Garfield Theatre

The Garfield was built in the 20's and in it's last years showed Chinese films. It was closed and demolished in 2001.

The Garfield Theater opened in 1925. Architect was L.A.Smith.

In my previous message I said the theater was demolished. What I meant is that the auditorium has been demolished which was behind the building you see here. This building still stands as does the Garfield's lobby. The hideous marquee that was being used, which damaged this old building, is gone.

For those who didn't know, The Garfield Theatre was located a few doors north of Valley Boulevard on Garfield Avenue in the city of Alhambra. I saw the slow decay of this nice theatre, and it really showed me how something that meant so much to some of us, is just - GONE. No fair.

I was by what used to be the theatre today, October 2, 2002 and you would never know that there was a theatre there at one time. It was on the east side of south Garfield Avenue just north of Vallery Boulevard in the 1200 block. Even the large roof sign is gone, the store fronts do look much better than they have in years. But, no theatre. Store fronts take up the front of the whole complex, where once the ticket booth stood.

I believe this was once a vaudeville house which saw an appearance of the Gumm Sisters (Judy Garland) in the early 30's.

When the Garfield Theatre opened in 1925. It was known as Bard's Garfield Theatre. Like other theatres in the Bard's chain it was also an Egyptian styled theatre design. But it was modernized over the years. Before the theatre part was razed, you could still see the large painted sign with the Bard logo of a sailing on the rear of the stage house. Along with the logo it also stated that this theatre was equipped with Vitaphone sound.

The address for the Garfield Theatre is 9 E. Valley Dr., Alhambra, Ca. 91801

I was Assistant Manager and Relief Manager of the Garfield Theatre in Alhambra in 1943. At that time it was a part of the Alhambra Theaters Venture, a combination of all four theaters in Alhambra, California which was managed by the Edwards' Theaters Circuit. It was a beautiful theater. It had a fine Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ which had been used in earlier years but by the 1940's was no longer in use. I grew up about three blocks from the theater and lived in the neigborhood for many years. It was hard to watch it deteriorate.

My father lived a few miles from the Garfield at the time it was built. He told me that the huge sign atop the stage house was the principle landmark in the area, and that by night, when its hundreds of light bulbs were lit, it could be seen from the upper floors of his house in Walnut Acres, two miles southeast. In those days, the Garfield was the main vaudeville house in the southern San Gabriel Valley, and all the big acts played there. The theater had a wooden floor, which was considered better for the acoustics in a room designed for live acts in the age before amplification.

The big rooftop sign was still there when I first went to the Garfield, about 1952, but it was no longer lighted at night. The front of the theater (the building in which it was located was called the Valley Grand Building, and its upper floor contained a very respectable apartment house) still looked much as it did in the picture from 1930, except for the addition of a neon marquee, probably of 1930's vintage.

We didn't go to the Garfield often in the following years, because it was still a high-priced, first run theater, but I do remember my first sight of the cavernous (and almost deserted) auditorium. The walls were still decorated with rough plaster work designed to look like stone. In fact, the walls were of reinforced concrete- the marks of the board forms were visible on the outside walls of auditorium and stage house. But the interior retained many of the early decorative features, including the columned proscenium which was destroyed a few years later when a Cinemascope screen was installed.

I remember the tickets at that time bore the name of the Vinnicoff (sp?) Theatre Circuit, and sometimes they would use tickets with the name of the Grove Theatre in Garden Grove, operated by the same company. In fact, as I found out later, the Edwards circuit had an interest in the theater, and I believe they came into full ownership sometime in the early 1960's. It was about that time that the interior of the auditorium was modernized, the faux stone plaster work of the walls being clad in some tacky veneer. After that, the only interesting decor remaining was the series of six, large decorated grates in the high ceiling, from which (I imagine) chandeliers of some sort might once have hung. A new marquee of boring design replace the old neon marquee at that same time. The theater did thrive under Edwards' ownership, though, after adopting a popular price policy of fifty cents for adults and twenty cents for children, but it was so large that, in all those years, I never saw the theater as much as half full.

Even before the inside was redecorated, the outside of the Valley Grand Building was stripped of its ornate top of tile and third-floor pavilions. An earthquake that happened in the San Francisco area in 1957 had caused great consternation about potential disaster in many cities of Southern California, and the City of Alhambra quickly passed an ordinance requiring that all unanchored cornices and parapet walls, and anything else that might fall from a building in an earthquake, had to be either reinforced or removed. Removal was cheaper, and the exterior of almost every old commercial building in the entire town, including the Garfield, with its splendidly detailed Mediterranean decoration, was unceremoniously mutilated.

I only went to the Garfield once in later years, to see the appalling remake of King Kong, sometime in the seventies. That night, I saw something I had never before seen; The house was packed, with not an empty seat in sight. I believe the place had a capacity of about 1200, so it was quite a crowd. It was probably the last such the old place ever saw. A few years later, the Edwards company opened the three-screen Monterey Mall Cinemas in nearby Monterey Park, and the Garfield, much too large for the times, was leased to a company that ran Chinese movies. Now it is gone. I doubt that Alhambra will ever see its like again.

We used to go there in the 70's. It was the last of the "Balcony" theaters. If you want to REALLY see a movie, see it from the balcony. You get two shows, the one you paid for, and the entertaining crowd watching you can do, especially if you're young. A balcony makes a movie an "experience."

The Garfield didn't have a balcony. You must be thinking of the Monterey Theatre, on Garfield Avenue in Monterey Park, which had a section of stadium seating in the back half of the auditorium. It was the only theatre in the area that had that arrangement, and none of the theatres in Alhambra ever had a balcony of any sort.

The Garfield Theatre, less than a mile north of the Monterey, at the corner of Garfield and Valley in Alhambra, had the rest rooms upstairs, on either side of the projection room, and there were small anterooms adjacent to them that had glazed windows overlooking the auditorium. The one adjacent to the Women's rest room was probably used as a crying room, and might have had seating- I don't know, since I never went up there. The one next to the men's room had no seats, though, but you would often find guys using it as a smoking room, since smoking wasn't allowed in the auditorium itself.

Was there ever a Capri Theatre in Alhambra in the 1960s?

ML: The Capri, which was at the southeast corner of 2nd and Main, is listed here under its original name, the Granada Theater:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2401/

Capri's status should read "Closed/Demolished."

OOPS---meant to say Garfield's, not Capri's.

The Capri has been demolished as well, but it is entirely gone. The Valley Grand Building (minus its third floor towers and attic) still exists, including the former foyer of the Garfield which is now retail space, but the auditorium and stage tower of the theatre have been replaced by a parking lot.

OOPS again--- Valley "Drive" in the address section should also be changed to Valley "Boulevard."

Here is an expanded view of the above photo, from the LA Library:

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014406.jpg

All I remember was seeing King Kong in the late 70s. Was this the one that had the huge painting for Heaven Can Wait?

It's a shame to read that this theatre is no more. I found out about this theatre while researching the Town of Alhambra and the Pyrenees Castle which is owned by legendary music producer, Phil Spector who is on trial for murder in an LA courthouse on Court TV. Read there was a Temple Theatre, too.

It doesn't look like CT has the Temple in Alhambra listed. Cinema Tour says it is closed so the town had 2 former theatres and one famous castle!

Patsy: Temple was the original name of the theatre which is listed on Cinema Treasures under its final name, El Rey. It was demolished following the Northhridge earthquake in 1987, as was the nearby Alhambra Theatre (Alhambra Twin Cinemas. Alhambra's other known old theatre, the Granada/Coronet/Capri was destroyed following an earlier earthquake, in 1971. I've come across one reference to another very early (c1912) movie theatre in Alhambra, possibly called the Supurba, but can't pin down any details about it.

Interestingly enough, the architect originally employed to design the Garfield was John Walker Smart, who did in fact design the DuPuy castle now owned by Phil Spector. Eventually it was L.A. Smith who designed the Garfield.

Joe: Thanks for the information on the Garfield/DuPuy castle connection. http://www.cityofalhambra.org/community/castle.html

1938, from the USC collection:
http://tinyurl.com/2ksa3t

ken mc: Interesting b/w photo...wonder if the windmill is still there?

The windmill is gone, the blades having been taken down in the 1950s when that particular branch of Van de Kamp's closed. The mill-shaped tower remained a number of years after that, but was finally removed. I believe the rest of the building is still there, though, including its extended window bay above which the windmill stood.

I also have a vague memory of the big sign atop the Garfield's fly tower being lit up with hundreds of little light bulbs, until the mid-1950s, but maybe wishful thinking has caused me to imagine having seen that. I know the sign itself was there for ages, and the painted mural and lettering on the back of the fly tower, flaking and fading away year after year. That photo from the USC collection shows only the top of the moon, and not the sailing ship that was silhouetted against it. I'd love to see a picture of the whole thing.

Joe is great to have around as he seems to have an encyclopaedic memory of Los Angeles from sixty years ago to the present. Don't go changin, Joe.

A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 921 style "D" was installed in the Garfield Theater on 10/7/1924.

I second Ken MC 's comment about Joe Vogel. I grew up in Monterey Park and went to all the local theters as a lad in the 1960's and 70's and am, too, very sad that nothing remains of them. I certainly enjoy Joe's knowledge about the history of these theaters and almost feel like I know the man!

Here is a 1925 photo of the Garfield Theater. Photo comes from the book "Theatres in Los Angeles".

When I was a regular relief projectionist here, I was dating the assistant manager. She was Linda Ronstadt's cousin.

Cha Cha Cha

There's finally a photo on the Internet showing the back wall of the Garfield's stage house, with the Bard Circuit's sailing ship logo still visible, though faded, decades after it was painted. You can make out the words "Vitaphone" and "Movietone" at upper left, and a bit lower, "Stage Plays" in this 1983 shot.

That combined with the vintage rooftop signage is a true throwback to another era. Thanks for posting that.

Thanks Joe. Brings back a lot of memories. I recall there was a bar next to the Garfield at the corner called "Tabu Isle." I know that because when I worked there in the mid 70's I had to go there and collect the manager who would have a few drinks until the second feature was over. I remember when the remake of King Kong played there in 1976 it did sell out business. Belongs to a totally diffrent era and I have to remind myself that these theaters once existed.

Some friends dragged me to see the King Kong remake at the Garfield. I think it was the only time I ever saw the place packed. I'd have liked to see the original King Kong there.

I also remember the Tabu Isle, which was already looking pretty seedy in the 1950s. It must have been a favorite haunt of people who drank too much, as I can recall several occasions when, walking back to the car after a movie, we would find that some hapless bar patron had thrown up on the sidewalk.

Here is another photo from 1983:
http://tinyurl.com/d5ol5v