Palm Garden Picture Theatre

18th & Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90015  | map |

Opened: Well, it was running in 1907. It could have been nearby but the assumption is that it was on the ground floor of the building on the southwest corner of 18th and Main that had the Palm Garden Dance Hall on the 2nd floor. 

 

Seating: 825

An August 1907 ad in the Times placed by the manager of the Palm Garden Picture Theatre who was selling "original Naples," whatever those were. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for adding it as a comment on a thread on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page about venues at 18th & Main. 

Another interesting August 1907 ad advising us that he had a Lubin (not "Luben") projector for sale. Ken comments: "Don't forget the coffee urn -- it costs more than the projector!" 

 

As seen in these two December 1907 ads that Ken located the manager of the Palm Garden was interested in selling the whole enterprise: lease, seats, piano, projector. And a fountain! 

Closing: The date of the theatre's closing is unknown. Maybe late 1907 was the end of it. While the Palm Garden Dance Hall makes a number of city directory appearances from 1907 until at least 1910, the theatre didn't get any listings. 

The dance hall was evidently built in 1906 or 1907 on the southwest corner of 18th and Main. The site is identified as the Palace Stables in the 1906 city directory and on image 110 of Volume 1 of the 1906 Sanborn Map on the Library of Congress website. There's not much to look at but the east side of Main between 17th and Washington is seen on image 11 from Volume 2 of the 1906 Sanborn Map. 

The 1907 city directory lists the Angelus Palm Garden with Frederick Limouse as manager at 1801 S. Main. In 1908 the Angelus was dropped and the listing is just for the Palm Garden under "Business Buildings & Halls, etc."  It's listed as both the Palm Garden and the Palm Garden Pavilion in 1909 with Arthur W. Rutherford as proprietor.

 

Well there's no theatre in sight but we see a dance hall indicated on the 2nd floor of the building on the southwest corner of 18th and Main, seen here as the large building in pink. The Palm Garden could have been in one of the ground floor spaces. It's a detail from plate 010 of the 1910 Baist Real Estate Map from Historic Map Works.

 

By the time the 1910 city directory was compiled it had become the Palm Garden Skating Rink operated by Jesse L. Walton, Samuel L. Loeb and George J. Ahnemiller. 

 

 

The building is seen as a garage in this detail from plate 010 of the 1914 Baist Map from Historic Map Works. 

That's the Victor Theatre identified as "Theatre" on the east side of the street at 1718 S. Main. It had opened in 1912 as the Globe and was later called the Royal. They sometimes advertised that they were at 17th and Main, at other times saying that they were at 18th and Main.

Status: The Palm Garden Building is no more. The site is now a parking lot. The location is now just south of the 10 freeway. 

More information: Sorry, there isn't any.

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