Loma Theatre
319 S. San Fernando Road,
Burbank,
CA
91502
319 S. San Fernando Road,
Burbank,
CA
91502
1 person
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The Loma Theatre was the first theater in Burbank to be equipped for sound. It featured the Vitaphone sound system. The theater lasted till the 1960’s, before being turned into an adult theater. It was damaged in a 1971 earthquake and was razed a few years later.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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I remember telling my mom I was going to the Cornell, then we would walk past the front to see the posters then walk down past the Major to the Loma. Being only 8 yrs old in 1954 it was a chore trying to remember what was playing so we could tell our parents when asked. The Loma was creepie and not too cool of a place but they did have girlie movies and was 9¢.
The Burbank bijou page linked above is gone, but the text of the page still exists in this archive.
Is this the Loma on the left?
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Oh, and here’s a couple old programs:
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(Sorry for multiple posts, I’m posting info as I find it.)
Here’s the rear of the theatre:
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Reports in Boxoffice in August, 1963, said that Charles Minor had closed the Loma Theatre. Equipment from the house was advertised for sale in the classified section of the August 5 issue of Boxoffice. The ad said that the operators had lost the lease on the building.
From the Burbankia page, there’s the Loma on the left in this scan of “Ranchos De Los Santos – The Story of Burbank” from 1927
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Cinematour has a couple of photos that used to be on the Bijou Manager site:
http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/16017.html
The Burbankia page has a photo of an unknown theatre in 1917. Don’t know whether it showed movies or if it was just a tiny live theatre, but thought I’d put it here, since it’s at least nearby and a similar vintage.
San Fernando Rd, showing Farmers and Merchants Bank
Detail showing unknown theatre
San Fernando Rd. looking in the other direction
Info on the mystery Burbank theatre from my above post:
“8/24/11 – Thanks to Sue Baldaseroni of the Burbank Historical Society, we now have some information about an unknown theater and sign on San Fernando Rd. that puzzled Mike and I. (A detail from the DeLos Wilbur photo from Feb. 1917 is here). According to Sue: "This was Burbank’s first moving picture theatre and was run by George Wood as an adjunct of his general store which kept open at night. Watland Wood remembers when his father took tickets at the picture show, he also would run to the store to wait on customers, and also squirted gasoline into the gas engine to keep the lights from dousing. It was mainly films of Cowboys and Indians shown in the first years. MJ (Mary Jane Strickland) said the lighted sign was for the store, not sure but thought it was a chicken or rooster but can’t remember for sure.” So there you are – it’s a bird of some kind. I still can’t make it out. We’ve determined by looking at later photos that the building still stands; the theater was where the Fantasia Billiards Hall is now located at 133 N. San Fernando."