From the August 22, 1925 edition of the Los Angeles Times comes this report regarding South Gate and its first movie theater: “A new building is now nearing completion on State Street, which will have a seating capacity for 300. It is expected to open about the first of September with shows nightly.â€
This project evidently came to fruition since the 1927 Sanborn map for South Gate shows a movie house located at 8463 State Street in South Gate. Unfortunately, neither of these sources provides a name for this theater. This theater site has been torn down.
The property where the theater once stood is now occupied by the Greenfield Care Center according to Google Maps. The Los Angeles County Tax Assessor records show the Greenfield facility was constructed in 1970 and occupies a total of 8 lots from the 3254 tract. What happened to the theater between its 1925 construction date and 1970 when the Greenfield site was built remains to be discovered.
Could this be the demolished Gem Theater? (Another possibility could be the South Gate 15¢ Theater advertised as an Independent Theater concurrently in the Los Angeles Times with the Gem â€" primarily in the 1940’s.)
There’s only one Ford Dealership that can be found in South Gate on Long Beach Boulevard in the Los Angeles Times Archives: Lindt-Wilson Ford. Lindt-Wilson had 2 recorded addresses on Long Beach Boulevard. The earliest address is 8707 Long Beach Boulevard (now a Tune-Up Masters per Google). A second, later address is 8012 Long Beach Boulevard. (Santa Ana is a cross street for this location.) The Lindt-Wilson move to 8012 had taken place by 1959. (Based on when the L.A. Times Ads started reflecting this as the Lindt-Wilson place of business.) If this was the theater’s location, it could not have been operating there any later than 1959.
(Using Google for a reference once more, this location is a Burger King. The Los Angeles County Tax Assessor Records show the current structure on the property was built in 1999. The County considers the address of the existing structure, i.e., the Burger King, to be 8012 Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park. As far as being a South Gate / Huntington Park address Google is neutral. The point comes up on their map whether a search is done for 8012 Pacific or Long Beach Boulevard â€" North of Santa Ana Street, South of Cudahy Street on the East side of the street.)
Is the 8012 address the former site of the Avon?
The Trianon Ballroom (recently razed) was at 2800 Firestone Boulevard.
On May 25, 1924, the Los Angeles Times announced construction commencement of a Class B one-story, brick building at Tweedy and San Gabriel. Plans showed store rooms in the front and a rear section designed for “theatrical and motion-picture purposesâ€. At the time of the news release, a five year lease for the theater had already entered into by 2 parties identified as Johnson and Martin. July 21, 1924, there was a progress report in the same paper stating construction would be complete in approximately 45 days. Once opened, the portion of the site devoted to entertainment activities was known as the “Garden Theaterâ€. The building address was 3807 (not 3809) Tweedy Road (now Tweedy Boulevard) per the 1932 â€" 1933 South Gate Directory at the South Gate History Museum. The two most obvious explanations for the address discrepancy are: 1) either the address is a misprint (currently Yuri’s Records is at 3801 Tweedy and the Allen is at 3809 Tweedy with nothing else in between), or 2) The address changed when the previously mentioned 1936 remodel took place and the building was widened. At the time this outlying section of Los Angeles was part of the Home Gardens tract (later annexed by South Gate). The “Garden†name is reflective of the Home Gardens locale.
A Los Angeles Times news item (August 4, 1927) mentions the Camp Fire Girls of Magnolia Park (a nearby tract that was also eventually annexed by South Gate) were presenting a fund raiser show at the Garden Theater.
A display ad from the Los Angeles Times – dated September 4, 1927 â€" announces the Garden Theater of Home Gardens would be participating in the 10th annual “Paramount Week†â€" a studio promotional event. This meant showing only Paramount Movies for a designated seven day time frame.
Oliver Mitchell/Morosco suffered health set-backs in the 1930’s. The first occurred in 1934 when he had a heart attack. In 1936 he sustained a serious head injury as the result of a fall. Doctors did not initially expect him to recover from this accident. Along with the health challenges he faced personal issues â€" e.g., he went through his 3rd divorce in 1934. Shortly after the end of this marriage he legally challenged the settlement stating his mental state from the heart attack had influenced him to agree to certain terms of the divorce which impinged his rights to his own creative work(s) â€" past, present and future. 1936 is the same year the structural modifications, referred to in an earlier post by ronp, took place at the Garden Theater. If “the†famed Oliver Morosco was the driving force behind this renovation effort, the events in Mr. Morosco’s personal life during this period would help explain why he did not continue to have an active presence at the location. (These details were gleaned from various L.A. Times archival articles pertaining to O. Mitchell/Morosco. Dates: 9-6-34, 1-15-34, 7-24-36.)
The South Gate Guild continued to present live theater events at the Garden Theater during this period as remarked by a previous commentator. A playwright/director, Raymond Lee, is mentioned as being involved with live theater productions during the 1930’s at the Garden (L.A. Times â€" 10/22/39). This presents another identification challenge â€" is this the same Raymond Lee who worked with Charlie Chaplin as a child actor and went on to write for the San Fernando Valley issue of the Los Angeles Times as an adult?
Again, documentation supplied by the Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1949, furnishes this information: On March 26, 1949, Mr. William Lanier (W. L.) Allen, described as a 54-year-old theater operator, committed suicide. A first responder to the scene, found a note that included instructions to an unnamed brother about running a theater operation. Along with the note, payroll checks for his theater employees were found. Perhaps this incident was the beginning of the rumor about the Allen building being haunted.
There are at least 3 different names associated with this theater, i.e., Garden Theater, South Gate Theater, and Allen Theater. Exact effective dates for the name changes still remain elusive. (I say at least 3 since I have not been able to discover where the South Gate Avon Theatre (previously recorded as having been associated with the Allen Corp.) once stood and/or stands as the case may be. Perhaps the Avon, or, the Gem for the matter, eventually resulted from the project known only as “Class A Theater – Architect George Burnett†as posted by Joe Vogel, 11-22-04.
With respect to Joe Vogel’s observations and input, per Wikipedia not only was John C. Austin an important architect. He was an influential civic leader. His civic duties included serving as the President of the California State Board of Architectural Examiners and being a member of the National Labor Board responsible for labor disputes in Southern California.
Thanks to everyone for the various insights and photos provided above â€" they’ve all greatly contributed to my understanding of the theater’s history.
From the August 22, 1925 edition of the Los Angeles Times comes this report regarding South Gate and its first movie theater: “A new building is now nearing completion on State Street, which will have a seating capacity for 300. It is expected to open about the first of September with shows nightly.â€
This project evidently came to fruition since the 1927 Sanborn map for South Gate shows a movie house located at 8463 State Street in South Gate. Unfortunately, neither of these sources provides a name for this theater. This theater site has been torn down.
The property where the theater once stood is now occupied by the Greenfield Care Center according to Google Maps. The Los Angeles County Tax Assessor records show the Greenfield facility was constructed in 1970 and occupies a total of 8 lots from the 3254 tract. What happened to the theater between its 1925 construction date and 1970 when the Greenfield site was built remains to be discovered.
Could this be the demolished Gem Theater? (Another possibility could be the South Gate 15¢ Theater advertised as an Independent Theater concurrently in the Los Angeles Times with the Gem â€" primarily in the 1940’s.)
There’s only one Ford Dealership that can be found in South Gate on Long Beach Boulevard in the Los Angeles Times Archives: Lindt-Wilson Ford. Lindt-Wilson had 2 recorded addresses on Long Beach Boulevard. The earliest address is 8707 Long Beach Boulevard (now a Tune-Up Masters per Google). A second, later address is 8012 Long Beach Boulevard. (Santa Ana is a cross street for this location.) The Lindt-Wilson move to 8012 had taken place by 1959. (Based on when the L.A. Times Ads started reflecting this as the Lindt-Wilson place of business.) If this was the theater’s location, it could not have been operating there any later than 1959.
(Using Google for a reference once more, this location is a Burger King. The Los Angeles County Tax Assessor Records show the current structure on the property was built in 1999. The County considers the address of the existing structure, i.e., the Burger King, to be 8012 Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park. As far as being a South Gate / Huntington Park address Google is neutral. The point comes up on their map whether a search is done for 8012 Pacific or Long Beach Boulevard â€" North of Santa Ana Street, South of Cudahy Street on the East side of the street.)
Is the 8012 address the former site of the Avon?
The Trianon Ballroom (recently razed) was at 2800 Firestone Boulevard.
On May 25, 1924, the Los Angeles Times announced construction commencement of a Class B one-story, brick building at Tweedy and San Gabriel. Plans showed store rooms in the front and a rear section designed for “theatrical and motion-picture purposesâ€. At the time of the news release, a five year lease for the theater had already entered into by 2 parties identified as Johnson and Martin. July 21, 1924, there was a progress report in the same paper stating construction would be complete in approximately 45 days. Once opened, the portion of the site devoted to entertainment activities was known as the “Garden Theaterâ€. The building address was 3807 (not 3809) Tweedy Road (now Tweedy Boulevard) per the 1932 â€" 1933 South Gate Directory at the South Gate History Museum. The two most obvious explanations for the address discrepancy are: 1) either the address is a misprint (currently Yuri’s Records is at 3801 Tweedy and the Allen is at 3809 Tweedy with nothing else in between), or 2) The address changed when the previously mentioned 1936 remodel took place and the building was widened. At the time this outlying section of Los Angeles was part of the Home Gardens tract (later annexed by South Gate). The “Garden†name is reflective of the Home Gardens locale.
A Los Angeles Times news item (August 4, 1927) mentions the Camp Fire Girls of Magnolia Park (a nearby tract that was also eventually annexed by South Gate) were presenting a fund raiser show at the Garden Theater.
A display ad from the Los Angeles Times – dated September 4, 1927 â€" announces the Garden Theater of Home Gardens would be participating in the 10th annual “Paramount Week†â€" a studio promotional event. This meant showing only Paramount Movies for a designated seven day time frame.
Oliver Mitchell/Morosco suffered health set-backs in the 1930’s. The first occurred in 1934 when he had a heart attack. In 1936 he sustained a serious head injury as the result of a fall. Doctors did not initially expect him to recover from this accident. Along with the health challenges he faced personal issues â€" e.g., he went through his 3rd divorce in 1934. Shortly after the end of this marriage he legally challenged the settlement stating his mental state from the heart attack had influenced him to agree to certain terms of the divorce which impinged his rights to his own creative work(s) â€" past, present and future. 1936 is the same year the structural modifications, referred to in an earlier post by ronp, took place at the Garden Theater. If “the†famed Oliver Morosco was the driving force behind this renovation effort, the events in Mr. Morosco’s personal life during this period would help explain why he did not continue to have an active presence at the location. (These details were gleaned from various L.A. Times archival articles pertaining to O. Mitchell/Morosco. Dates: 9-6-34, 1-15-34, 7-24-36.)
The South Gate Guild continued to present live theater events at the Garden Theater during this period as remarked by a previous commentator. A playwright/director, Raymond Lee, is mentioned as being involved with live theater productions during the 1930’s at the Garden (L.A. Times â€" 10/22/39). This presents another identification challenge â€" is this the same Raymond Lee who worked with Charlie Chaplin as a child actor and went on to write for the San Fernando Valley issue of the Los Angeles Times as an adult?
Again, documentation supplied by the Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1949, furnishes this information: On March 26, 1949, Mr. William Lanier (W. L.) Allen, described as a 54-year-old theater operator, committed suicide. A first responder to the scene, found a note that included instructions to an unnamed brother about running a theater operation. Along with the note, payroll checks for his theater employees were found. Perhaps this incident was the beginning of the rumor about the Allen building being haunted.
There are at least 3 different names associated with this theater, i.e., Garden Theater, South Gate Theater, and Allen Theater. Exact effective dates for the name changes still remain elusive. (I say at least 3 since I have not been able to discover where the South Gate Avon Theatre (previously recorded as having been associated with the Allen Corp.) once stood and/or stands as the case may be. Perhaps the Avon, or, the Gem for the matter, eventually resulted from the project known only as “Class A Theater – Architect George Burnett†as posted by Joe Vogel, 11-22-04.
With respect to Joe Vogel’s observations and input, per Wikipedia not only was John C. Austin an important architect. He was an influential civic leader. His civic duties included serving as the President of the California State Board of Architectural Examiners and being a member of the National Labor Board responsible for labor disputes in Southern California.
Thanks to everyone for the various insights and photos provided above â€" they’ve all greatly contributed to my understanding of the theater’s history.