Jewel Theatre

Joe Vogel on November 16, 2008 at 7:42 pm

Here’s the current link to the undated photo of the Tujunga Valley Theatre from the USC archives.

Comparing the nearby buildings in the third small photo from the bottom in the right panel on this page with other photos and the information from the L.A. County Assessor’s office, I think the address of this theatre was probably 9945 Commerce Avenue (called Sunset Boulevard at the time the theater was built.) Unfortunately, the Assessor’s office doesn’t have an original build date for the building on that lot now- only an effective build date of 1940. It’s possible that part of the Jewel Theater building was incorporated into the current building at that time.

Also, I think this house might have opened as the Tujunga Valley Theatre and then gotten the spiffy new facade and bigger marquee and the name change to Jewel Theatre a couple of years later. Note the brick building to the left of the theater in the 1925 Oviatt Library photo, as opposed to the shed-like building on that site in the undated USC photo. I think the building may be a bit older than whoever wrote the text for the Oviatt Library photo’s caption thinks it is.

This 1929 bird’s-eye view of Tujunga shows the south side of the Jewel, on the left side of the street, a few doors north of Foothill Boulevard (bottom of picture.) You can see the shadow of the marquee on the sidewalk, and a couple of small figures walking just beyond it.

kencmcintyre on July 14, 2007 at 8:16 pm

Any time.

kencmcintyre on July 14, 2007 at 7:59 pm

Or vice versa? There wasn’t any date on the USC photo. The building next to the theater was persuading, I thought.