Monterey Theatre

The Monterey Theatre opened in the 1920's, located on the corner of Whittier Blvd and S. Soto St, it presented English language films up until 1965. By the early 1980's it was known as Teatro Blanquita presenting on the stage, 'Adult Only' burlesque shows direct from Mexico City.

A Philadelphia college's cable tv station is running the Ed Wood "classic" JailBait. One of the scenes, a murder was filmed in what the characters were referring to the Monterey Theatre. Anyone have any clue if it was this venue or another one? Or did Wood use something else? The "murder" of the female character was filmed in the actual interior of the theatre as she was shot running up the aisle and the gunman shot from the stage.

Ed Wood filmed most of his classics in the Los Angeles area, so it's a good possibility that the scene was filmed in the Monterey. He probably finagled the use of the theater from someone as a favor.

hdtv: I've never seen Jail Bait myself, but William Gabel says that the scene you mention was shot in the Monterey Theatre in Monterey Park. I've been keeping an eye on the cable channels in hope that the movie will show up on one of them and I can see for myself. If any of the shots show the back of the house (the screen end of the room was rather nondescript), I'd probably recognize it, as I went to that Monterey many times. It was one of that handful of older theatres that had a section of stadium seating at the back of the auditorium. I never attended the Whittier Boulevard Monterey, but if, as listed above, its style was Spanish Renaissance, then it was probably more ornate than the Monterey in Monterey Park.

The Monterey is currently a church.

Here is a 1979 photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics06/00002723.jpg

Here are some photos from June 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/2tdelr
http://tinyurl.com/2rqzej
http://tinyurl.com/2jdc2q

The church has decamped, and the building is for sale.
http://snipurl.com/ii0dk
http://snipurl.com/ii0ii
http://snipurl.com/ii0n0
http://snipurl.com/ii0qi