Mason Theatre

An announcement for the construction of the Anaheim Masonic Temple was first reported in the Santa Ana Register on May 14, 1913. Designed by architect Fred H. Eley and to cost $31,324, the cornerstone was laid June 20, 1913. When the bonds were burned in 1918, the final cost of the building came to $40,000.

The Register reported on November 21, 1913, that L.H. Beddig would be operating the Mason Theatre, due to open sometime next month. It was to have asbestos walls, making it as fireproof as possible. Beddig’s tenure was brief as Motion Picture News, August 14, 1915, reported Louis Beddig had sold the 800-seat Mason Theatre to Max Hartfield and had purchased the Colonial Theatre in Orange.

Greek Revival was the building’s style as found in an old photograph at the Anaheim Heritage Center. The Mason building was listed on Sanborn Maps at 249 Center Street at the corner of Emily Street and made it into The American Motion Picture Directory 1914-15.

According to the LA Habra Star, the Mason Theatre was still open in 1917 as “The Home of Triangle, World, Pathe and Mutual Features” but there was no news after that as two newer theaters in town, the Fairyland Theatre and Grand Theatre, began to appear in the news.

In 1978, at the beginning of downtown renewal, there was an attempt to put the Mason Hall and 23 other properties on The National Register of Historic Place, a failed movement that was said to be politically motivated.

In August 1982 a legal notice in the Santa Ana Register invited bids for demolition and site clearance for properties at 249-259 East Lincoln Avenue and another property on Emily Street.

The nearest location today would be George Washington Park with the bordering Emily Street and Philadelphia Streets blocked off and landscaped from Lincoln Avenue.

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