Centro Theatre
7764 S. Central Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90001
7764 S. Central Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90001
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Can anyone confirm that the Centro became the Savoy Ballroom in the 1950’s where impresario Billy Berg put on blues shows? Does anyone have any photos of the Centro when it showed movies?
I walked around this building today and agree with Joe. It looked like the theater entrance was by the tower (there was even a circle design molded in the sidewalk there, with faint remnants of paint), and the theater ran behind the retail space. There was a narrow walkway between the two buildings, except where the lobby would have connected to the theater.
The County Assessor’s office gives an original construction date of 1927, and an effectively-built date of 1935, for this building. Judging from the Google Maps satellite and street views, it looks like this might be a case of a theatre being built behind an earlier commercial building that was remodeled, or added to at one end, to provide an entrance to the auditorium. That would make 1935 the probable opening year.
The current church entrance in Ken’s photos must be in a former storefront, and the theatre entrance, now blocked up, was probably at the southern end of the building where the moderne tower is. I’m inclined to think this was an addition rather than a remodeled section of the earlier building. The photos show the cracks that reveal the shapes of the now-sealed shop windows on the old part of the building, with those angled corners at the tops, characteristic of many 1920s commercial buildings but seldom used by the 1930s.
Here are some photos from June 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/2y3fwt
http://tinyurl.com/yr6hgf
http://tinyurl.com/2h65c8
Not demolished. It’s a church. Status should be closed.
On 1/22/50, the features were “Leave Them Laughing” along with “And Baby Makes 3”. Phone number was LA 7948.
The Centro Theatre was located at 7764 S. Central Ave.