Magnolia Theatre
4403 W. Magnolia Boulevard,
Burbank,
CA
91505
4403 W. Magnolia Boulevard,
Burbank,
CA
91505
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 30 of 30 comments
Two things: I’ve dug up some information about the Magnolia Theatre, and the address currently listed for it is wrong. The theatre is at 4403 Magnolia, on the north (odd numbered) side of the street. There is no 4430 Magnolia in Burbank, as the numbers only go up to 4420 at the corner of Clybourn Avenue, and beyond that is the 10300 block of Magnolia in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles.
A mistake in either a card from the L.A. Library’s California Index, or in the article from Southwest Builder & Contractor that the card cited, prevented me from realizing before now that this theatre was designed by Clifford Balch. The card says that the May 17, 1940, issue of SwB&C named Balch as the architect of the “Major Theatre” in Burbank, but it gives the location of the new house as the northwest corner of Magnolia and Valley Street. The Major Theatre was actually at 333 San Fernando Rd., and already existed in 1940. The information on the card must apply to the Magnolia. The L.A. County assessor’s information for the parcel confirms a construction date of 1940 for the building at 4403 Magnolia Blvd.
The confusion must have arisen from the fact that the Magnolia was being built for Al Minor, who was the owner of the Major Theatre. There’s a (very little) bit of information about Al Minor on the Magnolia Theatre page of “Bijou Memories”, a website about Burbank’s movie theatres.
Incidentally, Google Maps has decent photos of all four sides of this building via its Street View feature, thanks to a wide, block-through lot behind the theatre being vacant.
I worked at the Magnolia Theatre from 1974 until it closed in 1979 as the Assistant manager. What an amazing place and boy do I have some fond late night partying stories. When the theatre was getting ready to be closed (because it lost its least, not due to lack of business) lots of stuff was being thrown out. I salvaged the original art deco etched glass (all four sides) of the original box office and two original art deco light sconces. I may be interested in selling these items. Anyone have any ideas on what it anything this stuff may be worth and where to sell it?
Thanks Roy
The Magnolia is up for sale, there is a bit of its history about its life as a recording studio
View link
Still a work of art
The marquee and exterior of this theater can be seen in the 1973 Columbo episode entitled “Double Exposure”.
I went by there yesterday. It’s all sealed up. Apparently, it remains a recording studio. The neighborhood is exceptionally nice. The patrons just stopped going to movies. I remember they used it for scenes in the John Belushi 1979 film “1941.”