My Father, Toshiyuki, and G'Father, Shinsuke, owned the Linda Lea. The first Linda Lea was at 322 E.First St.. Originally, it was the Fuji-kan when my G'Father bought it. He operated it, and the Chinese restaurant next door as well. When the war broke out, he was arrested by the FBI, January 1942, as a propagandist, for showing Japanese newsreels. Newsreels, as you may recall were the only way you could get visual news in those days, so this was not a valid reason for imprisonment. During that time, Little Tokyo came to be called Bronzeville, and a Chinese businessman from Chinatown, bought the theater and named it, the Linda Lea, I believe after his wife. After the war, my G'Father reacquired it based on his previous ownership. The Chinese businessman then opened the Linda Lea on Main St.. My G'Father bought it about 1957-1968. It was my Father’s voice that was on the theater schedule recordings. We sold the theater back to the Chinese businessman, who began showing Kung Fu movies. Of interesting note, an article in the Los Angeles Times in 2007, mentioned that while remodeling the theater for an office space conversion, they discovered a second wall was hiding the original. It still had the window boxes and the Japanese movie posters that my G'Father had left there when he sold the theater! In regards to the Fuji-kan theater on First St., G'Father renamed it Kinema (Later the Nichibei Kinema) in 1955. The theater was a success, and this allowed my G'Father to bring over Japanese movie stars for their premieres, and often tied their visits to the Nisei Week Parade, of which my G'Father was one of the founders. In 1968, ThriftyMart, who had purchased the property with cooperation of the City of LA and Mayor Bradley, evicted my Father (who had taken over the business) to create the present Little Tokyo Plaza. He moved the theater to East LA, Boyle Heights, and named it Kinema East, leasing the old Meralta Theater. The location failed to draw enough of the Japanese-American market, so he filed for bankruptcy in 1972. During the late 1950’s through the 1960’s, in their heigh-day, they owned or leased nine movie theaters, including the NuArt Theater in Santa Monica.
My Father, Toshiyuki, and G'Father, Shinsuke, owned the Linda Lea. The first Linda Lea was at 322 E.First St.. Originally, it was the Fuji-kan when my G'Father bought it. He operated it, and the Chinese restaurant next door as well. When the war broke out, he was arrested by the FBI, January 1942, as a propagandist, for showing Japanese newsreels. Newsreels, as you may recall were the only way you could get visual news in those days, so this was not a valid reason for imprisonment. During that time, Little Tokyo came to be called Bronzeville, and a Chinese businessman from Chinatown, bought the theater and named it, the Linda Lea, I believe after his wife. After the war, my G'Father reacquired it based on his previous ownership. The Chinese businessman then opened the Linda Lea on Main St.. My G'Father bought it about 1957-1968. It was my Father’s voice that was on the theater schedule recordings. We sold the theater back to the Chinese businessman, who began showing Kung Fu movies. Of interesting note, an article in the Los Angeles Times in 2007, mentioned that while remodeling the theater for an office space conversion, they discovered a second wall was hiding the original. It still had the window boxes and the Japanese movie posters that my G'Father had left there when he sold the theater! In regards to the Fuji-kan theater on First St., G'Father renamed it Kinema (Later the Nichibei Kinema) in 1955. The theater was a success, and this allowed my G'Father to bring over Japanese movie stars for their premieres, and often tied their visits to the Nisei Week Parade, of which my G'Father was one of the founders. In 1968, ThriftyMart, who had purchased the property with cooperation of the City of LA and Mayor Bradley, evicted my Father (who had taken over the business) to create the present Little Tokyo Plaza. He moved the theater to East LA, Boyle Heights, and named it Kinema East, leasing the old Meralta Theater. The location failed to draw enough of the Japanese-American market, so he filed for bankruptcy in 1972. During the late 1950’s through the 1960’s, in their heigh-day, they owned or leased nine movie theaters, including the NuArt Theater in Santa Monica.