Jade Theatre

The Jade Theatre on Main Street was run by the owner of the Cozy Theatre on Broadway, and I worked as relief projectionist there in the early 1950s. It was a sparsely furnished place that catered more to the wino trade than to movie goers, but the booth, with Super Simplexes and a Simplex sound system, and Magnarc lamps, was clean and well maintained. One night the dc power to the lamphouses failed, but AC power remained on. As there were no recifiers in the booth, I went down to the dirt-floor, brick-walled basement and found that the theatre was served at 125Vdc from the Department of Water and Power. Beneath the kw-h meter was an open fused switch and beneath the switch a ballast resistor for each lamp. The renewable link fuse was blown, so I replaced it with a new link and we were back in business. I later found that DWP still served many downtown buildings at 125Vdc for elevator power.

Over the history of film exhibition. There were theatres that were called negro theatres. That served the Afro-American population in this country. At one time this theatre was listed as one of them.

This theatre can be glimpsed briefly in the film "Black Belt Jones" (1974) as Sydney is driven from the funeral. The car travels north up Main Street; the Jade is on the left side, just before 3rd Street - the Linda Lea can be seen at the end of the scene as they continue driving.

The Film Daily Yearbook's 1941 and 1943 list the Jade as having 340 seats. A 250 seat capacity is given in F.D.Yearbooks in the 1950's. The site of the Jade Theatre is now used as a parking lot.

Apparently, this theater was originally on Broadway and then moved to Main and was called the Wonderland Theater:

June 08, 1908
AUCTION
430-432-434 So. Broadway
(Old Wonderland Theater)

December 26, 1909
The following items are from the Southwest Contractor and Manufacturer. A.C. Martin is preparing plans for a one-story brick
theater building 32x120 feet, to be erected for the owners of the Wonderland Theater on South Main street. It will have a stamped metal front, marble lobby with tile floor, and cement floors in auditorium. The cost will be about $20,000.

September 09, 1921
FIRE IN THEATER
'Crowd in Near Panic as Flames Burn Cinema Operator'
While attempting to smother a blazing roll of film which caught fire from the heat of a projector in the operating room at the Wonderland Theater, at 315 South Main street early last evening, Milton Guion, age 23 years, the operator, was severly burned on the arms and face. A near panic was caused in the theater when the flames spread from the projector to the interior of the operating room. Many persons rushed to the street. Chemicals quickly subdued the blaze. The fire damage was nominal, but the crowd blocked traffic for more than twenty minutes.
Los Angeles Times

This is a photo of the Novelty at 134 S. Main. What aka do we have that under?
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics38/00068912.jpg

I think it is the Liberty:

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/3878/

Thanks. I will post it over there.

If you do a theater search here for a Novelty Theater and nothing is returned for Los Angeles, check the box that reads "previous names" and press the search button again. The Liberty Theater will appear on the list. The "previous names" is actually the aka names.

OK, thanks for the tip.

Did the Jade building replace the Wonderland building, or was it just a change of names? Any info on this?

The Jade was listed at 313 S. Main in the 1938 city directory. By 1942 the Jade is no longer listed, and the Wonderland appears at 315 S. Main.