There is a long, long article in the LA Times dated 9/7/77 about the porno business in LA. The Tiki is mentioned in passing. It looks like the reporter tracked down every adult theater and bookstore in the city and listed their address, talked to the owners, etc. As the archives database doesn’t let you copy and paste, I can’t put the whole thing here. Interesting reading if you can access the Times archive on the LA Library site.
I just added the Owl Theater at Temple and Beaudry. I recall that Beaudry would probably be about ten blocks east of Main Street, so it looks like I goofed. I will admit as such on the Owl page so they can take it off.
The Gentry at 6525 Compton is still standing. I will try and swing by the area to check out this theater as well. The description puts it somewhere around 86th and Compton.
I’ve wandered around the huge parking lot at 5th and Hill/Olive looking for traces of the College and the Philharmonic building. If I walk around in circles for too long, people start giving me their spare change.
A Hawthorne teen-age youth staggered fifteen feet out of a drive-in theater lounge late last night and collapsed face down, with a fatal stab wound in his chest. The stabbing occurred just after four men knocked down another unidentified youth outside the lounge. The men then went inside and fought with the teenager who was killed, witnesses told police.
In the ensuing uproar at the Roadium Theater, 2500 Redondo Beach Boulevard, police hurriedly searched every car and brought in five adults for questioning. Dead on arrival at Harbor General Hospital was John Nelson Edwards, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Edwards, 243 E. 137th Street, Hawthorne.
KDG, poster of 4/17/07, should note this LA Times brief dated 2/17/48:
S.C. Student Caught Firing Staples at Burlesque Girls
The ladies of the chorus at the Burbank Theater at yesterday’s matinee were jumping – but not in time with the music. The dance director objected, “That’s not the way the dance goes”. The chorus chorused, “We know that, but something is hitting us. Something that hurts”.
The management called police who soon spotted William C. Kiele, 23, University of Southern California student. From his eighth row seat, police said Kiele was peppering the dancing ladies with half-inch steel staples. He had a rubber slingshot. Police booked Kiele at County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
There is a long, long article in the LA Times dated 9/7/77 about the porno business in LA. The Tiki is mentioned in passing. It looks like the reporter tracked down every adult theater and bookstore in the city and listed their address, talked to the owners, etc. As the archives database doesn’t let you copy and paste, I can’t put the whole thing here. Interesting reading if you can access the Times archive on the LA Library site.
A long article in the LA Times dated 9/7/77 mentions this theater:
“Landlord Ben Mohi, who ran the operation from 1948 to 1965 as a straight movie house, claims the rental is his sole income.”
There are pages more, mostly from porn guys boohoing about the government, but I can’t reproduce all that here.
The Front Door and the Atlantic in Long Beach are still standing, albeit closed and shabby looking.
I just added the Owl Theater at Temple and Beaudry. I recall that Beaudry would probably be about ten blocks east of Main Street, so it looks like I goofed. I will admit as such on the Owl page so they can take it off.
The Gentry at 6525 Compton is still standing. I will try and swing by the area to check out this theater as well. The description puts it somewhere around 86th and Compton.
I can’t find any reference to the Gem in the LA Times archives. It must not have been around very long.
I recommend that website – lots of interesting stuff from the turn of the century, or last century now, I guess. Tempus fugit.
So there are two different Tally’s New Broadway theaters, 428 S. and 554 S. Broadway. Is that correct?
Too bad we can’t get inside – I wonder what’s left.
Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/25v3yw
I’ve wandered around the huge parking lot at 5th and Hill/Olive looking for traces of the College and the Philharmonic building. If I walk around in circles for too long, people start giving me their spare change.
I don’t think this theater is open to show films anymore.
From the LA Times, dated 8/15/57:
Torrance Brawl Ends in Fatal Stabbing; Five Held
A Hawthorne teen-age youth staggered fifteen feet out of a drive-in theater lounge late last night and collapsed face down, with a fatal stab wound in his chest. The stabbing occurred just after four men knocked down another unidentified youth outside the lounge. The men then went inside and fought with the teenager who was killed, witnesses told police.
In the ensuing uproar at the Roadium Theater, 2500 Redondo Beach Boulevard, police hurriedly searched every car and brought in five adults for questioning. Dead on arrival at Harbor General Hospital was John Nelson Edwards, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Edwards, 243 E. 137th Street, Hawthorne.
KDG, poster of 4/17/07, should note this LA Times brief dated 2/17/48:
S.C. Student Caught Firing Staples at Burlesque Girls
The ladies of the chorus at the Burbank Theater at yesterday’s matinee were jumping – but not in time with the music. The dance director objected, “That’s not the way the dance goes”. The chorus chorused, “We know that, but something is hitting us. Something that hurts”.
The management called police who soon spotted William C. Kiele, 23, University of Southern California student. From his eighth row seat, police said Kiele was peppering the dancing ladies with half-inch steel staples. He had a rubber slingshot. Police booked Kiele at County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Here is an ad from the LA Times dated 12/20/51. The graphics are interesting – too bad there’s no way to copy them here.
Lautrec’s Paris of the Gay 90s – The beauty, the glory, the excitement of Goya, Gauguin, Bosch, Carpaccio and Grant Wood – as never before seen!
“Pictura” – Adventure in Art
featuring Vincent Price
Narration by Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Martin Gabel, Lilli Palmer, Harry Marble
Goya music by Andres Segovia
World Premiere sponsored by L.A. County Museum
Esquire Theater
419 N. Fairfax Phone YO 8114
Architect was L.M. Bostock.
I will try for some photos the next time I’m in the area.
This was actually a twin, at least towards the end of its life.
Status should be closed.
If it’s vacant, status should be closed.
11021 is a parking lot.11001 looks like a theater, but no record of one at that address, as far as I know.
Not demolished. It is a church now. Status should be closed.
Here are the photos:
http://tinyurl.com/yu2jcz
http://tinyurl.com/yoauls
http://tinyurl.com/yvdbn3
http://tinyurl.com/yq39du
http://tinyurl.com/2hs9yp
http://tinyurl.com/22r838
http://tinyurl.com/24jjsa
http://tinyurl.com/24uhuv
http://tinyurl.com/ywkflp
http://tinyurl.com/28xmxz
Here are some photos from June 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/yrase2
http://tinyurl.com/2z6m5t
http://tinyurl.com/23k7lt
http://tinyurl.com/yudwgm
Here are the photos:
http://tinyurl.com/2lg5t9
http://tinyurl.com/2pxtdd
http://tinyurl.com/38r93w
http://tinyurl.com/3cmxkp
http://tinyurl.com/2ssku6
http://tinyurl.com/2u6d7o
http://tinyurl.com/2gr2md
http://tinyurl.com/28l6yc