Temple Theatre
5863 S. Vermont Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90044
5863 S. Vermont Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90044
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The Temple Theatre was one of many independent theatres along S. Vermont Avenue in south Los Angeles. The Temple Theatre was opened in 1921. It was still operating into at least 1962.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Ken, the theater I saw back in October was the Congress. It wasn’t as far south as I mentioned in the post at that time. I posted some current photos on that page.
Here are some photos from June 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/37cvab
http://tinyurl.com/2vz5hy
This theater was operated by Harry Vennicoft & Son Theaters in the early sixties.
Ken: I think “Vennicoft” might be a misspelling of the name “Vinnicof”. The Vinnicof Theatre Circuit was around for a long time. They owned a half interest in the Garfield Theatre in Alhambra in the 1950s, the other half being silently owned by the Edwards Theatre Circuit. Vinnicof also operated the Grove Theatre in Garden Grove at that time. At least as far back as the 1930s they operated some theatres in the Eagle Rock-Highland Park area. In 1941, Harry Vinnicof bought the Congress Theatre a couple of miles down Vermont from the Temple.
There are some Vinnicofs who are still associated with the movie theatre business, one of them showing up on this page I found in Google search results. Maybe Cecil is one of Harry’s sons, or perhaps a grandson. There are also a Paul Vinnicof and a Robert Vinnicof who share the San Vincente address. They all appear to be lawyers who specialize in movie theatres.
Joe Vogel posted: “Maybe Cecil is one of Harry’s sons, or perhaps a grandson”
I believe Cecil is (was?) Harry’s son, as an early 60’s news bit, about the opening of Anaheim’s Brookhurst Theatre (another Vinnicof Theatre), lists Vinnicof & Son Theatres as being operated by Harry and Cecil Vinnicof.
I saw that photo before, and I was wondering if maybe this was a Spanish-language house in its last go round. Easy enough to change Temple to Tempo.
The Southwest Builder & Contractor article I cited as the source for the architect’s name misspelled it. The correct name of the architect was Harry C. Deckbar. Among his other works was Trinity Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, designed when he was a partner in the firm of Fitzhugh, Krucker & Deckbar.
Wow. How depressing. I visited the Temple with my grandparents in the 1950’s. Now it looks like a third world country! My mother’s parents lived at 822 W. 60th Street (walking distance). We usually ate Chinese food at a little restaurant at one side of the theater (I can’t remember which side). My dad’s parents lived on 66th Street. My parents went there on dates. My dad graduated from John Muir Jr. High a few doors down. I remember double features and KENO during the intermissions. My grandmothers told me that the movies were stopped when the Amos and Andy radio show was at its peak. Otherwise no one would have gone to the movies.
Thanks for the info on the Temple Theatre Wurlitzer B! I guess the fact that it was a divided installation would make this organ a “B X” although it is not (apparently?) listed as such in the records.
The Judd Walton / Peter Beames Wurlitzer Opus lists show Wurlitzer opus 506, a “B SP” (B Special) was shipped to the Temple Theatre in Los Angeles on December 30, 1921.
Mr. DeLay helpfully informs us that it was a divided installation, and perhaps the “X” suffix was not yet in use in Wurlitzer terminology for an optionally-divided installation as early as 1921.
However, this particular organ was not the only divided model B built by Wurlitzer. Some of the early “B Special"s might also be divided organs (I’m not sure), and by 1924 or 1925 the "X” suffix, (signifying a two-chamber/divided installation of an organ that was normally installed in a single chamber) had come into use for the model B, with 9 Wurlitzer B X (and 3 B X Special) theatre pipe organs shipped from then until 1927.
The Temple Theatre was still in business in 1962. There are newspaper ads to support this.