Atlantic Theater

i grew up going to the Atlantic Theater from 1959-1966. i seen many movies there as well as the Towne & Crest. until i seen these pic’s i’d forgotten about the fountain and the beautiful flooring. in the last 54 years i’ve lived within a few blocks of it and now retired i’m only but two blocks away. i drive up and down Atlantic at all times coming and going, but i haven’t gone up & down it seeing anything until i used your street view navigation. what i saw was a property razed street (by the RDA) with what says city now owned white fencing covering all of it. and they say that the property 6.? acres there where the theater stands is needed to build a NLB community center? needed? there’s more property directly across the street running from South st. to 59th st. and twice that two blocks farther down from razing the motel many years back. nothing has been built or used for on any of the land they’ve taken. i know they’ve bullied most out of their properties and yelled blithe, pubic nuisance or anything that enables them to force sale to them. the one person that was in favor of the theater excluded himself from the vote. i don’t know what LBC is up to but i know that all this property condemned and taken has a big retail resale price compared to what they gave the past owners. looking in the LBPL Community info base & history annex their not done yet by a long shot. that’s what my dad said when they razed his favorite bar which was The Back Door behind the Front Door Theater next door. thanks for letting me have my say. i must admit i have’t even gone that way to see if is been taken down yet. i will.

out of curiosity why isn’t the Oriental Theater still listed beings it did exist before it was torn down and the La Shell was built in it’s place? just wondering.

thanks MJ. we moved to 1074 Market in 59 when i was 9. then ironically to the little house south side of the Library. the one they are now saying is old and i forget the word (RDA word)but is what the excuse or reasons of ‘needing’ a new library built once the theater is razed. LB BS! i’m now at Market on Cerritos. across the street from where i started 54 years ago. ha. the new. and the gone. i remember more that’s gone than what’s new. not impressed.

Hi Guys. the date is coming up fast. is anyone suppose to be or going to be on site when they start demo? to point out what is being saved, and instructions of how it’s to be saved? don’t trust the RDA one bit. they write up pretty papers of promises. everything they say their going to do has ten ways of doing it and they choose which way. like the saving of the historical Jergens Trust Building concrete cherubs & moldings. i came across recently in the library’s community data digital archives photo’s of LB a picture of one of the LB salvage yards and there up against the chain link fence was the cherubs and all the moldings stacked up on the ground and the cherub has two foot high weeds growing up out of her bosom and under her chin where they are cracked apart. obviously stacked with a fork lift. nothing has ever gone into the plan of using them again as said they would. once again it’s a case of they promised they would, but never said when.. i’ll mark the date.. the 25th is on a Saturday? i’m betting LB isn’t even doing the razing or the building of the center or library. they hired it out instead of the city doing the job. the city doesn’t work on Saturdays and pay any work of overtime! we’ll see. i’ll go check out the data base LBPL to see if it’s to date. Deb

Today, January 25, 2014, a ‘celebration’ was held marking the beginning of this theater’s demolition. The 1941 theater is being destroyed after many years of neglect to make way for a new library. The RKO-like spire, the theater’s terrazo floors, fountain and tile work will be incorporated into the library’s design plan. I will post some photos.