Kim Sing Theatre
722 N. Figueroa Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
722 N. Figueroa Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
3 people
favorited this theater
The Kim Sing, originally known as the Carmen, was one block north of Sunset Blvd. A very small theater, the Kim Sing showed chineses films and is now closed.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
Was this theatre known at one point as the Alpine Theatre? The Kim Sing is at the corner of Alpine and Figueroa.
Hi. I’m part of a collective called the little fakers — we write & produce an episodic narrative populated entirely by handmade marionettes called “Sunset Chronicles” that takes place in lost, forgotten & imagined spaces along Sunset Boulevard. One of our storylines takes place in the Kim Sing Movie Theater — not in its current incarnation as a semi-constructed row of storefronts, but in its former incarnation as a movie thater. I’m wondering if anyone has information about the movies that played there (either when it was the Carmen or when it was the Kim Sing or both), or if anyone knows how I might acquire any further information about the place. Any advice appreciated — feel free to backchannel me at
A full color feature on the Kim Sing Theatre appears in the October 1, 2006, issue of the Los Angeles Times' West magazine (“Reel Living”). The exterior has been fully restored with its original neon marquee intact. Inside, however, the spaces were gutted and are now the very sleek home of furniture designer Willard Ford. The article states that the Kim Sing opened in 1926 as a vaudeville house.
This is a daytime photo of the former Kim Sing Theater building and here is a night view.
This home / theatre was recently featured on an episode of
HGTV’s “What’s With That House?”
View link
Open on 9/15/74 – features were “Kung-Fu Savage” and “Golden Swallow”.
Alan V. Karr: Yes, I just saw the HGTV episode and it was quite interesting. The recent broadcast I watched was June 13.
Hi Jen Hofer. The Kim Sing used to show Hong Kong movies. I very much remember the Kim sing especially because of growing up in Chinatown. Surprisingly though, I only barely remember seeing a movie there only once. Based on what i remember, there was a lot of cigarette smoke in the auditorium. For some reason, a lot of the people in the audience wanted to smoke during the HK movie.
In a February ‘79 back issue of the L.A. Times, the movie lisings said that the Kim sing was showing “5 Venoms” and another HK movie. “5V” is AKA “5 Deadly Venoms” and is a Shaw Brothers kung fu movie and maybe also a favorite of Quentin Tarantino. So it looks like The Kim sing used to show the Shaw brothers movies.
I have a lot more memories of the CinemaLand/Royal Pagoda Theatre. The CL/RP Theatre is also in Chinatown, and I remember seeing all of Bruce Lee’s movies there, except for “Game of Death”. Those were the uncut Chinese language versions of Bruce’s movies being shown back then.
Also, based on the post from 6/8/07, I wonder why would the Kim Sing show “GS” in 1974 if “GS” is a 1968 Hong Kong movie?
Listed as the Alpine in the 1938 city directory. Address was 834 Alpine.
Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dl2p6m