Teatro Hidalgo

This is from the Estella Theater page:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067232.jpg

Here is a ca1926 photo from the L.A. library collection which depicts the orchestra of the Teatro Hidalgo.

The front of the Hidalgo faced east, down Arcadia Street,which ended at Main Street. The photo to which ken mc linked above shows, at far left, a corner of the distinctive awning of the Baker Block, which was at the southeast corner of Arcadia and Main Streets.

Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/25v3yw

After looking at Ken's reposted photo more closely it is pretty good proof of this theater's location. You can just make out '40' on the awning of the building to the right. When I looked on the Sanborn map the address for the Hidalgo, 373 N. is next door to 401 N. Main. For some reason they skipped some addresses.

Reposted from Estella Page:

(June 2, 1918)
Among many other cosmopolitanisms, Los Angeles now harbors a real Mexican theater. Located in the heart of Sonoratown, it is housed in the Teatro Hidalgo, which, translated into plain, unassuming English, means simply the Exalted Theater......With the 3x5 stage of the exalted playhouse at No. 371 North Main street, the Mexican company finds itself somewhat restricted in the presentation of dramatic spectacles.....The house itself is one of the stand-bys of lower Los Angeles, and has seen every variety of service, from burlesque and motion pictures to an animal show and high-class foreign theatricals.

(April 19, 1924)
Up Main street among the business houses patronized by the Mexican population the lenten color persisted. El Teatro Hidalgo, usually given over to motion-picture drama of love or adventure, had a religious picture and the posters depicted the tragedy of the Cross. Beneath a huge cardboard crucifix sat a young man with a megaphone who cried: "Death and passion of Christ."

(Nov. 8, 1931)
Teresa Bodrero to Teatro Hidalgo, Ltd., 373 North Main street, term 9 years.

This 1930 article in the LA Times gives a nice overview of Main Street in those days:
http://tinyurl.com/2zma5c
http://tinyurl.com/yttq88
http://tinyurl.com/ypn6zs
http://tinyurl.com/29dsxh
http://tinyurl.com/2a6chm
http://tinyurl.com/2e5mga
http://tinyurl.com/yqxu48
http://tinyurl.com/2dmvej
http://tinyurl.com/yw3guj
http://tinyurl.com/2da66x
http://tinyurl.com/2zcvoe

great article Ken....I wish I would have seen that before the Mainly Main tour I volunteered for at the Conservancy.

I was in a rush this morning so I may have left out a few sections, but I thought it was interesting reading regardless.

I think one of the sections I lopped off discussed a corpse named Elmer that was on display somewhere on Main Street. I believe this was a former bank robber who died in the teens. His body ended up at the Long Beach Pike, where for years it was assumed he was a mannequin. When they were moving him during the Pike's closing his arm fell off and they realized that he was an actual human being. He was then buried, so he had some dignity at the end, anyway.

Here is the text from the Main Street story:

"For ten cents one can behold, supine in an ornate coffin, the mortal remains of one Elmer McCurdy, erstwhile Oklahoma bad man. Elmer cheated the law which demanded his life after one of his murderous affrays, by swallowing cyanide of potassium. His remains were embalmed and the combined action of the cyanide and the ingredients of the embalming fluid pumped into the cadaver caused it to remain in a remarkable state of preservation".

On the Estella page it lists this theater as another name. It's a different address so maybe I made a mistake a long time ago when I added it.

In John Benston's book Silent Traces, he shows a screen shot of a frame from Buster Keaton's 1922 movie called Cops. Buster is running east on Arcadia from Main and you can see the Hidalgo clearly in the background. I'm going to have to get a copy of the movie and watch it now.

Here is an excerpt from a book about Mexican Los Angeles that was I reading the other day:

"And there, on Main Street, were the most promising and enduring of the Mexican auditoriums in Los Angeles, Teatro Hidalgo (1911-1934)...just over on Spring Street were Teatro Zendejas (later Novel, 1919-1924) and the first Teatro Mexico. Farther down Main Street were the Teatro Principal (1921-29), the second Teatro Mexico (1927-33) and the Teatro California (1927-34). Several theaters, especially the Hidalgo, showed the new motion pictures."

It is pointed out that some or all of these were live performance venues, but it does give an interesting snapshot of the city at that time.

Ken MC,

Which book on Mexican LA does this information come from? It's extremely helpful.

I have no idea. It was in the stacks of the history dept at the LAPL, Los Angeles section.