Avenue Theatre

Joe Vogel on December 8, 2004 at 10:35 pm

The theater on Third Street, near Crawford Avenue (the former name of Downey Avenue) was proposed in 1925. The plans were prepared by the architectural firm of Schilling & Schilling, of Long Beach, and the owner was to be a Mrs. Ada B. Adams of Downey. Mrs. Adams intended to lease thee theater to a Mr. L.R. Matthews, who was named as the operator of the Downey Theater on Crawford Avenue. (The Downey Theatre is probably the theater later known as El Teatro.) Mrs. Adams was also the owner of the Meralta Theatre, which she leased to Pearl Merrill and Laura Peralta, the operators of the Meralta Theatre in Culver City, and of the Downey Theatre.

As I said, I have no confirmation that Mrs. Adams' Third Street theater was ever built. If it was, it may not have lasted long, what with three other theaters already in operation in what was then a fairly small town, and the building may have been converted to some other use, and its origins as a theater eventually forgotten.

The Downey Theatre of that time itself appears to have been constructed in 1919 or 1920, from plans by architect Harry Haden Whitely.

The theater on Paramount Boulevard would have been rather small, at 400 seats, and was supposed to have been built at 12409 Paramount Boulevard in an area then called Hollydale, since annexed to the City of Downey. I have checked my source and found that it was proposed in 1946.

Joe Vogel on December 8, 2004 at 9:53 pm

Poking around the L.A. Public library web site, I’ve come across references to five theaters that were proposed for Downey in the 1920s, and I know that at least three were built. A fourth may have been built, as well, but it was on a side street (Third Street, if I remember correctly.) El Teatro was probably one of the two I described in my comment above.

I’ve also come across a reference to another theater proposed for Downey, in the late ‘30s or early '40s, which was planned for a site on Paramount Boulevard, but I don’t know if that one was ever built.

The Meralta is listed on Cinema Treasures, but El Teatro is not.

Joe Vogel on November 26, 2004 at 6:46 pm

This could be one of two theaters proposed for Downey in the mid 1920’s. If it is at the northwest corner of 2nd Street, then it is probably a theater built for a Mr. John Baker and designed by Architect and Engineer Henry Carlton Newton and Clifford A. Truesdell, Jr. The plans were announced in the Southwest Builder & Contractor issue of 5/30/1924.

SB&C of 5/15/1925 announced another theater proposed on Downey Avenue (then called Crawford Avenue), this one for a Mr. L.R. Matthews of Downey. No exact location is given for this project.