Bridge Theater
330 W. Las Tunas Drive,
San Gabriel,
CA
91776
330 W. Las Tunas Drive,
San Gabriel,
CA
91776
1 person
favorited this theater
Built in 1941, the theater had Spanish roofing tiles at corners of facade. The San Gabriel Theater was opened February 18, 1942 with Greta Garbo in “Two Faced Woman” & Claudette Colbert in “Remember the Day”. In 1980, it was renamed the Kuo Hwa Theatre, showing Chinese films (saw Jackie Chan’s “City Hunter” there) and was torn down in 1996 or 1997. There were seven vertically stacked squares above marquee that spelled EDWARDS. The letters were later covered with Chinese characters.
When the building was being torn down, a beam under the marquee was exposed with the words “Edwards Century” written on it. There was a crescent moon in the center of the marquee.
Contributed by
Chris Brame
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
Jeff, you are absolutely right. I drove by there today and realized it. I would change my screen name to lostmemory but that one is taken.
I have a name, I just can’t remember it. Thanks, Pop.
manwithnoname, you must live really close to me. I live not far from San Gabriel.
I just checked the mail and discovered I live in Monterey Park and my name is Mr. Current Resident. Thanks for the tip.
PS: MIME is definitely correct but to anyone who has been married silence can be appreciated!
Haha. Thats funny manwith. I’m in Monterey Park as well.
I found this on the LA Library database. I can’t add it as a new theater as they don’t provide the name:
http://tinyurl.com/2m6fvm
This is a 1982 photo. I think the photo has been reversed.
http://tinyurl.com/pu263e
Went here many a weekend in the early 90’s to feast on the glory of HK Cinema and BBQ shrimp crackers with my pal, Jeff.
The Edwards became a Chinese Language cinema originally in 1980, named the Kuo Hwa, it ran Shaw Brother’s films, for it’s first few months and then became the home for all of Golden Harvest’s releases. When it closed (date unknown), the theatre was rechristened The Bridge, where it continued to run Golden Harvest titles until The Whittier Earthquake finally ended the run of this little house.
The Whittier Narrows earthquake struck on the morning of October 1, 1987, so if that event led to the permanent closure of this theater, the last show must have been run on the evening of September 30.