Embassy Theatre

15401 S. Vermont Ave. Gardena, CA 90247 | map |

Opened: 1929. Thanks to Joe Vogel for doing the research. He reports: 

"Southwest Builder & Contractor of May 18, 1928, said that H. L. Batey was building a theater on the west side of Vermont Avenue between 153rd and Magnolia Street in Gardena (153rd Street is now Redondo Beach Boulevard.) The entire 15300-15400 block now shows as a single parcel on the Assessor’s office web site, with a construction date of 2001. But Mr. Batey’s 1928 project (probably completed in 1929) must have been the Embassy."

It may have been branded as the Alamo Theatre in the early 1930s. The Embassy seems to have been one of two theatres in Gardena at that time. The other possibility would have been a building at 918 Palm Ave. that was variously known in the 20s as The Auditorium and the Gardena Theatre.  

 

There was a closure in early 1931. The March 28 issue of "Inside Facts of Stage and Screen," available as a PDF via Internet Archive, had this tiny item:

 

"HOUSE CLOSED - The Alamo Theatre at Gardena was closed March 23."

 

Murphy's Comedians had a booking in Gardena later in 1931. There's a thread about Murphy on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. Thanks to Jerry Miles for sharing this May 28, 1931 article he located about a Gardena engagement for the Murphy troupe:

 

Murphy went all over the place, with his various companies playing bookings in both regular theatres and setting up their own tents. For some of their other engagements see the pages about the Colonial/Ritz Theatre in South Pasadena, the Tent Theatre in Hawthorne and the Twin City Theatre in Burbank.   

A directory page on the Cinema Tour site lists an Alamo Theatre in Gardena but they have no other data.

Murphy's career was discussed in "Murphy Comedians Open Showhouse...." an April 10, 1931 article from a Glendale paper was located by Jerry Miles. It's about a tent theatre that Murphy was erecting in South Pasadena. Some of their comments about Murphy:

"...There is perhaps no better showman in the west than Horace Murphy. For the past twenty years he has been engaged in theatrical work in Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico, at one time having more than twelve companies. He has had theaters in Glendale, Burbank, Ontario, San Bernardino, Santa Ana, Orange, Hawthorne, Oxnard and Los Angeles in this vicinity and in Phoenix, Tucson, Douglass [sic], Prescott Arizona. At the present time he is showing in Glendale, Los Angeles and Oxnard, California... Mr. Murphy makes a specialty of showing high class legitimate shows at popular prices..."

See the full article at the bottom of the page about the Colonial/Ritz Theatre in South Pasadena.  

In the 40s there was a management change at the Embassy. Joe Vogel notes:

"Boxoffice of October 5, 1940, said that Laraine Valuskis had taken over the Embassy Theatre at Gardena from J. Reese. That’s the only mention of the house I’ve been able to find in Boxoffice."

Closed: Sometime around 1946. 

According to research by Cinema Treasures contributors, the building became the Embassy Palace and the Eldorado Club. It's now the Hustler Casino. It's unknown how much of that dates from the 20s and how much is new construction.     

 

On the left we're looking south on Vermont Ave. Over on the right it's a view west on Redondo Beach Blvd. Image: Google Maps - 2022

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Embassy. 

Here on this site see our page about the Gardena Cinema, a 1946 vintage house. There's also a page about the Gardena Theatre, a venue on Gardena Blvd. that ran from 1939 until 1955. 

There was also an earlier venue at 918 Palm Ave. in Gardena. In the 1922-23 Watts-Compton city directory and the 1925 Watts directory it's listed as The Auditorium. In the 1927-28 city directory it's listed as the Gardena Theatre. This was in the first block west of Vermont. Palm later got renamed W. 165th Pl. See a 1912 Sanborn map in the Library of Congress collection.

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