: "VIEW OF STRAND, LONG BEACH, CAL., Seen on Tilton's 100-Mile Trolley Trip. Here is what it would cost you to visit the points seen on Tilton's Trip: Pasadena and Ostrich Farm..... $.50    San Gabriel Mission and Orange Groves..... .55    Long Beach.... .50    Alamitos Bay and Naples.... .20    Total individual cost.... $1.75. But all for $1.00 on Tilton's Cars, with a reserved Chair Free and a Competent Guide. Cars leave daily, 9 and 9:30 A.M., Pac. Elec. Depot, Cor. 6th & Main Sts., Los Angeles. Phones, Main 8980 or F2444."  Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for spotting the card on eBay.

 

 

1910 - We're looking west with the Virginia Hotel in the distance. This side of it is the Bentley Theatre at 319 The Pike, with its stagehouse visible. The Tarrytown is this side of the Bentley. See the detail below.

 

The large building with the arched roof, and a curious very white facade, is the Majestic Rink. The Bathhouse in the center of the image. The Theatorium, here colored brick red, is on the far right. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for locating this in the collection of Loyola Marymount University.  Card Cow has several versions:  #103537 | #238226 | #106352 - postmarked 1913. A version of the card is in the Long Beach Public Library collection.The Library also has the black and white photo used to create the card. On the image the photographer, "J.A.," has dated it 1910.

 

 

1910 - A detail from the card in the LMU collection. It's murky, but note the pylons of the Tarrytown facade in the center of the image. Beyond, the Bentley has signage on its side wall saying "Bentley." It's unclear what "10 years the standard" on the side of the stagehouse is supposed to be advertising. Note the "Dancing" sign atop the arched roof of the Majestic Rink.

 

c.1918 - A lovely postcard view looking west on The Pike. On the far right note the lit pylons of the Tarrytown/Pastime Theatre. Beyond, that "Hart Theatre" sign is for the former Bentley at 319. It was listed as the Hart in the 1918 Thurston city directory. The nicely lit clamshell entrance on the left is the Art Theatre at 314. The card is from the Ronald W. Mahan Collection and appears on the Cal State Long Beach page about the Art Theatre.

c.1920 - An image from the Ronald W. Mahan collection where Ron has outlined the Bentley Theatre. At the time of the photo it had been renamed the Strand, as seen on the theatre's side wall. Just this side of the Strand sign note the pylons of the Tarrytown facade, here seen as one very dark, one brighter. At this time, if it were even in business still as a theatre, it would have been called the Pastime. 

 

The theatre this side of the Rink, on the site of the earlier Columbia Theatre, is Hoyt's at 235. It would later become the Strand. The photo appears on the Cal State Long Beach page about the Bentley. 

 

 

 

c.1925 - On the bottom to the left of center it's a look down onto part of the Bentley and three of the four buildings (one's obscured from this angle) to the east on the Tarrytown site. Then on the other side of Cedar, it's the Majestic Rink. In the distance on the left note the State Theatre and the Municipal Auditorium. 

 

The building across The Pike with the circular red roof housed the Looff carousel. The second building to the right of the Looff building, the short one, had been the Art Theatre at 314. The building with the curvy Mission-style facade right above the "C" in Card Cow was once the home of the Gaiety Theatre at 330 on the Pike. This copy of the card from the Card Cow collection had a 1930 postmark.

 

1933 - A post-quake view looking west along the 300 block toward Chestnut Pl. The Pastime site at 311 had been at the second building in from the right, behind the scale. The signage for "Wing's" was on the repurposed Bentley Theatre building with the Wing's store at 315 in the single-story building this side of the Bentley. The large building in the center of the image with the peaked roofline is on the site of the Joyland Theatre plus a few lots beyond. The building this side of that with the curved parapet is on the site of the Bijou Theatre at 333. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the photo.

 

 

 

1933 - A view in a bit closer to the former Bentley. Note those interesting "lanterns" on either end of the facade. This Austin Studio view is in the California State Library collection, their item #01391404. The building with the "Gift Souvenirs" is on the Pastime site at 311.

 

 

 

1933 - A view east with part of the building that had once been the Bentley on the far left. That next group of four single-story buildings are on the site of the Tarrytown and Pastime with the second one at 311. The arched roof of the Majestic Rink can be seen just to the left of the arm of the streetlight. The roof sign of the Strand Theatre is beyond, against the tower of the Ocean Center building. It's a photo in the Long Beach Public Library collection.  

 

 

1940 - A look at the territory from above. The Rink is in the upper center. The four buildings on the Tarrytown site are to the left of the Rink and then there's the larger rebuilt Bentley Theatre building. To the right of the rink is the Strand Theatre. It's a photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. 

 

 

 

c.1965 - Another look west. Wing's, right behind that streetlight in the foreground, still had signage up on the Bentley building but here it's become "Sport Shooting." The Bentley, just beyond, ended up with quite a different look to its facade compared to the pre-1933 version. The former Pastime site at 311 is on the far right. On the left note the "Looff's Amusements" on their old carousel building. Thanks to Sarah in Vegas for sharing her photo.

 

 

 

c.1979 - A look south toward The Pike. The Rink had once been in the vacant lot on the center. On the right, we're looking at Cedar Walk and the back end of several of the buildings on the site of the Tarrytown and its successor theatrical venues. Beyond is the Looff's carousel building. Thanks to Rick Warren for sharing his photo. It's one of 26 in his "Pike Amusement Park" album on Flickr. 

 

 

 

2018 - Recognize the neighborhood? Straight ahead we're looking west on The Pike, now dubbed "The Walk of a Thousand Lights." The Bentley was once down there about a hundred feet on the right, with the Tarrytown / Palace of Pictures / Pastime this side of it at various times. On the right it's Cedar Walk, heading up toward Ocean Blvd. Photo: Google Maps.

More information: See the Along the Coast: theatre list by address page for data about how the many theatres were situated along The Pike as well as links to the pages describing them.

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