La Habra Theatre

Downtown Renewal? La Habra's downtown was located on La Habra Blvd. Thats a little ways away.

I remember going to the opening night at the La Habra Theater in 1956. I believe the opening night films were "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "Johnny Concho." Joining us for the opening ceremonies were James Arness and Carol Morris, the then Miss U.S.A. We were very proud of our new modern theater. No balcony but the rear third of the theater had soft loge-style rocking seats. Still remembering the ancient hard seats of the old crackerbox theater down on Central Avenue which had closed two years earlier, we loved this new building. Ticket: fifty cents.

This theatre opened on September 6, 1956. The ad in the Los Angeles Times of that date: "Gala Opening Tonight. The Beautiful New La Habra Theatre. Southern California's Newest and Finest Theatre. Offering You the Best in Projection! In 4 Track Stereophonic Sound! Rocking Chair Loges. Plenty of Free Parking! And Here's Our Opening Program: Frank Sinatra in Johnny Concho
James Stewart--Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much"

The old La Habra Theatre (formerly The Garden Theatre) at 165 E. Central managed to hang around for about thirty-five years. Esther Cramer's history of La Habra has one sentence about the theatre: "The opening of the Garden theatre, complete with orchestra, high class vaudeville acts, and films (featuring such stars as Tom Mix and comedian Harold Lloyd), attracted visitors from miles around." The building had the theatre entrance with box office in the center and space for a small business on either side. When I went there in the early fifties, there was a sandwich shop on one side and a dry cleaners on the other. Inside, there was still a small stage up front. Pictures changed twice a week, and for us kids, on Saturday morning, we got seven cartoons, two serials and a feature (usually a western) for 17 cents! If you had another dime, you could get a bag of popcorn or pull your fillings out with a box of Jujubees. I was about 10 and I made friends with the teenage projectionist who showed me the booth. To enter the projection booth, you had to climb up a wooden ladder that was nailed to the back wall. At the top, you swung your leg out into the booth. The film cans were hauled up into the booth with a pulley. Our theatre closed in 1954 or early 1955 but no one told us why. There was some talk about drugs being delt there. All we knew was that for the next two years we had to get our parents to take us to the Fox Fullerton until the new theatre opened up on Whittier Blvd.

To address Jeff's comment at the top: The city of La Habra lists this area as an alpha three (A3) redevelopment site. Senior apartments at one time were planned for the site. I'm sorry, I should have used the term "city redevelopment."

Senior apartments were built on that site. I went there around 1990 looking to see if it might be right for my father.

The lobby of Lippert's La Habra Theatre was pictured on the cover of the October 6, 1956, issue of Boxoffice Magazine.

The theater came up for discussion yesterday, the 40th anniversary of the moonwalk, as my brother and I saw Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton and the gone way too soon Mary Ure in Where Eagles Dare on that date.

Here is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/oeqadw

The 40th anniversary of the first moonwalk was July 20th, not July 26th.

Vintage photo of the LA Habra Theatre.
http://occinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/lahabratheatre.jpg