Confirming the address and fate of the Lynwood Theatre of the 1940s as shown in my Aug. 29, 2009 posting, an ad the 1957 Lynwood High School yearbook (Accolade) shows the occupant of 11606 Long Beach Blvd. to be the South-Lyn Bowling Lanes.
I’m not sure when the Allen adopted that name — perhaps just after WW2, but an ad in the 1 Nov. 1943 issue of the Compton News Tribune has the South Gate Theatre at that address (3809 Tweedy Blvd.). The theatre’s phone number at that time was LA 8888, but a 1969 listing for the Allen shows the number as LOrain 6-6157.
An ad in the 1 Nov. 1943 issue of the Compton News-Tribune (Compton, CA) lists the Lynwood Theatre address as 11606 Long Beach Blvd., Lynwood. The phone number was NEwmark 11555. As a kid, I saw “My Darling Clementine” (1946) at that theatre. Possibly due to competition from the very near and much more elegant Arden Theatre, the Lynwood Theatre closed and I believe it was turned into a small bowling alley.
Ken Mc, Thanks for the update and photos re the Allen’s closure. It looks rather forlorn, and the purple paints doesn’t help. I guess we can take some solace from the fact that it survived longer than most neighborhood movie houses of similar vintage. Rick A.
The La Tosca neighborhood was already becoming pretty scary by the early 1960s. I only went to matinees there — for that very reason — and if I had not arrived in my own car I always waited for my ride in full view of the ticket booth, figuring Meta, the ticket seller, would call for help if I got jumped. I was in my 20s then and defensively armed but most of the other patrons were much older, so I imagine the area’s downward spiral probably affected business before long.
Mr. DeLuca’s 1980s photo is a pretty close match to the way the La Tosca looked when I last saw it in 1979. I originally thought the furniture on the sidewalk in front of the theater indicated work was going on inside but it now seems likely that a nearby store was just displaying sale items all along the walkway. The corner storefront where the word “shop” can be partially seen was called Wanda’s in 1970.
Originally, the Allen’s lower facade was covered with maroon tile (ditto the ticket booth), but in recent years the tile was removed and replaced with cream-colored stucco. The ticket booth is gone but its outline can still be seen on the entryway floor.
You can see several photos of the Allen Theatre as it changed over the years if you go to the www.southgatehigh.com web site (unofficial), which hosts a gallery of southeast L.A. nostalgia photos, including several of my own. My strongest memories of the Allen are linked with Saturday matinee showings of war movies, westerns and a string of cartoons playing to a full house of screaming kids who were constantly in the disapproving beam of the usherette’s flashlight. South Gate’s other “walk-in” theatre, the Vogue, was a step up in quality, but nearby Huntington Park, Lynwood and North Long Beach had the really nice movie houses in the 1950s and early ‘60s.
Other than the name La Tosca, the most “Italian memory” I have of the theater is of two murals or bas-relief sculptures flanking the stage/screen area and depicting a lute-player serenading his sweetheart who was looking down from a mini-balcony. When I photographed the exterior of the La Tosca in 1979, the marquee was painted light blue and the building was white (paint flaking off on the corner side that housed a small shop formerly called Hansa Haus).
They must have removed the water fountain booth before my time as I do not recall that. For their German-speaking audience, they used to mail out illustrated program schedules listing films for several months ahead. Starting in December of 1956 the Saturday ticket prices were increased to 75 cents for matinees and 85 cents for evening showings, but 85 cents for all Sunday and holiday screenings. “Yellow car” trolleys of the V and J Lines passed right in front of the La Tosca but by 1964-65, buses #9 and 95 had replaced the streetcars. A taped announcement of film times could be heard by calling REpublic 3-7292.
The Meralta was quite upscale for a neighborhood theater. I was very impressed with the rocking loge seats and the viewing window where you could see the film away from the seated area. I first “discovered” the Meralta when one of my friends from South Gate was hired there as an usherette in the late 1950s. My future wife and I had our first date at the Meralta, watching “Cry for Happy,” in early 1961.
I watched films at the Palace in Memphis while stationed nearby in the Navy, fall 1957 to spring 1958. A surviving ticket stub shows the Loew’s logo and indicates the price at that time was 90 cents (including 8 cents federal tax).
It’s possible Italian films were shown there at one time, but it was known for German films when I was a regular customer. However, when I last saw and photographed the La Tosca, circa 1979, it appeared to be undergoing either renovation or demolition, and the marquee listed Korean, Indian and German films. The theater’s name probably had no connection to the films shown there as it likely was a “mainstream” movie house in earlier days.
We often went to the Arden during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was somewhat classier than some of the movie houses closer to home (South Gate). I recall seeing some chapters of the movie serials “Superman” and “Rocketman” at the Arden, and I once spilled a full box of Ice Cream Bonbons on the floor there. I last saw the Arden in 1979. It was closed, very shabby and bore a “for sale” sign just left of the entrance. The architecture was somewhat different, featuring a concave vertical facade with the word “Arden” in slim, all caps 1920s-style type. It was located more or less across the street from the former Lynwood Theater, which I believe became a bowling alley while the Arden was still drawing big crowds.
The California was the venue for my first date, circa 1955. We took the J-Line “Yellow Car” PCC trolley from the Loop station, Palm and State, which was near her house in South Gate, and we disembarked in Huntington Park just a few paces from the ticket booth. The California, Warner and New Park theaters were all on the same side of Pacific Boulevard and within sight of each other — a moviergoer’s paradise in the days before multiple screens.
In the early 1960s, the Clinton featured mostly foreign movies and members of the audience could often be seen eating grapes or other snacks brought from home and the management seemed to have no problem with that atypical moviegoing behavior.
In the 1950s, the Vagabond screened many films from England and I can recall seeing “Folly to be Wise,” starring Alistair Sim, at that venue. These were “small” films that played virtually nowhere else in greater Los Angeles at that time.
Seeing movies at the Fox Florence was a real treat for me as a youngster, mainly due to the impressive styling and the fish pond in the forecourt. My strongest memory of this theater is seeing 1947’s “The Red House,” starring Edward G. Robinson, and being very scared by that woodsy-noir thriller (I was eight or nine at the time). I also saw “Casablanca” there but it must have been a re-release, a popular distribution gimmick around the time of the Korean Conflict.
We used to go to the Tower in Compton in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but after the fender skirts on our family’s 1941 Plymouth sedan were stolen in the parking lot, we were less frequent attendees.
The Lyric was still a family movie house in 1957 when I joined the Navy in the recruiter’s office above the theater. By late 1960, when I was a civilian again and dating an usherette/candy butcher at the Lyric, it was showing somewhat racier film fare, but very mild stuff by present standards. I believe it was located in an unincorporated strip of county land along the borders of South Gate and Huntington Park and it therefor had less-strict zoning laws than those two communities.
My strongest memory of the Towne was its very modern architecture, featuring lots of stainless steel and glass. It looked like no other movie house that I was aware of in that region of the greater Los Angeles area in the 1950s.
I used to visit the Crest in the 1950s and my strongest memory is of the rather unique ticket booth, which was encased in a silvery metal sculpture like stylized flower petals or “stiffened” whipped cream. The Crest and the nearby ultra-modern Towne were the most unusual and interesting movie houses in my area of attendance at that time (within easy reach of South Gate).
The La Tosca, at 30th and Vermont, screened old German movies and newsreels (Neue Deutsche Wochenschau) every weekend during the 1950s and early 1960s, usually playing to a full house. Hungarian films were played mid-week. It was owned and operated at that time by Hermann and Meta Kleinhens. Tickets were 75 cents, if I remember correctly. The interior featured Venetian murals.
Confirming the address and fate of the Lynwood Theatre of the 1940s as shown in my Aug. 29, 2009 posting, an ad the 1957 Lynwood High School yearbook (Accolade) shows the occupant of 11606 Long Beach Blvd. to be the South-Lyn Bowling Lanes.
I’m not sure when the Allen adopted that name — perhaps just after WW2, but an ad in the 1 Nov. 1943 issue of the Compton News Tribune has the South Gate Theatre at that address (3809 Tweedy Blvd.). The theatre’s phone number at that time was LA 8888, but a 1969 listing for the Allen shows the number as LOrain 6-6157.
An ad in the 1 Nov. 1943 issue of the Compton News-Tribune (Compton, CA) lists the Lynwood Theatre address as 11606 Long Beach Blvd., Lynwood. The phone number was NEwmark 11555. As a kid, I saw “My Darling Clementine” (1946) at that theatre. Possibly due to competition from the very near and much more elegant Arden Theatre, the Lynwood Theatre closed and I believe it was turned into a small bowling alley.
Ken Mc, Thanks for the update and photos re the Allen’s closure. It looks rather forlorn, and the purple paints doesn’t help. I guess we can take some solace from the fact that it survived longer than most neighborhood movie houses of similar vintage. Rick A.
The La Tosca neighborhood was already becoming pretty scary by the early 1960s. I only went to matinees there — for that very reason — and if I had not arrived in my own car I always waited for my ride in full view of the ticket booth, figuring Meta, the ticket seller, would call for help if I got jumped. I was in my 20s then and defensively armed but most of the other patrons were much older, so I imagine the area’s downward spiral probably affected business before long.
Mr. DeLuca’s 1980s photo is a pretty close match to the way the La Tosca looked when I last saw it in 1979. I originally thought the furniture on the sidewalk in front of the theater indicated work was going on inside but it now seems likely that a nearby store was just displaying sale items all along the walkway. The corner storefront where the word “shop” can be partially seen was called Wanda’s in 1970.
Originally, the Allen’s lower facade was covered with maroon tile (ditto the ticket booth), but in recent years the tile was removed and replaced with cream-colored stucco. The ticket booth is gone but its outline can still be seen on the entryway floor.
You can see several photos of the Allen Theatre as it changed over the years if you go to the www.southgatehigh.com web site (unofficial), which hosts a gallery of southeast L.A. nostalgia photos, including several of my own. My strongest memories of the Allen are linked with Saturday matinee showings of war movies, westerns and a string of cartoons playing to a full house of screaming kids who were constantly in the disapproving beam of the usherette’s flashlight. South Gate’s other “walk-in” theatre, the Vogue, was a step up in quality, but nearby Huntington Park, Lynwood and North Long Beach had the really nice movie houses in the 1950s and early ‘60s.
Other than the name La Tosca, the most “Italian memory” I have of the theater is of two murals or bas-relief sculptures flanking the stage/screen area and depicting a lute-player serenading his sweetheart who was looking down from a mini-balcony. When I photographed the exterior of the La Tosca in 1979, the marquee was painted light blue and the building was white (paint flaking off on the corner side that housed a small shop formerly called Hansa Haus).
They must have removed the water fountain booth before my time as I do not recall that. For their German-speaking audience, they used to mail out illustrated program schedules listing films for several months ahead. Starting in December of 1956 the Saturday ticket prices were increased to 75 cents for matinees and 85 cents for evening showings, but 85 cents for all Sunday and holiday screenings. “Yellow car” trolleys of the V and J Lines passed right in front of the La Tosca but by 1964-65, buses #9 and 95 had replaced the streetcars. A taped announcement of film times could be heard by calling REpublic 3-7292.
The Meralta was quite upscale for a neighborhood theater. I was very impressed with the rocking loge seats and the viewing window where you could see the film away from the seated area. I first “discovered” the Meralta when one of my friends from South Gate was hired there as an usherette in the late 1950s. My future wife and I had our first date at the Meralta, watching “Cry for Happy,” in early 1961.
I watched films at the Palace in Memphis while stationed nearby in the Navy, fall 1957 to spring 1958. A surviving ticket stub shows the Loew’s logo and indicates the price at that time was 90 cents (including 8 cents federal tax).
It’s possible Italian films were shown there at one time, but it was known for German films when I was a regular customer. However, when I last saw and photographed the La Tosca, circa 1979, it appeared to be undergoing either renovation or demolition, and the marquee listed Korean, Indian and German films. The theater’s name probably had no connection to the films shown there as it likely was a “mainstream” movie house in earlier days.
We often went to the Arden during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was somewhat classier than some of the movie houses closer to home (South Gate). I recall seeing some chapters of the movie serials “Superman” and “Rocketman” at the Arden, and I once spilled a full box of Ice Cream Bonbons on the floor there. I last saw the Arden in 1979. It was closed, very shabby and bore a “for sale” sign just left of the entrance. The architecture was somewhat different, featuring a concave vertical facade with the word “Arden” in slim, all caps 1920s-style type. It was located more or less across the street from the former Lynwood Theater, which I believe became a bowling alley while the Arden was still drawing big crowds.
The California was the venue for my first date, circa 1955. We took the J-Line “Yellow Car” PCC trolley from the Loop station, Palm and State, which was near her house in South Gate, and we disembarked in Huntington Park just a few paces from the ticket booth. The California, Warner and New Park theaters were all on the same side of Pacific Boulevard and within sight of each other — a moviergoer’s paradise in the days before multiple screens.
In the early 1960s, the Clinton featured mostly foreign movies and members of the audience could often be seen eating grapes or other snacks brought from home and the management seemed to have no problem with that atypical moviegoing behavior.
The San Val Drive-in was located at San Fernando Road and Winona.
Movie listings in a 1960 copy of the Los Angeles Herald-American newspaper show the Nubell address as 16711 S. Bellflower.
In the 1950s, the Vagabond screened many films from England and I can recall seeing “Folly to be Wise,” starring Alistair Sim, at that venue. These were “small” films that played virtually nowhere else in greater Los Angeles at that time.
Seeing movies at the Fox Florence was a real treat for me as a youngster, mainly due to the impressive styling and the fish pond in the forecourt. My strongest memory of this theater is seeing 1947’s “The Red House,” starring Edward G. Robinson, and being very scared by that woodsy-noir thriller (I was eight or nine at the time). I also saw “Casablanca” there but it must have been a re-release, a popular distribution gimmick around the time of the Korean Conflict.
We used to go to the Tower in Compton in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but after the fender skirts on our family’s 1941 Plymouth sedan were stolen in the parking lot, we were less frequent attendees.
The Lyric was still a family movie house in 1957 when I joined the Navy in the recruiter’s office above the theater. By late 1960, when I was a civilian again and dating an usherette/candy butcher at the Lyric, it was showing somewhat racier film fare, but very mild stuff by present standards. I believe it was located in an unincorporated strip of county land along the borders of South Gate and Huntington Park and it therefor had less-strict zoning laws than those two communities.
My strongest memory of the Towne was its very modern architecture, featuring lots of stainless steel and glass. It looked like no other movie house that I was aware of in that region of the greater Los Angeles area in the 1950s.
I used to visit the Crest in the 1950s and my strongest memory is of the rather unique ticket booth, which was encased in a silvery metal sculpture like stylized flower petals or “stiffened” whipped cream. The Crest and the nearby ultra-modern Towne were the most unusual and interesting movie houses in my area of attendance at that time (within easy reach of South Gate).
The La Tosca, at 30th and Vermont, screened old German movies and newsreels (Neue Deutsche Wochenschau) every weekend during the 1950s and early 1960s, usually playing to a full house. Hungarian films were played mid-week. It was owned and operated at that time by Hermann and Meta Kleinhens. Tickets were 75 cents, if I remember correctly. The interior featured Venetian murals.