Avenue Theatre
11022 Downey Avenue,
Downey,
CA
90241
11022 Downey Avenue,
Downey,
CA
90241
2 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1922 as the Downey Theatre. It featured a beautiful arch on its brick facade. This is still in situ, but has been hidden by the current facade. The theater was equipped for live shows and has around 15 dressing rooms located beneath the stage.
It was later renamed Victory Theater and in 1949, it was renamed Avenue Theater. Eventually by the 1970’s it was a second run movie theater.
It was closed in 2003, and apart from occasional use for some b-movie shoots, has remained unused.
The Avenue Theater is now owned by the City of Downey who want to demolish the theater and build condos and low rent housing on the site. Local citizens are opposed to these plans and would like to see the building restored for use as a classic movie venue, live performances and community events.
Contributed by
William Gabel, Ken Roe
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 31 comments)
And here is the website hosting that and other nice photos.
Hi everyone, There will be a meeting tomorrow night 1-6-09 at the Downey City Library to here public input on what should be done with the old Avenue Theater site. Here is the link to the Downey Patriot with all the info. Hope to see some of you there.
View link
The name change from Downey Theatre to Avenue Theatre took place in 1949. The April 16 issue of Boxoffice Magazine said that the Cummings circuit would spend $200,000 on remodeling its Victory and Meralta Theatres, and that the Victory would be renamed the Avenue.
View link
which has a link to this petition to save the Avenue Theatre:
View link
http://saveave.org/
Here is a 1946 ad for the Victory Theater.
Saw “Dog Day Afternoon” & “The Happy Hooker” here in 1975,I was only 6 years old at the time.
sign our petition to save the Avenue Theater here.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-the-historic-avenue-theater-in-downey-california/
Saw “The Little Shop Of Horrors” and “The Garbage Pail Kids” here around 1986 or so when I was 5. :)
Saw Body Heat around 1981 at the Avenue. It was a good alternative to the shoebox mutiplexes of that time.