Avalon Theatre

The above comment is for the Avalon Theatre in Wilmington, Ca.. The Avalon Theatre in Los Angeles was one of the so-called “Negro” theatres, not the Wilmington, Avalon house.

No theaters are listed on this stretch of Avalon Boulevard in the 1929 City Directory, but the Avalon Theatre is listed at 5244 Avalon Boulevard in the 1936 directory, and at 5258 Avalon in the 1938 directory, then at 5256 Avalon in the 1942 directory.

None of these addresses are currently in use, but the building at the northeast corner of Avalon and 52nd Place has an address of 5224, so something numbered 5244-5258 would probably have been on the southeast corner of Avalon and 52nd Place, a lot now listed as 5250 S. Avalon and occupied by a building (currently containing a church) built in 1936. The residential complex south of it, built in 1985 and occupying three lots, has an address of 5270 S. Avalon. In the 1956 Los Angeles Street Directory, 5250 Avalon is listed as the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, and the next address south of it is the Avalon Fountain Grill, at 5260 Avalon. There is no Avalon Theatre listed.

It seems that there’s been some adjusting of addresses on this block over the years, and it’s possible that the church at 5250 S. Avalon is located in the former Avalon Theatre, (even though the building now doesn’t look much like a theater in the Google Maps street view.) If this is true, then the Avalon must have opened in 1936, the year this building was erected, and is not demolished. Also, it’s a pretty small building, so the 450 seats mentioned by Harry Lime in the first comment above would be more likely than the 650 currently given.

Advertisements for the Avalon appear as of 1935. The Avalon Theatre closed at the end of its lease on March 31, 1951 with a double feature of “Golden Earrings” and “Dark City.” The building was offered for sale and was finally demolished in late summer of 1964.