Lyric Theatre

7208 Pacific Boulevard,
Huntington Park, CA 90255

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Showing 1 - 25 of 27 comments

rivest266
rivest266 on October 22, 2019 at 3:18 pm

Switched to adult programming in 1961.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on July 25, 2018 at 4:49 pm

Whatever the lobby is being used for, it appears that the auditorium has been reconfigured for use as a wedding chapel and associated reception rooms. The entrance to the Guadalupe Wedding Chapel is around the corner on Florence Avenue.

richjr37
richjr37 on July 25, 2018 at 11:56 am

It’s now a dentist office.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 3, 2014 at 3:13 pm

The June 22 article that OCRon uploaded confirms A. H. McCulloh as the architect of the Lyric Theatre. The June 25 article says that the theater was decorated in the Egyptian style, but also says that the Lyric was a “copy” of Grauman’s Million Dollar, and that house was not Egyptian at all.

The unusual spelling of the architect’s surname, McCulloh, appears to be correct, as it is spelled that way in several trade journal items from 1921 and 1922. I can find only one instance of a Los Angeles architect called A. H. McCollough, that being from 1913, and that might not even be the same guy.

William
William on August 7, 2010 at 6:17 am

Yes, it looks like the building is still standing from the overhead shots of the building.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on August 7, 2010 at 3:53 am

Southwest Builder & Contractor of May 27, 1921, said that the plans for this theater were being prepared by Walnut Park architect A.H. McCulloh.

MagicLantern
MagicLantern on June 22, 2010 at 3:10 pm

The building looks like it’s still standing – on GoogleMaps you can clearly see where the roll-up door was the entrance.

richjr37
richjr37 on October 20, 2009 at 11:22 pm

I went to Pacific Boulevard Elementary School in the early ‘70s and this theatre was on the route to and from school.

So were the California and Park theatres.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 11, 2009 at 10:49 pm

Here is an August 1960 ad from the Long Beach Independent:
http://tinyurl.com/nzojb3

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 28, 2008 at 9:27 pm

Here is a May 1969 ad from the LA Times. 2069 A.D. is not that far away now,
http://tinyurl.com/3gnawl

JayAllenSanford
JayAllenSanford on August 8, 2008 at 7:29 am

New book-length Pussycat Theatre history from the San Diego Reader:
View link

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 12, 2007 at 7:08 am

Here is a 1970 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/35eyk6

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 13, 2007 at 7:55 pm

Advertised at Pacific & Florence in the LA Times on 1/15/75. Interesting to see a whole ad page of adult theaters – that was already abolished when I started reading the Times in 1984.

William
William on June 28, 2007 at 5:55 pm

The address should be 7208 Pacific Blvd., the theatre building was located on the south east corner. Yes, Pacific Blvd. turns into Long Beach Blvd. and goes all the way the Ocean Blvd. where the old West Coast & Imperial Theatres once stood. I must have been working on something back in 2003 when I gave the address on the site.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 23, 2007 at 10:35 am

I didn’t get to this location yesterday, as I was running out of daylight. I think 7208 Long Beach is below Firestone Boulevard. It looks like Pacific turns into Long Beach Blvd when you get that far south.

JayAllenSanford
JayAllenSanford on June 22, 2007 at 4:20 am

We have an article in this week’s San Diego Reader about Vince Miranda, with much about the Pussycat Theatre chain he co-owned.
View link

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 13, 2007 at 7:05 pm

Here is an excerpt from an LA Times article of 9/21/75. I assume Walnut Park and Huntington Park are interchangeable, unless it was a typo:

Scandalous, said the Walnut Park neighbors of the once palatial Lyric Theater. The old movie house was a public scandal. The source of the outrage was film content. The Lyric had switched from a steady diet of Spencer Tracy films to what homeowners in 1955 sneeringly called ‘girlie films".

The flesh flashed on the Lyric’s screens was accompanied by whispered rumors of raunchy stag films slipped in from Mexico and shown at midnight. Stories of a bookie joint in the same block heightened the area’s unsavory reputation. But that was 20 years ago, before X-rated films had taken on an aura of fashionability.

In those older days, homeowners were incensed about the showing of the so-called skin flicks. Public meetings condemning the theater were held. Outrage was expressed. Protests planned. Lawsuits mulled.

But nothing really happened. And nothing really changed. Today the old Lyric Theater grinds out the likes of “Love, Lust and Violence” and “Tower of Love”, both rated “Super-X”.

And there hasn’t been a protest in years.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 1, 2005 at 3:38 pm

Here is an uncropped version of the photo above, from the LA Library:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics35/00037255.jpg

tbdavid
tbdavid on February 14, 2005 at 7:52 am

CORRECTION:

THE TOWN theatre @ 444 South Hill, L.A.

THE TOWER was a later Pussycat in Oakland

tbdavid
tbdavid on February 12, 2005 at 7:25 am

Hi Folks!
I just wanted to add..
This was the 3rd Pussycat.

1, The Tower 444 south Hill St. L.A
2, The Sunset @ Sunset/Western Hollywood
3, The Lyric

I am putting together any info about the Pussycats..I would love to hear any of your stories..PHOTOS! any pics out there? I am in dire need of a photo of each pusssycat. Please help if you can.

Tim David

970.309.3991

sueb1017
sueb1017 on December 16, 2004 at 1:34 pm

I NEED HELP !!!
I am in desperate need of pictures or any sort of memorabilia that any one of you would be so kind as to send me a copy of via email or fax. I am finishing up my research paper on the Whittier Village Cinemas and the history of the Pussycat Theater.

Please please please, help a soon to be college grad if you have the time.

thank you for your consideration,

Susie Balpuesta
Whittier, California

(562) 686-5990

tbdavid
tbdavid on December 9, 2004 at 12:59 pm

Actually…these are the correct names and facts. George Tate was his name…. not Gerald. He went to prison for other reasons…and the IRS is who inherrited the MIRANDA money.

bbarso
bbarso on December 4, 2004 at 5:24 pm

Indeed the Lyric was a Pussycat Theatre. And what I’ve been told was the original Pussycat Theatre. This is the theatre that owner Gerald Tate and former restaurant manager Vince Miranda launched their chain of adult houses. Free speech battles were fought by Mr. Tate throughout the sixties and seventies that culminated with his arrest and conviction. Miranda ran what became Walnut Properties while Tate did time in Atascadero. After his release and a changing moral climate Tate bought the rights to an adult feature called “Deep Throat”. He played it for years in his theatres and made millions. His estate which included much prime CA real estate was left to his lover Jonathon.

tbdavid
tbdavid on April 10, 2004 at 3:33 pm

My father owned the Lyric when it was a “Pussycat Theater”. I am looking for a old Pussycat marquee. You know, the oval with the “Ms. Pussycat silouette” That was a siouette of my mother.

Please let me know if you have any information about any of these old marquees.

Tim David
510 East Durant Ave.
Aspen, colorado 81611
970.309.3991