Helix Theatre
7980 La Mesa Boulevard,
La Mesa,
CA
92104
7980 La Mesa Boulevard,
La Mesa,
CA
92104
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This theater was built in 1947 and designed by architect S. Charles Lee. The Helix was a Quonset hut style theater. After WWII, theater owners were looking for ways to construct theaters cheaper. The Quonset hut was one way.
Other theaters using the Quonset hut design were the Fox Crest Theatre in North Long Beach, the Garmar (razed), Avo, Puente, Visalia, and Colorado Theaters. There are few examples of this theater style remaining in the United States.
The Helix is one of those casualties and has been demolished.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Address was corner of University Avenue and La Mesa Blvd, La Mesa, CA, 92104, now occupied by a neighborhood shopping center. The theater was ½ block east of the northeast corner of the intersection, now under the parking lot. In 1964 when the first regional shopping center, Grossmont Center, was built, shopowners would give away kid’s weekend matinee passes to the Helix so that parents would come shop at the Grossmont, lines around the theater would be 2 or 3 deep to see the Elvis summer films. The theater had a very small parking lot on the east side and in the rear.
From the UCLA Digital Collection:
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Here are three photos from 1948:
http://tinyurl.com/2kya6j
http://tinyurl.com/36g7z8
http://tinyurl.com/3499bm
Here are two architect sketches from UCLA:
http://tinyurl.com/6652wd
http://tinyurl.com/6n3v7q
The Star Theater in La Puente, CA is one of the few quonset huts that are still around, although it too is on a short list to be demolished.
Here is an item in Boxoffice magazine, April 1950;
Contending it is impossible to continue operations profitably in view of the film rentals he must pay, Burton Jones has closed his Helix Theater in La Mesa. He has operated the 700 seat house there for several years.
One theatergoer says he “saw ‘Jaws’ and ‘The Great Waldo Pepper’ there the last day it was open – December 4, 1976."
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