Long Beach Theatre

23 S. Locust Ave. Long Beach, CA 90802 | map |

 

Opening: The Long Beach Theatre opened in 1907 or a bit earlier. That's it on the right in this detail looking east taken from a c.1908 panorama of downtown by Haines Photo Co. Thanks to Ron Mahan for locating it. That's Ocean Blvd. on the left.

 

 

 

The full image. It's in the Library of Congress collection. On their site you can zoom in for details. 

 

 

Seating: 1,500

Proscenium: 24' wide x 16' high

 

Stage depth: 30'

 

Grid Height: 30'

 

Stage width: 50'

Illumination: Electric

The data comes from the theatre's listing in the 1907-1908 edition of "Henry's Official Western Theatrical Guide":

 

 

This edition of "Henry's" is on Google Books.

 

The theatre is listed in the 1908 Thurston's Long Beach city directory as at the "foot of Locust Ave." and operated by the Colonial Amusement and Building Co. O.L. McDonald was listed as the president and manager, J.E. Lutz, VP and treasurer, Chas. Lambrecht, secretary. There wasn't a listing in the 1907 directory.

 

 

 

The theatre is on the right with a 23 S. Locust address in this detail from the 1908 Sanborn insurance map. They show it as vacant but with the stage in temporary use for scenic painting. Thanks to Ron Mahan for locating the map on the site Historic Map Works and annotating it. Also see a wider area from the 1908 map. 

 

Closing: Presumably early in 1908, for reasons unknown.  

Status: It was demolished, date unknown. 

McDonald, by then the "former manager of the Long Beach Theater" was mentioned in a March 5, 1908 L.A. Times article discussing new theatre construction:

"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 theatre" 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. Note that in the Times story McDonald gets different initials than he did in the 1908 city directory listing.

The Long Beach Theatre name pops up again in the 1909-1910 city directory. They use the name for 336 on The Pike, a location that at other times was called the Byde-A-Wyle, the Unique, and the Boston.  

 

Looking south on Locust Ave. from Ocean Blvd. The Long Beach Theatre was once where the red awning is, just this side of the alley. Photo: Google Maps - 2019

More information: Sorry, there isn't any more.

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