Glockner's Automatic Theatre

Thomas Lincoln Tally opened his ‘Phonograph and Vitascope Parlour’, 311 South Spring Street in 1896. It was such a success that he re-located to larger premises at 338 South Spring Street in 1900. (one of these buildings was the Ramona Hotel, but I am not sure which).

In April 1902 Talley’s Electric Theatre (sometimes known as Tally’s All Electric Theatre) opened. It is probably the first building ever erected for the specific purpose of showing motion pictures and boasted the fact that it was the first exclusive "Motion Picture Theatre" in America. Advertised as ‘The Electric Theatre…262 South Main Street…New Place of Amusement…High Class Moving Picture Entertainment…Especially for Ladies and Children…See "The Capture of the Biddle Brothers" and "New York in a Blizzard"…Many other exciting scenes….Hour’s of Amusement and Genuine Fun….7.30 PM to 10.30 PM. The first nights business was so good that he added a Matinee for Children the following day. Ten days later the marquee was reading "A Vaudeville of Motion Pictures". It ran as the Electric Theatre until 15th June 1903. Tally then renamed it Lyric Theatre which re-opened on 18th July 1903 with 'Refined Vaudeville…New Moving Pictures. Continuous Performance. Admission 10cents.

In 1910 it is advertised as Glockner’s Automatic Theatre, 262 S. Main Street (opposite Levy’s) offering ‘one hour of clean entertainment’ for 5 Cents. Only the Best Association Pictures Exhibited. Every day continuous beginning at 12.00 noon. World’s feature pictures. America’s finest music by $5,000 Pianorchestra, $1,200 Harp and other instruments.

It had closed by 1930 (probably much before) but it is noted that the building was still existing in 1998.

Recent comments (view all 13 comments)

reluctantpopstar on May 11, 2008 at 11:39 pm

As the site of the first motion picture theater, this location should definitely be hailed as a landmark.

A new garage for the LAPD motorpool is being built on the site. As a concession to the neighborhood residents, some retail stores are being placed on the street front. A nice brass plaque commemorating the location’s history would fit nicely on the building.

Right now, it’s just a broken old sidewalk. Recognition of the site’s history would add more to the neighborhood, maybe even more business for the Imaginasian Center across the street.

reluctantpopstar on May 11, 2008 at 11:48 pm

Here’s a photo of a 1908 LA city directory. This was posted by another user in the discussion of the Optic Theater. Here, the Lyric Theater is listed, so it was already going by the Lyric at that date, and had not yet become Glockner’s. Didn’t seem to be Talley’s Electric Theater for very long.

View link

HughMN on February 3, 2010 at 11:16 pm

The Electric Theater had its name changed to the Lyric when they added “refined vaudeville” acts to augment the motion pictures. An LA Times advertisement from July 20, 1903 lists the new name, with T.L. Tally identified as manager. According to some sources Tally sold his theater around this time and spent the next year on the road, presenting a print of “The Great Train Robbery” around the country. So the Electric appears to have been exclusively a motion picture theater for a little over a year, from on or about April 17, 1902 until on or about July 20, 1903.

tovangar2 on October 7, 2015 at 4:25 am

The LA Department of Building and Safety’s permits are now online http://ladbs.org/LADBSWeb/online-building-records.jsf. One can search by address. There is a permit for a “motion picture theater” dated March 10, 1910 by architect Albert C Martin for owners “Kaiser, [indistinct] and Tally. The address given is 266-268 S Main. The dimensions were 30' X 140'

Joe Vogel on October 7, 2015 at 5:12 am

tovangar2: The 1910 project at 266 S. Main was the Liberty Theatre.

tovangar2 on October 7, 2015 at 7:12 pm

So there were four theaters on the east side of the 200 block of S Main? That sure sounds a lot more fun than what’s there now.

Do you know who the third partner was for the Liberty, besides Kaiser and Tally? Thx

tovangar2 on October 7, 2015 at 7:57 pm

Oh, sorry, just three theaters. The Plaza Theater was on N Main

Joe Vogel on October 7, 2015 at 9:00 pm

The third partner was Joseph Sturm. The February 10, 1910, issue of The Nickelodeon had this item:

“Los ANGELES, CAL.—J. O. Kaiser, Joseph Sturm and E. J. Talley have leased the property at 266-268 South Main street for ten years at a total rental of about $60,000 and will erect a moving picture theater thereon.”

(E.J. Tally was the brother of Thomas Tally, of Tally’s Electric Theatre.) However, according to Bill Counter’s web site Historic Los Angeles Theatres, when the Liberty opened in early 1911 it was operated by the partnership of Kaiser, Sturm & Hughes, so Tally had apparently dropped out of the partnership by then. Also according to Counter, Sturm had been a partner with Kaiser in the Wonderland Theatre at 315 S. Main Street (listed both at Counter’s site and at Cinema Treasures under its later name, the Jade Theatre.)

tovangar2 on October 8, 2015 at 1:32 am

Thank you so much. I could not decipher the name on the LADBS building permit.

tovangar2 on October 10, 2015 at 5:06 pm

The Electric/Lyric/Glockner building (I think) may be viewed in this image:

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics26/00047646.jpg