Los Angeles Theatres: Madrid Theatre

8140 S. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles CA 90044 | map |

Opened: Sometime around October 1, 1926. The 1928 image is a detail from a Dick Whittington Studios photo that's Scott Collette located in the USC collection. The full shot is lower on the page. The theatre was on the northeast corner of Vermont and 82nd St. That's five blocks north of Manchester. In the 1920s when the area was being developed it was called Vermont Avenue Knolls.

Architects: McConville & Perryman, according to a May 30, 1926 L.A. Times article.

The firm, with Lawrence McConville and Charles A. Perryman as principals, was located at 3203 W. Washington Blvd. In 1924 McConville, by himself, had done the Princess Theatre, 6107 S. Main St. and the Broadway Theatre, 428 S. Broadway. In the 1925 city directory McConville was listed as a building contractor with Perryman's occupation listed as a draftsman and not yet a partner.

Seating: 831, presumably a number from a Film Daily Yearbook. The initial announcement in the Times called it a 900 seat house.

The project was announced in the L.A. Times on May 30, 1926 with this illustration and an article. The caption for the drawing: "Construction work is started on a motion-picture house at Eighty-second street and Vermont avenue. The building is to be completed in about four months." The article appearing with the illustration:

"Ground Broken for Theater on South Vermont -- Construction of a two-story brick theater building, at a cost of $75,000, on the northeast corner of Eighty-second street and Vermont avenue, for F.L. Brown and E.M. Masterson, was started last week, it was announced by McConville & Perryman, designers and contractors.

"The Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company will furnish 35,000 brick [sic] for the structure, which is scheduled for completion in 120 days. The theater will have a seating capacity of 900 and its interior will be of Spanish design, according to the designers. There will be three stores on the ground floor in addition to the show house, and the upper floor will be divided into five offices. Site of the structure is 67 by 140 feet."

A September 19, 1926 story in the L.A. Times noted that they would be ready by October 1.

A November 14, 1926 item from the L.A. Times. Thanks to Scott Collette for locating it.

An August 1941 ad from the Southwest Wave that was located by Ken McIntyre.

Vinnicof Theatres operated the Madrid beginning in the mid-1940s.

Part of a Vinnicof ad from 1948. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it.

Closing: 1950. Jeff Bridges did the research:

"The last movie listing I can find for this theater is for Jan. 2, 1950. It was showing 'Beyond The Forest' (the worst/best Bette Davis movie) and 'Kid From Cleveland.' Then nothing shows up until 1957 when the address is a Goodyear tire store from then on."

Status: It's now in use as a Tires R-Us store and service facility. Joe Vogel notes: "The building is not recognizable as a former theatre from the front, but one of the rear exits can still be seen opening onto the alley off of 82nd Street."

More exterior views:

The detail at the top of the page was taken from this Dick Whittington Studio photo that's in the USC Digital Library collection. It's part of a five photo set that was located in the collection by Scott Collette.

"To Be Subdivided Immediately." It's another Dick Whittington Studio photo in the USC Digital Library collection, part of the same set of five as the previous shot. Steve Crise comments about the Los Angeles Railway route: "The F Line ran as far south as 116th Street where it terminated and cars would switch ends and run back to Los Angeles."

A detail from the photo above.

A 1928 Dick Whittington Studio photo in the USC Digital Library collection, one of six images in a second set.

A detail from the photo above.

Thanks to Scott Collette for locating the photos from the USC collection for an extensive Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook post about the Vermont Avenue Knolls real estate development. It's also on his Forgotten Madness LA Instagram.

This is another Vermont Knolls image from the USC collection. Scott discusses the development:

"Looking like scenes from a long-lost prequel to 'Chinatown,' these incredible noirish photos show a group of real estate developers from the Mercantile Investment Company as they plot out a South Los Angeles subdivision of Vermont Avenue Knolls in March of 1928. Located between Vermont and Normandie, running from 79th to 83rd, this 80-acre housing tract was advertised as the last available land in the densely-settled Vermont district, which was already surrounded by city on all four sides. The area was accessible by the LA Railway’s Yellow Cars, as well as by city buses, and Mercantile promised that all streets would be paved with concrete, 'with sewers, water, and gas connections to every property line, so that future tearing up of the streets will be practically eliminated.'

"When the tract was first announced on March 24, 1928, various newspapers predicted that a 'rapid sale' was sure to follow. They then repeated this for a week, insisting that buying in 'late developments' in established areas were 'sounder investments' than buying in lower-priced 'pioneer tracts' (the first in a new area). When the tract officially opened on April 1st, 1928, it set a single-day sales record of $315,885 (approx $5.7M today), and credited 'Newspaper advertising' for the achievement, but I see a lot more flattering articles than I do ads, so I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that their advertising budget was mostly spent buying reporters. …or maybe I’m just desperate for a juicy tale of corruption to pair with these dramatic photos.

"The story of Vermont Ave. Knolls gets pretty quiet for the rest of 1928, but then pops back up in May of 1929 when it’s announced that the Walter Leimert Company would conduct all future sales. Reading between the lines, it seems that Mercantile’s sales plateaued and that they were desperate to rebrand it as the next Leimert Park so that they could offload the bulk of their unsold lots without taking a hit. I’m still unclear as to how or why Vermont Ave. Knolls was kept off the market for so long to begin with, but… 'Forget it, Me. It’s ForgottenMadnessTown.'"

Scott also did a second Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook post about the Homes of Vermont Knolls. It's also on the Forgotten Madness Instagram. Thanks!