National Register of Historic Place #82002192
Address: 5176 Whittier Boulevard, East Los Angeles, CA 90022
I moved to the City of Commerce at the young age of 5 in 1996, and every time I would pass through this building I would wonder what it was, it look old and abandoned but it was an impressive historic building. I grew up and learned that it was home to the Golden Gate Theater. As of 2012 this building is no longer abandoned and it is home to a CVS Pharmacy, despite angry outcries by the East Los Angeles community of not being able to restore into a performing arts center, a young generation can at least see the remains of the inside of this historical building.
The Golden Gate Theater was built in 1927, along side a retail building that covered the theater in a Spanish theme palace. The theater built in the corner of Whittier and Atlantic Blvd, seated nearly 1,500 people. According to Steve Saldivar,
Like many theaters during the 20's and 30's, it played silent films and filled the gaps with organ and orchestra music. By the 60's films shared the stage with live acts, rock concerts, and variety acts. By the 70's the theater reflected the changes in demographic, showing films with Spanish subtitles.In 1982 the Golden Gate Theater was listed under the National Register of Historical Places, however a steady decline of sales and other newer theaters around the East Los Angeles area forced the theater to close in 1986. Hopes of revival of the theater and shops were cut short due to the 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake which created structural damage due to fire. In 1992, the owners demolished the retail section of this lot and began to petition to remove the theater from the list of historical places in order to demolish it as well and create new development. The City of Los Angeles did not approve of this decision and therefore kept abandoned until 2012 where the theater was converted into a 24 hour CVS.
As soon as this place was opened I went in just to take a look of the inside of the once theater. The inside of this CVS does remind me of old theater as your voice echoes and pictures of the original interior building are hung near the cash registers.
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| Retail Stores Covering the Golden Gate Theater |
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| Present Day CVS Pharmacy |
Like
many theaters during the ’20s and ’30s, it played silent films and
filled the gaps with organ and orchestra music - See more at:
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/my-l-a-the-once-and-future-golden-gate-theater/#sthash.ninNl7xt.dpuf
Like
many theaters during the ’20s and ’30s, it played silent films and
filled the gaps with organ and orchestra music - See more at:
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/my-l-a-the-once-and-future-golden-gate-theater/#sthash.ninNl7xt.dpuf
Like
many theaters during the ’20s and ’30s, it played silent films and
filled the gaps with organ and orchestra music - See more at:
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/my-l-a-the-once-and-future-golden-gate-theater/#sthash.ninNl7xt.dpuf
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