Meralta Theatre
10912 Downey Avenue,
Downey,
CA
90241
10912 Downey Avenue,
Downey,
CA
90241
1 person
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Here’s another completely different look for the Meralta:
View link
Old photo here:
http://tinyurl.com/ycytds3
Growing up in nearby Cudahy,i saw many movies here.
Before moving to Texas with my parents in 1977,the last thing i remember seeing here was “Silver Streak” on a double bill with “Phantom of the Paradise” in ‘76.
This was the place to see Disney movies,as well
Maybe it only happened with older models. This is the first that I’ve heard about it being permanent. Thanks for the warning.
Different but same result. I have two Viewsonic’s that PERSIST so far permanently. Newest models (past two or so years) don’t seem to have the issue.
That’s news to me. I have never heard of any LCD screen that can burn. They can suffer from image persistence which is usually not permanent.
Some LCD’s DO need a saver as they can “burn.” :o)
An LCD monitor doesn’t need a screen saver but I could use that photo as wallpaper.
I put the 3/14/08 photo on my desktop as a screensaver. That marquee looks fantastic.
Great stuff. I started working at the Meralta/Avenue in 1964. The manager was Frank Kovilets (spelling wrong, I’m sure). I lived three blocks away, and had the “fun” of changing the marquees, hauling the prints upstairs to the projection booth, etc. But I’d tended to hang out in the booth and hear tales of the silent days from the old projectionist. That experience helped lay the foundation for my working in the film biz.
It looks more like a postcard than a photo.
old shot of the Meralta Theatre?
Here is the location today:
http://tinyurl.com/5zy5u5
That’s a great photo. Thanks.
Here is a 1953 photo of the Meralta Theater.
Here is an undated photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics46/00072849.jpg
Two eras of the Meralta, from Flickr user The Downey Conservancy:
A very early photo of the original, 1925 design by architect Evan Jones in a Spanish Colonial style, handsomely executed in what appears to be brick and terra cotta.
A c1950 photo of the facade as remodeled in a restrained, art modern style by architect Clarence Smale. Smale’s 1940s remodel was so good that I can almost forgive its destruction of Jones’s delightful Spanish fantasy.
Sadly, both are landfill now.
25 cartoons for 35 cents at the Meralta Theater. And this is another ad for the Meralta Theater.
A Link theater organ was installed in the Meralta Theater in Downey in 1925.
The Santa Monica School District had two schools that started with M, their Madison Elementary and McKinley Elementary. The former Madison Elementary (11th. Street and Arizona) is used a satellite campus since 1990 for Santa Monica College. The type of seat you posted sounds like a school auditorium type seat. The Madison school was a older school location in that district. The seats at John Adams middle school only have padding on the bottom, not the back. The seats in the Barnum Hall at Santa Monica High School (Samohi) are fully padded theatre type seats.
The problem of them being from the Million Dollar Theatre is the Million Dollar Theatre was a Deluxe type theatre when it opened. So the line you wrote “made of only wood without any padding” would not make it from the Million Dollar. Because those Deluxe houses: (Million Dollar, Los Angeles, Orpheum, State, UA, Warner, etc.) , all had nice fancy seats in their day. If it came from the Santa Monica School District it could have come from their school called Madison.
I have two theater seats made by Heywood-Wakefield with the letter “M” on each of the outter sides of the framing. They are complete and made of only wood without any padding. They were last used in the Santa Monica school district. Below the letter there is a small urn or vase. Were these seats from that theater? Or possibly another theater in the Los Angeles theater like the Million Dollar Theater. Thank you for your imput.
Gary
The LA Times reported the demolition of the Meralta on 12/31/78. However, the address was given as 10912 S. Downey Avenue.
Steve and Kandy – Please contact me at – for more info on Meralta
I remember the Meralta and Avenue theater from when I was a kid growing up near downey. Later I got to know the manager, Harold Taylor, who would comp us on admission from time to time. I can still remember when it only cast $1.00 to get in, then after the remodel the management raised the price to $2.00 to keep the riff-raff out; oh the good ol days. If you ever hear from Harold Taylor tell him Steve and Kandy said hello.