Grand Theater

Here is an item about the Mozart Theatre from the September 7, 1912 issue of Moving Picture World:

“The new Mozart Theater, owned by Mrs. Anna Mozart and operated entirely by women, is turning out better than anyone expected. Although the theater is located on the outskirts of the shopping district and on a by-street the house has enjoyed excellent business ever since it opened its doors. The policy is to provide good music and good pictures and it has been living up to this policy. The first week the feature was ‘St. George and the Dragon.’ Last week ‘The Crusaders’ was the principal subject. This week ‘The Raven’ is the bill, and ‘Robin Hood’ is scheduled for next week. In addition to the feature two or three other reels—educational, travel, scenic or industrial—are run each week.”

Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine in June 1946:

LOS ANGELES-The Grand Theater, leased by Herb Rosener from the George T. Walker estate, and which is part of the Walker Auditorium Building here, will end its 50-year career in July. It will be demolished. The site will provide extra parking space for the J.W. Robinson department store.

Rosener, who has operated the house for the past twelve years, also runs the Studio, Laurel and Esquire. All specialize in foreign films. He plans to construct another theater to replace the Grand when building conditions permit.

I agree.

The Fox Criterion Theatre operated till around 1941 and had a fire which closed the theatre. The theatre later reopened after being closed for a few years as the Grand Internationale. And was later razed to make way for a office building. The site did not add all the info in the Criterion’s opening comment.

If the 1946 photo was taken shortly before demolition, then the Grand would have been its last incarnation, and should rightly be the name under which the theater is listed.

Here is a January 1928 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/4zvwpb

Here is a 1946 photo from the LAPL, shortly before demolition. I also have included the caption as there is a reference to another aka, Actor’s Theater. I thought Joe would like that:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics41/00070227.jpg

Grand Theatre, located in the Walker Auditorium Building at 750 South Grand Avenue, is to be demolished to make room for a parking lot. Built in 1907 by George W. Walker, the six-story theater was known as the Walker Auditorium and was the home of the theatrical hits of the day. It was renamed the Orange Grove Theater and became a music performance hall. Before being renamed one last time as the Grand Theatre in 1936 and converted in to a motion picture theater, it was briefly called the Actors Theatre. The building includes offices and meeting rooms. Photo dated: July 3, 1946.

Here is an October 1915 ad when the Mozart was known as the Brooks Theater:
http://tinyurl.com/23zd5x

Here is a photo from the CA state library. The date is in question:
View link

Did you get that map in jpeg2000 format from the Library of Congress, Scott? If so, its pretty amazing. I don’t know how accurate it is but I spend hours looking at all of the details.

Thanks for reposting those links Joe. I wish they would enable the zoom feature again. The detail was amazing on those scans.

All the USC links have expired. Here is one posted a while ago by vokoban showing the Mozart:
http://tinyurl.com/ylp2pm

vokoban: It looks as though that is the Mozart building in that second picture. It’s the right distance down Grand Avenue, and is the right size. In fact, I recognized the cursive writing on the sign immediately, as I’ve seen a sign exactly like it, though much faded. It was (and according to a November 24th, 2004 comment by ejaycat on the Fox Pasadena page here, still is) on the wall of the former Clune’s Pasadena Theatre. Apparently, Billy Clune ran the Grand Avenue house for a while, too.

As for the date of the picture, it must be fairly close to 1912, and more likely earlier than later, given the fact that the southeast corner of 7th and Grand is still occupied by a house converted to commercial use, no cars are in sight, and the pavement looks very primitive. Even by the early 1920’s, that corner looked very different.