Avalon Theatre

722 N. Avalon Boulevard,
Wilmington, CA 90744

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Fox West Coast Theatres

Previous Names: Empress Theatre

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Undated photo courtesy of Bill Gabel.

The Empress Theatre was opened around 1928. By 1932 it had been equipped with sound and renamed Avalon Theatre. By 1941 was part of the Fox West Coast Theatres chain. It was still open in 1952, but had closed by 1955. Since closing it has been demolished and the empty site is used as a parking lot.

Contributed by William Gabel

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

William
William on November 12, 2003 at 5:30 pm

The Avalon Theatre was located at 722 Avalon Blvd.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 1, 2005 at 2:54 pm

From the LA Library. The theater is at the far end of the street:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics41/00040418.jpg

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 8, 2007 at 7:43 pm

On 8/17/55, LA Times advertised the Cherry Pass Drive-In, between Beaumont and Banning. That sounds like Wilmington to me. Anyone ever heard of this drive-in?

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 8, 2007 at 7:50 pm

Never mind. Another ad says Highway 99, so they were talking about the city of Beaumont on the way to Palm Springs.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 12, 2007 at 11:45 am

722 Avalon is just a parking lot.

William
William on July 12, 2007 at 1:14 pm

The Cherry Pass Drive-In was in the city of Beaumont, Ca., it had a carcapacity of 500 cars and was operated by Sero Amusement Company.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 12, 2007 at 1:15 pm

Thanks. I had the location confused.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 13, 2007 at 5:17 pm

I almost added the Empress as a new theater, as it was listed in the 1925 LA city directory. However, the address in 1925 was 722 Canal Avenue. I’ll bet that was a precursor to Avalon Boulevard, so Empress should be an aka as opposed to a new theater.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 18, 2009 at 1:22 pm

This 12/04 LA Times story mentions the Avalon. I thought it was funny that the reporter used CT to look up the theaters instead of doing the research on his own.
http://tinyurl.com/ng9bso

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