Glendora Theatre
108 West Foothill Boulevard,
Glendora,
CA
108 West Foothill Boulevard,
Glendora,
CA
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The Mission Theatre was opened prior to 1923.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
The October 22, 1938, issue of Boxoffice said that H.E. Brookings had purchased the Beacon Theatre from the McDonald brothers.
The November 5, 1938, issue said that Brookings had changed the name to Glendora Theatre.
It’s surprising how frequently the Glendora is mentioned in Boxoffice from the 1940s through the 1950s, and almost every time it gets mentioned it is changing owners. Various owners after Brookins included: Sid Smith; Tony Blanco; Dave Fred and Perry Morgan; W.G. McKinney; B.G. Meyers; the Western Amusement Company (for almost six years, 1945-1951); Mr. and Mrs. L.D. Dover; Joe Pokorny; Willard Blunt; and finally Fed Stein, whose Statewide Theatres operated the house from at least 1960 to 1967.
Here is a December 1964 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/ndnarb
Another gem.
Was this ad posted to the other 17 theatres listed in the ad? What is the historical significance of this ad to this or the other 17 theatres?
I can’t say on the other theaters. I know on this one it confirms Joe’s note that Statewide was the operator in the latter period of the theater’s existence. It also tells us which other theaters were controlled by Statewide in 1964, which is a good reference point if that question is raised.
That booking list does not show all of them.
No, but it shows some of the Statewide theaters at that time. Plus it was Pia Zadora’s first film. Can’t beat that.
You have more stories than Campbell’s has soups.
That’s a good one.
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune noted in 2006 that The Glendora Historical Society had selected the Mission Theatre Building as the first phase of its “Historical Pride Project.” This entailed placing pictured plaques with a history at 10 locations around town. The Mission’s plaque reads: “One of Glendora’s most distinguished landmarks was the Mission Building. This Foothill Boulevard façade featured a covered walkway shared by several storefronts. A popular malt shop was located on the corner and a theater occupied most of the building space. In the 1930’s, Richard and Maurice McDonald, of McDonald’s Restaurant fame, operated the theater.” The Mission Theater goes back to at least 1923 in Covina Argus listings and a mention in the Los Angeles Times. The Argus says the first talking picture at the Mission was (Fox Movietone) “Follies of 1929,” which started on September 4 1929. From 1932 to 1937 ads in the Argus for the theater reflected a name change to the Beacon and sometime after 1937 to the Glendora Theatre. In the Film Daily Yearbook of 1936-37 it was listed as the Beacon with 600 seats. The FDY of 1946-48 listed it as the Glendora also with 600 seats. What may have happened to the theatre in the late 1940s is open to speculation as the FDY of 1949-50 lists it with 750 seats.