A "Watch For Our Program" teaser ad running in the Times in 1926.
The theatre is in the 1927 and 1929 Hawthorne city directories as the Hawthorne. It was renamed the Rex Theatre in 1937. Jerry Miles notes that the name change occurred after then-operator George Halligan sold his interest to E.S."Ned" Calvi, who already was running the Plaza Theatre. Halligan went on to manage the Brentwood Theatre on Wilshire Blvd. just east of Santa Monica.
A 1937 ad located by Jerry Miles. "Romance and Riches," also known as "The Amazing Adventure," was a February 1937 release. "Speed Limited" was out in December 1935.
By the next month it had been renamed the Cal Theatre: "Open Soon." This was the February 8, 1948 ad. They got the theatre reopened later that month.
In June 1949 Boxoffice noted that Sherrill Corwin and Lester Blumberg had taken over active operations of the Plaza and Cal Theaters in Hawthorne,
having acquired controlling interest in the two houses from Ned Calvi. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for the research. Calvi also had the Lomita Theatre.
Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this April 28, 1950 listing in the Times.
A photo by Steven Georges of Coast Media that appeared in the August 11, 1988 issue of the Hawthorne Press-Tribune/Lawndale News. Their caption:
"MODERN DAY CENTER - The multi-level J.C. Penney store today covers the site where the Hawthorne Theatre was first located six decades ago. The Penney store, along with Broadway and Montgomery Ward, anchor the Hawthorne Plaza Shopping Center, which also contains 133 other businesses. Opened in 1976, the Plaza is one of the few major shopping centers in the Southland that does not have 'Mall' as part of its name. Hawthorne Plaza consists of 34 acres."
More information: Many thanks to Jerry Miles for his research. He notes that he arrived in Hawthorne in 1954 and the Hawthorne Theatre was gone by then.
Visit our page about the Plaza Theatre. The Roosevelt Theatre was also nearby. Or it was supposed to be. West Coast Theatres supposedly had it under construction in 1926 but it was never completed.
See the Cinema Treasures page on the Rex for some data mingled with information about the never-built Roosevelt.
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