Lakewood Theatre
4501 E. Carson Street,
Long Beach,
CA
90808
4501 E. Carson Street,
Long Beach,
CA
90808
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This was at 4501 Carson.
Opened on October 25th, 1945
Lakewood theatre opening Wed, Oct 24, 1945 – 20 · Long Beach Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California) · Newspapers.com
LA Times listings started for this theatre on December 4th, 1947. No address is given except that the town was known as “Lakewood Village”
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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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 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 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
New book-length Pussycat Theatre history from the San Diego Reader:
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Here is an undated sketch from the LAPL:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics46/00042581.jpg
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.
There’s a cover article in today’s San Diego Reader, detailing the histories of all the downtown theaters once run by Vince Miranda, at one time co-owner of California’s Pussycat Theatre chain. This is one of the theaters chronicled in the piece, which is built from a series of email interviews with Cinema Treasures contribs Dan Whitehead and Tim David (David is Miranda’s godson). Unfortunately, the online version doesn’t have any of the great photos and graphics seen in the printed version – I wrote the piece and will probably put scans of the graphics on my own webpage before much longer, after the next issue comes out. Here’s a link to the article on the Reader site:
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This is our second major feature on southern CA theaters in about a year (the other, “Field Of Screens,” is just on San Diego drive-ins and can be found on the Reader site with the search bar). If anyone here likes the article(s) and would like to encourage the publisher to greenlight more, feel free to leave your thoughts about the piece in the comment section after article. The paper really pays attention to reader comments!
http://www.sdreader.com/ed/cover/
This was another one of Walnut Properties/Pussycat Theatres houses in which I maintained all of the projection equipment. The manager at the time, a Mrs. Ada Johnson, was a relative of the president of the company, Mr. Vincent Miranda. She was a great lady.
I remember seeing this double bill at the Lakewood theatre in 1970 before it was twinned, The Sterile Cuckoo (Liza Minneli) and Dirty Dingus Magee (Frank Sinatra). Years later as I was attending LBCC nearby in 1985 I saw this double bill, Airport ‘75 and The Dove at the Lakewood Twin.
From Montreal
Star Wars opened at Place Bonaventure twin cinemas
the larger cinema was showing “Star Wars” and the smaller cinema was showing a porno double bill, I wonder how many crossovers?
A photograph of this theatre can be found here: http://www.yesterdayla.com/Graphics/lakewood2.jpg
Hello from Colorado!
Vincent Miranda was my God Father and owner of the Pussycat chain. I have been putting together a collection of ANYTHING Pussycat. I would love to locate an Old Marquee…you know the oval w/ the Ms. Pussycat and “It’s a Pussycat Theatre” If you have any information..please let me know.
Thanks!
Tim David
970.309.3991
Try this link to the photos of the Lakewood, both interior and exterior:
http://digital.library.ucla.edu/sclee/
I watched many Elvis Presley movies there when I was a kid. Also saw movies like Serpico, and The Last Detail.
The Lakewood wasn’t much of a theater in terms of design…but it was exciting to discover the place when I though I had been to all the theaters in the Long Beach area.
It was about 2 blocks from Long Beach City College, and a lot of us spent time there instead of studying
When the Lakewood Theatre was designed it was anticipated that stores would be built on the strett frontage along the outer auditorium wall, the auditorium was set back accordingly. Theresulting unusually deep foyer has been given added spacious effect by an entire back-mirror wall. The right wall of the foyer has built in seating for waiting patrons, and the left wall incorporates a dricking fountain surrounded by a Flexglas panel. The manger’s office is situated at the extreme end, while restrooms are conveniently located at either side of the entrance to the foyer. With the exception of two handsome mural-effect ornaments on each side of the proscenium, the decor of the auditorium is simple in keeping with the theme of the entire house. These murals are especially were burnished metalic surfaces glowed with varied colored lighting effects.