Whittier Theatre

The Whittier, in the 1940’s and 50’s was the “posh” theatre in town, and it was a real treat to go to a movie there instead of the Wardman or the Roxy: the night sky ceiling was glamorous and mystifying, and the courtyard felt like we were visiting one of the Missions instead of just being a few blocks from home. The building was on a bit of a hill and there were retail spaces around the corner on the right, as well as those on the street frontage: one of them was the beauty salon my grandma went to every Friday, and did that ever feel like a big deal to go with her :) The last time I got to attend the Whittier was when I was down for my grandpa’s funeral in 1982 and it still looked as wonderful to me then as it ever had, but that may have been nostalgia. I think my mom and I saw Indiana Jones that time, because I remember thinking that it was such a great place to be watching that particular movie. The next time I was back, the year after the earthquake, it was gone. Thank goodness the Wardman is still there.

I saw the 1986 Disney movie “The Great Mouse Detective” at the Whittier. The interior atmosphere reminded me of the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.

Too bad Whittier lost a great theater.

I grew up in Whittier during the ‘60s and '70s. I did go to the Whittier Theater a number of times. Some of the movies that I remember seeing there were “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 1967 and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” sometime after that. But what I remember MOST was that directly across the street from the theater on Hadley was a fast food place called Little Ol’ Taco Maker. My sister and I spent half of our lives at the fast food place. The food was really good. I think we went there starting in 1967 when I was in the 3rd grade all the way to High School around 1976. I remember right next to it was a car wash. I don’t know when they tore that restaurant down. Maybe after the earthquake??

I did also go to the Wardman (saw The Junglebook there) and the Whittwood but never the Roxy. It burned down before I ever had a chance to see a movie there. What memories.

Here are two 1983 photos:

Photo1

Photo2

cinema buffs, currently working on a new issue of the whittier conservancy newsletter & other special publishing projects—and looking for historic photos of old whittier & the whittier cinemas. anyone willing to share old pictures, please contact me (send note to ). what a shame that this place was destroyed unnecessarily.

I remember the Whittier Theater very well I knew the Manager & the projectionist in the late 60s. We would go see private showings of movies after the theater closed.
I have been to the top of the Tower & the view from up there was great.
Here are a few things I remember that I have not seen mentioned here.
Besides being a Movie Theater it was also a stage theater.
The Balconies on stage left & right are real & were accessed for back stage.
Below the stage there were dressing rooms.
Also up until the late 50s in the center of the front courtyard the was a large Rock Water Fountain.
There were Private viewing rooms on both sides of the Projection room.
Looking at the theater from the street on the left there was a private apartment that had an entrance to the left of the Box office & left of the walkway to the rear parking lot. The apartment also had direct access to the Theater via the Balcony above the Box Office.
When Warner Bros. owned the Theater the building on the Left & Right were offices for Warner Bros. They became retail businesses after Warner Bro. sold the Theater.
My brother worked there in the late 70s & I met my wife at the Little ole Taco Maker across the srtreet for the theater

It appears to have operated as McNees Theatre for less than a year. Ralph McNees was a cashier at First National Bank in Whitter who bought a couple of walnut orchards in the area in 1909 and later developed them. Most likely he built the theater as part of his real estate development. There’s a street named after him, too.

The California Index has another card (one that didn’t come up in my previous search) citing a Southwest Builder & Contractor article which named Earl M. Wheatland as the contractor for the Warner Bros. Theatre in Whittier. The Index dates the article to 1/11/1929, but I think that might have been a typo. The citation of the Whitter News article about the McNees re-opening as Warner Bros. Whittier was dated 11/26/1929, so the typist might have gotten the date and month reversed for the SwB&C article.

In any case, the Whittier News article was explicit about McNees becoming the Warner Bros. Whittier, but there’s nothing in the Index about how long Warners operated it. It’s also possible that they didn’t use their name on the theater or in its advertising, and just called it the Whittier Theatre, but that would have been uncharacteristic of the company at that time (Warner Bros. Downtown Theatre, Warner Bros. Western Theatre, Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre, etc.)

Additional information: Here is a PDF file of the July, 1991, issue of the Whittier Conservancy’s newsletter, with an item saying that the city had allowed to owner of the Whittier Theatre to demolish the building. This was four years after the theater had been closed following the 1987 earthquake. As the building had stood for four years in its damaged state, it’s obvious that it was repairable.

Whittier,Ca1987: Currently, Cinema Treasures doesn’t have the ability to post more photos, and the site’s policy forbids users to post them directly in comments. The best way to share your theater photos with Cinema Treasures users is to get yourself a free account at Flickr or one of the other free image hosting services, upload your photos there, and then put ordinary links to them in comments here.

Lost Memory (belated reply to your comment of Sept 24): Whittier once had its own street numbering system, centered on Greenleaf Avenue and Philadelphia Street, but long ago adopted the county numbering system that starts from 1st and Main Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The address at top should be updated so Google Maps can find the right location.

Also, the theater should have the aka of Bruen’s Whittier Theatre, which was the name on the stage house, and the name under which it was often advertised when Hugh Bruen still operated it.

Looks good to me.

The FDYB gave the address for the Whitter Theatre as 1410 W. Whitter Blvd.. Just did a overhead map search of the address, the 11602 East Whitter Blvd. matches one of the postcard shots in your post.

11602-11612 Whitter Blvd. should be the new address above.

ken mc – How sad, how sad those pictures make me feel. I used to go to the Whittier with my friends all through high school and on dates with boyfriends (1955-1959). I used to go to the Roxy and Wardman too. Whittier had such a beautiful uptown (Greenleaf)too. Now sections of Greenleaf don’t look too pretty. I remember listening to records at Lovell’s music store after school or on weekends.

And ken mc — don’t forget about Whittier’s own Roxy (RIP):

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