347 Pine Ave. Long Beach, CA 90802 | map |
Opened: November 8, 1915 for operator Homer Laughlin, Jr. (1876 -1932). It's in the 1917-18 through 1926 city directories as the Laughlin Theatre. The site was the southwest corner of Pine and 4th. In this Winstead photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection they were running "The Dangerous Moment," an April 1921 release with Carmel Myers.
Architect: It was designed by the noted modernist architect Irving Gill. Murals in the theatre were by Hanson
David Puthuff. Gill had designed a home for Laughlin in the West Adams
area of L.A. in 1912. See a Wikipedia article about Gill.
"It's Always Cool." This 1922 ad was located by Ken McIntyre for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. "Her Night of Nights" was a June release.
Eugene Tracy took over the theatre around 1932, presumably upon the death of Homer Laughlin. Thanks to Mike Rivest for finding this November 12, 1932 ad. A marquee photo in 1933 also called it Tracy's Laughlin.
In the 1933 city directory it's listed as the Tracy Theatre. In 1934 Tracy took over the former Ritz/Capitol on Seaside, renaming it the Tracy Theatre. He later operated the Victor Theatre as well.
Closing: It sustained major damage in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake and was not used as a theatre again. The building was repaired and used as a drug store and for storage.
1927 - A Winstead photo of the entrance from the Ronald W. Mahan Collection. It appears on the Cal State Long Beach page about the Laughlin. There's also a version in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page for some interesting comments by Ken McIntyre, Joe Vogel and other researchers.
The Cal State Long Beach page about the Laughlin asserts that it opened earlier as a legit house, suffered damage in a 1913 earthquake, and then reopened as a movie house in 1915.
See Dishing with HLCCA for a blog post about Gill and Laughlin. Homer's father had owned a large Ohio manufacturer of China. The Arcadia Publishing book "Long Beach Art Deco" discusses the Laughlin Theatre on page 93. The page is included in the book's preview on Google Books. .The blog "A Look Back at Vintage Los Angeles" has a post about Homer Laughlin, Sr. (1843 - 1913). He built the Homer Laughlin Building in downtown L.A. in 1897. The building, at 315 S. Broadway, was expanded in 1905 with an addition that went all the way through to Hill St. Since 1917 the ground floor tenant has been the Grand Central Market.
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