Crest Theatre

4275 Atlantic Ave. Long Beach, CA 90807 | map |

 

 

 

Opened: January 23, 1947 with an invitational sneak preview of "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim." The film the next day was "13 Rue Madeleine" with James Cagney. It was on the west side of the street between Carson St. and San Antonio Dr. The Crest was two blocks south of the Towne Theatre, which had opened in 1946. Thanks to Matt Spero for sharing this photo he took in 1974. 

 

The copy on the marquee for the opening bragged about "The World's First Prefashioned Theatre" and "The Theatre of 303 Wonders." Fox West Coast Theatres enlisted industrialist Henry J. Kaiser to bring his wartime manufacturing expertise to economical pre-fabricated post-war theatre construction for the chain. The result was the Crest, supposedly a prototype for a whole series of buildings to be constructed for Fox using factory made components. Perhaps because it was a prototype, it ended up costing substantially more than the other theatres the chain was building at the time and the experiment wasn't carried forward.

Fox did have their own plant, however, to turn out many standardized components for their theatres of this period including plaster moldings, plaster wall mural panels, etched aluminum decorative panels, snackbar components and more.

Architect: Fox West Coast's in-house designer Carl G. Moeller developed the project. Kaiser's engineers produced most of the drawings for the pre-fab steel frame building. See information at the bottom of the page about another Henry Kaiser project, domed theatres for TODD-AO.

 

Seating: 1,164 in a stadium-style configuration for the upper section. 

 

The new theatre was featured in "Pre-fashioned...The Crest Opens New Avenues in Planning," a two page article in the February 1, 1947 issue of Boxoffice. The article noted: "Except for the concrete foundation, the entire theatre was fashioned in the factory and assembled at the site, even to the wall decorations...Construction is so designed, say the builders, that the structure can be disassembled and moved to another location." The article is reproduced at the bottom of the page.

 

 

 

The ads appeared as teasers with the vertical sign filling out letter-by-letter. This assortment of them was a post by Dallas Movie Theaters on Cinema Treasures. 

 

 

  A January 22 ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org

 

 

A January 23 ad located by Mike Rivest.   

 

 

The program for the January 23 invitational opening. Thanks to Steve Dilday for sharing this on a post on the Growing Up In Long Beach Facebook page. And thanks to Ron Mahan for spotting the post.

 

 

A personal invitation from Charles Skouras that appeared in the January 25, 1947 issue of Boxoffice. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theatres for posting it on Cinema Treasures.  

 

 

 

 

"A sensation among showmen everywhere.." It's an ad for the Duran plastic materials that were extensively used in the Crest. The ad appeared in the March 29, 1947 issue of Boxoffice. Thanks to Comfortably Cool for posting it on Cinema Treasures.  

Closing: Mann Theatres closed the house in 1978.  

 

Status: It was demolished in 1979. There's now a strip mall on the site.

 

Interior views:

The main lobby. That's the sunken lounge area on the left. Photo: Cinema Tour - Bob Meza collection

 

 

 

A sunken lounge shot. Note the slope of the seating section overhead. Photo: Cinema Tour - Bob Meza collection

 

 

One end of the sunken lounge banquette. Photo: Cinema Treasures - Dallas Movie Theatres

 

 

 

The steps up to the main lobby level. Photo: Cinema Tour - Bob Meza collection

 

 

The ladies cosmetics room. Photo Boxoffice - February 1, 1947: "Pre-fashioned...The Crest Opens
New Avenues in Planning." 

 

 

On the auditorium's crossaisle. Photo: Cinema Treasures - Dallas Movie Theatres. Thanks, DMT!

 

 

 

A look toward the screen that appeared with the February 1, 1947 Boxoffice article. Thanks to Bill Gabel for posting this version of it on Cinema Treasures. 

 

 

 

A view from house right that appeared in the November 20, 1948 issue of Motion Picture Herald in an ad for Bodiform theatre seats. It's on Internet Archive.

  

 

 

 

A sidewall detail. Photo: Cinema Tour - Bob Meza collection

 

 

 

Doors leading to the lobby. Thanks to Bill Gabel for this version of the photo, one that appeared in Boxoffice. 

 

 

 

In the booth. They had Magnarc lamps, Simplex E-7 heads, Simplex SH-1000 soundheads and preview magazines that allowed the theatre to run 1000' reels with sound on a separate reel from the picture. Photo: Cinema Tour - Bob Meza collection. Thanks, Bob!  

 

 

More exterior views: 

 

 

1946 - A Nate Singer photo of the theatre before opening. It's in the Herald Examiner collection at the Los Angeles Public Library. 

 

 

 

1947 - A pre-opening view appearing on the Historic Buildings page of the Long Beach Heritage Museum website. The photo also appears in the Long Beach Public Library collection. Also see another pre-opening view with work still underway on the vertical sign.

 

 

 

1947 - A grand opening photo by Nate Singer from the Herald Examiner collection of the Los Angeles Public Library.  

 

 

 

1947 - Another Nate Singer photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. 

 

 

 

1947 - A view from the north in Los Angeles Public Library collection. Note the "Preview" neon. 

 

 

 

1947 - An opening night view from the Long Beach Public Library collection. 

 

 

 

  

1947 - Another Nate Singer photo in the Los Angeles Public Library Herald Examiner collection. 

 

 

 

1947 - Before coming inside you got your shoes cleaned automatically. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this photo he found in Ohio. The copy on the back of the photo: 

 

 

 

1948 - A look north with the Towne Theatre in the distance. Many thanks to David Smith for sharing this image from a slide in his collection as a post for the Growing Up In Long Beach Facebook group. 

1952 - Cleaning the doors at night. Thanks to Chris Nichols for spotting this photo by Joseph Risinger on the Cal State Dominguez Hills website. It was acquired for their Gerth Archives & Special Collections from the Long Beach Historical Society. Risinger had a long career as a photographer for the Long Beach Post Telegram, the L.A. Times and the Associated Press.

 

This was taken the last week of March when the theatre was running "A Streetcar Named Desire." The co-feature was "Mutiny!" with Mark Stevens and Angela Lansbury. The posters on the left are for "Streetcar," "Five Fingers" with a 'Coming Soon' card, and their next feature "Blue Veil." "Five Fingers" was to play first-run at the Chinese, Los Angeles and Loyola from April 1 through 10. To the right of the boxoffice is a poster for "A Place in the Sun," opening April 1 on the bottom half of the double bill with "The Blue Veil," which got a poster in the next case with a 'Starts Tuesday' card. Moving closer to the street it's a poster for "Five Fingers" and, in the front case, their current co-feature, "Mutiny!" Charlie Ziarko comments:

"They must have been bringing back 'Desire' and 'Place in the Sun' because they had figured so prominently in the Academy Awards, held on March 20 (!) at the Hollywood Pantages, though the surprise Best Picture winner = 'An American in Paris.'"

 

1952 - A detail from the Joseph Risinger photo.

 

 

1950s - A view with the Crest in the center. The Towne Theatre is up in the next block. Thanks to Gary Palumbo for sharing this with the private Facebook group Growing Up in Long Beach. He notes that it's a Thrifty's in the upper right. 

 

 

1978 - A photo taken the week of the theatre's closure. Thanks to Kevin Fleming for locating the image for a post on the Southern California Nostalgia Facebook page.  

 

 

2019 - A view south on Atlantic at Bellinghall Dr. The Crest was formerly over on the right where the strip mall now is. Photo: Google Maps 

 

From the February 1, 1947 issue of Boxoffice: 

 

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Crest for lots of data and photos. The Cinema Tour page has many interior photos from the Bob Meza collection. 

 

The fate of the Crest, Atlantic and Town theatres are discussed in a 2010 Signal Tribune article by Maureen Neeley.  

 

Henry Kaiser was part of another theatre venture that went nowhere. He was to be involved in manufacturing dome theatres for the TODD-AO process that were to be designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

A photo of Wright’s Lieutenant William Wesley Peters, Frank Lloyd Wright, Michael Todd and Henry Kaiser, who was to provide the metal roof for the theatres. Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for locating the photo. Visit his site about the Chinese: www.GraumansChinese.org. Film veteran Charlie Ziarko comments: 

 

"Interrresting...! Without Todd's death it might have gone forward, as Todd was at the top of show biz thanks to 'Around the World'...and had a lifetime as a promoter. Todd Jr. unwisely sank his (inherited) money into 'Scent of Mystery' instead and that was that."

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