Lakewood Theatre
4501 E. Carson Street,
Long Beach,
CA
90808
4501 E. Carson Street,
Long Beach,
CA
90808
5 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Pussycat Theatres
Architects: Simeon Charles Lee
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Pussycat Theatre
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According to Maggie Valentine’s book “The Show Starts On The Sidewalk” the Lakewood Theatre was originally a theatre and town hall in Quincy, a town in California, which architect S. Charles Lee had designed. Due to a wartime restriction on building materials, in 1945 Lee had the wood sections of the building dismantled and moved to Long Beach and reassembled with brick and steel to construct a building seating 922. Located in Lakewood Village at the Los Cerritos Diagonal at E. Carson Street and N. Lakewood Boulevard the Lakewood Theatre was opened on October 24, 1945 with Bette Davis in “The Corn is Green”. Movie listings show that for more than 30 years it was an independent theatre.
The more controversial history of the Lakewood Theatre began when it became a Pussycat Theatre in 1977. Newspaper articles on file at the Long Beach Public Library show that in late-December of 1977 the police raided the Pussycat Theatre, citing a zoning law. The battle between the community and the Pussycat Theatre over pornographic movies at the Lakewood Theatre would go on for 11 years in various courts with the Pussycat Theatre always jumping through legal loopholes.
In 1980 the Supreme Court backed the city but in 1985 reversed their decision and let stand a lower court decision that had defined an adult theatre as one that shows a “preponderance” of pornographic movies. One loophole was that the Lakewood Theatre had been twinned in the mid-1970’s and was showing porno movies on only one screen. The city finally prevailed in 1988 and the Lakewood Theatre reverted to family films but by this time adult theatres were fading in popularity anyway.
The Lakewood Theatre was later demolished and in 1991 an office building was built on the site. The Lakewood Theatre should not be confused with the Lakewood Center Theatre, which was built in the nearby new city of Lakewood in 1952.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
The LA Times reported at length on the Lakewood on 10/27/85. Manager Jose Duarte and Pussycat President were quoted on the battle to keep the theater open. On that day, about twenty people were watching adult films on one screen while an R-rated film on the second screen drew zero patrons.
Here is an undated sketch from the LAPL:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics46/00042581.jpg
New book-length Pussycat Theatre history from the San Diego Reader:
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i worked here with my friend corey i remember the big leather type doors to the theatres theatre 2 was small – i remember watching williow and phantasm 2 here. this was late 80’s
The theater address needs to be corrected. The actual address is 4501 E. Carson Street. There are several articles in the LA Times starting in 1977 and continuing through the late 1980s which confirm this. There should also be an aka of Pussycat Theater.
I think this might be the only Pussycat that doesn’t have an aka. There might be one other but I can’t think of it at the moment.
The Address listed is all wrong but since it’s gone I guess it doesn’t matter. It was at the corner of Carson and Nores Way, Lakewood CA.
http://www.yesterdayla.com/Graphics/lakewood2.jpg
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(I can see my house in that last one)
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and what they wanted it to look like (which would have been nicer):
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LA Times listings started for this theatre on December 4th, 1947. No address is given except that the town was known as “Lakewood Village”
Opened on October 25th, 1945
Lakewood theatre opening Wed, Oct 24, 1945 – 20 · Long Beach Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California) · Newspapers.com
This was at 4501 Carson.