Hitching Post Theatre

The Hitching Post Theatre had an actual hitching post out front along the curb. Westerns were shown; Bob Steele, early John Wayne, Gene Autry, and even Spade Cooley. The building was demolished way, way back (don't have the date) and remained a parking lot next to a two-story bookshop (now long gone). A small theatre, it was cozy and you stuffed your face with popcorn, watching the action and shoot-outs on screen. In the photo above you can see the streetecar tracks along Hollywood Boulevarad. Just a couple doors west of the theatre was the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.

This opened a 10:00 am on Saturday Not only the two movies you got
a serial G-Men vs The Black Dragon ( Rod Cameron ) It gave you time
catch another flim on the Blvd. The seats slid back rather than lifting Not only the Hitching post out side you had to check your Six gun(The Texan or The Texan Jr.) cap guns at the box office

This has got to be the second coolest movie theatre name I have ever seen! (The coolest was the Flicker Shack in Sedona, AZ.)

The address for the Hitching Post Theatre is 6262 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Ca. 90028

The Hitching Post is a good moniker for a Westerns cinema, and the former MIRTH THEATRE in Milwaukee was known by the locals as the 'Hitching Post' during the 40s and 50s, according to the nearby local bank president recalling the days of his youth when he and his pals went there every Saturday matinee. I don't know if there was a literal hitching post in front (though many of the older homes in the neighborhood had hitching rings cast into the pavement!) but it shows the favor of Westerns to the innocent youths of years ago.

The Hitching Post Theatre seated 350 people.

I wrote a short story about attending the Hitching Post Theater's western movies when I was a kid growing up in Hollywood. We checked our cap guns at the candy stand before entering the theater. I remember the noise and popcorn bag throwing during the singing or "love scenes" between the cowboy star and the banker's daughter on the front porch of their ranch house. I also remember the calm that came over the crowded theater when the shooting resumed and the good guys chased the bad guys. I also remember Andy Clyde as my Cub Scout Leader when I attended Cheremoya grammar school.
Morley J. Helfand mhelfand@mt-sinai.com

The Hitching Post theater in Milwaukee lasted for only for a short time.
Fox Wisconsin Amusement Corp which owned the Mirth never bothered to change the name on the marquee or add any cowboy features to the decor. Within a month or two the Mirth was the Mirth again showing regular Hollywood features
At the Pearl, Grace, Park, Midget or Mozart in Milwaukee theaters which always had coboy pictures,whenever Andy Clyde came on the screen the audience cheered.
Was he as funny as he was in the movies when he had the job of scout master?

The Mirth which became Milwaukee's Hitching Post had admission prices were much higher than the other theaters which also regulary showed cowboy films. That is probably the reason that Milwaukee"s Hitching Post did not catch on.

The Hitching Post Theatre, Hollywood. operated from the mid 1940's until the mid-1950's. Film Daily Yearbooks give a seating capacity of 400.

Children were encouraged to attend the Saturday morning performances wearing their cowboy outfits, but had to check-in their cap pistols in the lobby.

There is a great photo of the kids in their outfits queuing up to enter the theatre. On the marquee the attractions are; Charles Starrett in "Outlaws of the Rockies" plus "Indian Agent" with Tim Holt. A notice on the box office window states 'Guns must be checked inside'.

The site of the theatre, directly across from the Hollywood Pantages Theater is now the open piazza which leads to the Red-Line Metro station.

I believe this building was torn down in early 1953. A theater was being demolished east of Vine on the south side of Hollywood Blvd when I first moved there in 53.

According to the latest Filmfax Magazine, the "bad film" Plan Nine From Outer Space premiered here. That would have been in 1959.

Howdy to all...and thanks for sharing your memories regarding The Hitching Post Theater. Although I spent hundreds of hours in various hometown theaters, I only learned about The Hitching Post a few years ago while reading a book titled; Saturday Afternoon at the Movies. They had a photo and the Marquee displayed 8 Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson in Wild Horse Stampede and Gene Autry in Ride Tenderfoot Ride. I thought, that has to be the greatest name I have ever heard for a theater that shows westerns. The Statler Brothers told the story the best with their song The Strand. The Strand stood for all of the hometown theaters that all of us Buckaroos attended every Saturday. My personal favorite was the Superba in Denison, Texas...that was my hitching post. Why didn't someone save The Hitching Post in Hollywood...what a shame. Thanks again Pardners for talking about this great movie house.
Doug Bruton, Denison, Texas

There is an awesome photo on this site for sale of this theatre.
http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/detail.asp?im=%2D1&cat=43&offset=80&ID=479

An expanded view of the photo at the top of the page:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics21/00030124.jpg

Does anyone know the exact year the "The Hitching Post" opened? I went there with my brother I thought in the early 1940s when I was 5,6,7.Thought We saw William Boyd in Hopalong cassiday but that might have been on TV.

The Hitching Post Theatre is not listed in the 1941 edition of Film Daily Yearbook, but it is listed in the 1943 edition

The site of the Hitiching Post is no longer a vacant lot, but is now the plaza for the Hollywood & Vine Red Line station.

Were there two Hitching Post theaters? Because my memory places it in Santa Monica in the late 40's, and yes indeed it had an actual 'hitching post' out in front.

Yes there was a theatre called the Hitching Post in Santa Monica.

Can you offer any info about it William?

Here is the link to the CinemaTreasures page for the Santa Monica Hitching Post Theatre:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2384/

In true Hollywood fashion, the site of the former Hitching Post Theater is changing once again. The entrance to the subway station stairs remain, but the W hotel is currently in construction.

The Hitching Post had a spinoff in San Francisco opened in 1944
by Robert L. Lippert called! Roundup, which lasted about 4 years
runnign double feature westerns almost identical to the Hitching Post
Check it Out billy h.

With regards to that last post, the theater called Round-Up in San Francisco can be found on Cinema Treasures as the Centre, which was one of the many theaters that was on Market Street. (Sort of ironic that both the Centre & the Santa Monica location of the Hitching Post ended their lives as porn theaters.)

Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2fm594

The Bandit Trail with Tim Holt was released in October of 1941.

Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith attend a premiere at the Pantages in 1947. The Tele-View Theater seen in the background is the Hitching Post:
http://tinyurl.com/36q22z

Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ysqbv4

Outlaws of the Rockies with Charles Starrett and Tex Harding was released in September of 1945.

Re: the two undated photos of the Hitching Post. Lost Memory is correct about the Bandit Trail film shown on the first photo. That was made in 1941. So was the Don Barry picture Apache Kid. The second photo showed Outlaws of the Rockies, a 1945 picture, playing the latest Tim Holt picture Indian Agent (1948). Theaters did that back then. That's why they were second run theaters. We kids didn't care just so long as the hero never ran out of bullets. The Hitching Post theater also played host to Monogram cowboy stars Johnny Mack Brown, Jimmy Wakely, etc. I have a cassette tape of the Straight Arrow radio show which premiered on the stage of the Hitching Post in 1949. Howard Culver as Straight Arrow was there along with Johnny Mack Brown and Jimmy Wakely. Cottonseed Clark was the announcer and I believe Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage were also there. Too bad there were not more pictures taken of these occasions. They would be collectors' items today.

A photograph showing the Paris Theatre in 1950:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics50/00044962.jpg
A couple of photographs showing the Paris Theatre in 1951:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics21/00045003.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics21/00045002.jpg

This is from the LA Times on 1/20/41:

Hollywood’s only “western” theater will open Friday night when the Hitching Post, formerly the Tele-View, holds a colorful pioneer parade and premiere, in which stars of the western screen will participate. The name Tele-View will again be used in conjunction with newsreels at the News-View Theater.

The Hitching Post, located at Hollywood and Vine, has signed contracts with Republic and other western producers for their pictures. Friday night’s opening will be “Melody Ranch”, starring Gene Autry, Ann Miller, Jimmy Durante and Barbara Allen.

The October 29, 1949, issue of Boxoffice carried a brief announcement saying "Hitching Post Theatre is to be renovated and renamed Paris for ABC Theatres." The November 12 issue of Boxoffice said the Paris had opened that week with the British import "Passport to Pimlico."

The ABC chain's Hitching Post Theatre in Beverly Hills had been renamed the Beverly Canon Theatre in 1947. The Santa Monica Hitching Post was to abandon its western policy by May, 1950, and be renamed the Riviera.

ABC Theatres was a local partnership, not to be confused with the later nationwide ABC chain.