Los Angeles Theatres: Wonderland / Pickwick / Gaiety Theatre

330 on the Pike Long Beach, CA 90802 | map |

Opening: This film house was running as the Wonderland Theatre by 1908. The building that had housed the theatre is the one with the curvy mission-style parapet a bit left of center. The Wonderland is listed in the 1908 and 1909-1910 city directories. In 1908 an H. Post was listed as the manager. The location was on the beach side of The Pike in the middle of the block between Cedar Walk and Chestnut Pl.

Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for sharing this card from her collection. It dates from perhaps c.1922, after the theatre space had been rented to other tenants. The image they used for the card can't be later than 1923 as there was a cropped version of it that appeared in a yearbook that year for Long Beach Union Pacific Railroad employees. Card Cow also has a version of the card with different coloring. Two buildings to the left of the former theatre note the squat building with the reddish roof that used to be the Art Theatre at 314. Earlier, the location of the Byde-A-Wyle Theatre had been off to the right of the Gaiety building.

A November 19, 1908 ad located by Ken McIntyre for a thread for the Ken's Movie Page Facebook group.

By the summer of 1911 it had become the Pickwick Theatre. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this August 2 item.

Submarine action. It's a news item Ken located about the theatre's offerings that appeared on December 9, 1911.

An ad from December 9, 1911.

The 1912 directory lists the theatre as the Pickwick with a 330 address. It's listed as the Lyric in the 1913-14 directory.

"'Gaiety' - Household word!" By the summer of 1913 it had become the Gaiety Theatre. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this ad.

An August 30, 1913 item Ken located.

Ads from August 30, 1913 for the Gaiety and several of its competitors on the Pike. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this.

In the 1914-15 city directory it's the Gaiety Theatre with E.S. Holmes listed as the proprietor.

The Wonderland/Gaiety is indicated as "Moving Pictures" at 330-332 in the middle of the beach side of the 300 block in this detail from image 28 of a 1914 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from the Library of Congress collection.

Others on the beach side include the Boston Theatre in the lower left at 348-360. Earlier it had been called the Byde-A-Wyle with an entrance at 336. A bit right of center it's the Art Theatre at 314. The circle is the Looff carousel. On the north side were the Pastime at 311, the earlier Tarrytown / Palace of Pictures at 313 (not shown as theatres on the map), the Bentley at 319, the Bijou Theatre at 333 (here seen as 329-31-35) and the Arrowhead / Joyland at 339.

Seating: The capacity isn't known.

Closing: Sometime around 1915. It's not listed in the 1915-1916 directory.

Status: The building that had housed the theatre survived as long as The Pike did. The amusement zone closed in 1979 and whatever buildings remained were demolished in the early 80s. The area has all been redeveloped with condos.

c.1908 - We get a partial view of the Wonderland on the left in this lovely shot located by Michelle Gerdes on eBay. In the center it's the entrance arch of the Byde-A-Wyle at 336 on the Pike, at the time of the photo an open-air legit venue.

c.1909 - A shot looking east that gives us views of all three theatres on the south side of the 300 block. The image of this postcard is from the Ronald W. Mahan Collection and makes an appearance on the Cal State Long Beach page about the Byde-A-Wyle.

Just left of center it's the Wonderland's building. Two buildings to the left of it we get a side view of the clamshell entrance of the Art Theatre at 314. On the right it's the Byde-A-Wyle, now with a black structure seen in the upper right of the image. By this time they had put a roof on the venue. To the right of the entrance it's Wells & Co. Real Estate. They were listed as "on the Pike" in the 1908 city directory and with a 340 address in the 1909-1910 edition.

c.1925 - Another angle on the east end of the 300 block. The ""C" in "Card Cow" marks the former Gaiety entrance. This copy on the Card Cow site had a 1930 postmark. The squat building that's two farther left (the shorter of the two with blue roofs) was the Art Theatre at 314. The circular red roofed building farther left housed the Looff carousel.

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

1933 - A view west toward Chestnut Pl. after the earthquake. The building the Wonderland / Gaiety had been in can be seen on the left, right behind the sunburst on that first streetlight. The former Bentley Theatre, with interesting lanterns atop its facade, is on the right at 317-19-23. This Austin Studio view is in the California State Library collection, their item #01391404.

1933 - A detail from the left side of the California State Library photo. The first building on the far left is a health food store at 312. The second building once housed the Art Theatre at 314, here half of it was a barbershop offering 25 cent haircuts. By this time the barber was using a 316 address and the restaurant to the right was at 318. The two story building beyond had a palmist at 320 and another barber at 322.

Beyond that, nearly invisible in this view, was a walkway to the beach. The Gaiety building with addresses of 326-332 was on the other side of the walk. Its tenants at the time included Scott's Fancy Glass Blowers at 326, a restaurant advertising "Hot Biscuits" at 328, a jeweler at 330 and billiards at 332. The statue seen on the far right was where The Pike ended at Chestnut Pl. In the distance it's the Virginia Hotel, soon to be demolished.

c.1978 - A view east along The Pike from Chestnut Pl. for a last look at the building that once housed the Wonderland/Pickwick/Lyric/Gaiety. The top of the facade can be seen just beyond the "Penny Arcade" sign. Thanks to Rick Warren for sharing his photo on Flickr. Also see the 26 photos in Rick's "Pike Amusement Park" album and the 144 great views in his "Old Long Beach Buildings" album.

The Byde-A-Wyle was once over on the right at the near end of the block where the tattoo parlor is. That imposing building on the left is on the site of the Joyland Theatre.

2019 - Well, it's hard to get a photo of where the Gaiety once was. In this view we're looking south on Chestnut Pl. with Seaside Way seen on the right. The 300 block of The Pike once ended where that parking garage now is. The theatre was in a half block at 330. Photo: Google Maps

More information: The pages about the Tarrytown Theatre and the Joyland Theatre have additional views of the 300 block between Cedar Walk and Chestnut Pl.

Los Angeles Theatres

Wonderland / Pickwick / Gaiety Theatre

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