Los Angeles Theatres: Kingsley, Moles & Collins

258 S. Main St. | map |

Opened: Well, they were doing business by 1907 in the building just north of Tally's Electric Theatre, by then called the Lyric, at 262 S. Main. They were mostly a printing, binding and stationery firm and it appears that they added some peep show machines.

"Where To Go Tonight." The 258 S. Main location is included in this September 1907 column of ads from the Los Angeles Record. They were offering "all the latest songs and moving pictures, 1c." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

The other advertisers: The Royal Theatre was at 246 S. Broadway. "The Original Penny Arcade" at 125 S. Main was a venue later known as the Happy Hour Theatre. "Automatic Vaudeville" at 434 S. Spring was evidently the theatre later known as the Edison. The Theatorium at 444 S. Main was just north of the location of the current Regent Theatre. The Scenic Theatre was, as the ad says, at 522 S. Spring.

In the 1907 and 1908 city directories the firm's principals were listed as J.A. Kingsley, H.E. Moles and L.E. Collins.

This detail from plate 002 of the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey from Historic Map Works shows the building Kingsley, Moles and Collins were in as 250 to 258. The building the Electric / Lyric Theatre is seen as "Theatre" at 260-262-264. The Liberty at 266 hadn't arrived yet. Note the Empire theatre around the corner on 3rd and the Panorama Building in the 300 block of S. Main. It would later be the site of the Hippodrome Theatre. The jog on 3rd would be smoothed out c.1930.

Also see this block in Image 23 from Volume 2 of the 1906 Sanborn Map that's on the Library of Congress website.

Closing date: Unknown

Status: The building they were in, as well as most of the block south of St. Vibiana's Cathedral, has been demolished. There's a Los Angeles Police Department garage now on the site.

Los Angeles Theatres

Kingsley, Moles & Collins

No comments:

Post a Comment