Playhouse Theatre
1236 W. 7th Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90017
1236 W. 7th Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90017
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The Playhouse Theatre building is still standing and has a new roof – front facade is also in good shape although looks extensively done over. The main entrance opens into a violin shop. I don’t believe that extends to the auditorium – it would be a fairly large music store. Clearly no balcony, is a fairly low building. No hint of what is in the auditorium but there are a couple garage doors on the back right side. Maybe it’s a warehouse?
Some of the city directories list the address of the Playhouse Theatre as 1234 ½ W. 7th. It’s listed there in the 1942 directory, when 1236 is listed as a restaurant. It’s still listed in the 1956 directory, but is gone by 1960. That year, the Irwin Jewelery Company is listed at 1232, and the Grand Fir Quality Coffee Shop is at 1238, with nothing listed in between. The theater might have been vacant that year. A laundry and dry cleaners shop was listed at 1236 in 1961, and something called the 1-2-3-4 Club was at 1234.
Bing Maps provides a decent bird’s-eye view of this building, and the roof of the auditorium can be easily seen. The photo doesn’t get close enough to the facade to make the signage over the former theater’s entrance readable, though.
All of the buildings on this block are old and low-rise. There’s been a lot of rebuilding in the neighborhood in recent years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this block got redeveloped when the real estate market picks up again. Maybe somebody from the area could get some pictures of the ex-Playhouse before it really is gone forever.
Thanks MagicLantern.
It’s either the Quality Cafe building or the violin shop building.
A Playhouse Theatre, at 1236 W. Seventh Street, was listed among the movie houses in the 1915 L.A. City Directory.
Google Maps gets the right location for this parcel, but their Street View feature totally blows it, showing a spot east of the freeway when you try to view anything east of Hartford Avenue.
I’m still convinced that the Playhouse Theatre building has not been demolished.
The assessor’s information for this address is reported as part of a bundle, with the addresses 1232, 1234, 1236 and 1238 W. 7th. Street included. On a parcel of 11,717 sq. ft., there are said to be four buildings, but information for only one building is included on the assessor’s report, and that one is a structure of 8697 sq. ft., built in 1913.
The Playhouse is among the movie theatres listed in a 1914 ad reproduced on this L.A. Times blog page. A TerraServer satellite view of the location shows a building that looks as though it might have been a theatre. If somebody could check this one out, I think they might find that the Playhouse hasn’t been demolished after all.
Advertised as McKinney’s Playhouse in the LA Times on 10/22/33.