Bonito Theatre

410 N. Ford Boulevard,
East Los Angeles, CA 90022

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50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on May 27, 2024 at 11:33 am

Destroyed by fire on August 2, 1945 that also injured a 53-year-old man, later rebuilt.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on September 30, 2019 at 3:47 pm

A 1946 opening under the name Bonito Theatre indicates that there is probably a missing aka, as the building (which in the vintage photo looks like it has a stage house) dates from 1925. The reliable Bill Counter says the remodeled building is currently in use as a print shop.

rivest266
rivest266 on September 30, 2019 at 3:02 pm

1st listing in the LA Times: December 1st, 1946.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 9, 2008 at 9:13 pm

The L.A. County Assessor’s office gives the date of construction for the 7403 sq.ft. building at this address as 1925.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 23, 2007 at 10:18 am

There is a print shop on the first floor. I took a couple of photos. Status should be changed to retail.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on June 3, 2007 at 3:25 pm

KenRoe: Anaheim Road must refer to the street now called Telegraph Road, which shows up on old maps as Anaheim-Telegraph Road. Interestingly, the 4500 E. block was probably right at the southern end of Ford Boulevard, so the Garden was probably about a mile and a half south of the Bonito. The Garden would most likely be gone now, as the intersection of Anaheim-Telegraph Road and Ford Boulevard was pretty much obliterated by the construction of the Long Beach Freeway-Santa Ana Freeway interchange.

I don’t think the Garden Theatre is listed at Cinema Treasures.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on June 3, 2007 at 3:08 pm

The theatre that Cinema Treasures has listed at 1520 E. First St. is called the Aliso Theatre. It probably got renamed when the Aliso Village housing project was built across the street.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 3, 2007 at 2:42 pm

LA Times lists the Keystone theater at 1520 E. 1st on 4/9/42. Is this theater listed under another name?

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 3, 2007 at 9:46 am

On 1/22/50, the features were “Barbary Pirate” and “Fury at Furnace Creek”.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on June 2, 2007 at 12:57 pm

Joe; The Garden Theatre was located at 4511 Anaheim Road, Belvedere Gardens. Other theatres listed in this district in 1950 were….Golden Gate, New Boulevard, Royale, Strand and United Artists all of which were on Whittier Boulevard.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on June 2, 2007 at 11:24 am

I don’t know if this is the same place or not, but the Motion Picture Herald of February 27, 1932, had a small item saying that Frank Pratt had taken over the lease on the Garden Theatre, Belvedere Gardens, East Los Angeles. The name Belvedere was historically applied to a good-sized swath of the unincorporated east side, though, including some commercial districts along First and Third Streets and Brooklyn Avenue, so Garden Theatre might have been an early name of some other theatre in the area.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on June 2, 2007 at 3:32 am

The 1941 & 1943 editions of Film Daily Yearbook list this as the Bonita Theatre, located in Belvedere Gardens district. In the 1950 & 1952 editions of F.D.Y. it is listed as the Bonito Theatre in the main Los Angeles listing section.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 1, 2007 at 7:19 pm

If so, status should be closed.

cat99fat
cat99fat on July 9, 2004 at 2:34 pm

The building has not been demolished. If you drive down Ford in E.L.A. you can see by the shell that this was a theatre at one time. It showed spanish films.