Scott Charles, I really enjoyed the 80's mystery photos you posted, especially the one I couldn't place: the Play Room with adjacent bakery. The irony is that I walk by that building at least once a week.
This modest structure has been mentioned by
GW *way* back in March, 2011 at post
#3286 and in passing by
Noircitydame in July, 2015 at post
#29994 and perhaps by others.
I rummaged around a bit to see what could be learned about this building and its neighbors.
The starting point is the corner of Main and Mayo in the 1888 Sanborn:
lapl.org
The future location of the Play Room is a private residence fronting on Main Street, just up from Mayo (3rd).
By 1890, the house is replaced by a drug store at 262-4 S. Main:
lapl.org
The city directories begin to show the Hotel Gray about 1897 at the corner address, 274 S Main. Here is the 1906 Sanborn:
These buildings are clearly seen in this c.1902 photo from
Ncd's post:
The next year, the LA Times has a notice:
LAT 7/18/1903 via
newspapers.com
...showing that the Hotel Gray has the Lyric Theater as its new neighbor to the north at 262 S. Main.
In 1909, the Lyric Theater was damaged by fire and was acquired by Belgian-LA developer Victor Ponet the following year. He hired A.C. Martin (future architect of the Million Dollar Theater) to design the 500-seat Liberty Theater. This was opened after some difficulties with the city permitting process. The description, from
Historic LA Theaters is worth quoting in full (I hope):
The 'Liberty' is one of the city's eight first-class moving picture theaters. The selection of the theater site was chosen with exceptionally good judgement. The theater is located in the heart of the business district at 266-68 South Main Street, at the intersection of Third and Main Streets.
The front facade is of stucco and plaster-covered brick, the paneling and cornices outlined in small electric lights at night. The gold leaf statue crowning the cornice is ten feet in height, and, symbolizing liberty, holds aloft an electric torch. At the base of the statue in a laurel leaf gilded shield is the date of erection, 1910. Below this, on the crown of the shell-shaped lobby ceiling, is a second shield in gold leaf with the theater name 'Liberty.'
The floor of the lobby is of white tile, inlaid with a series of swastika design borders in green tile. The side walls of the lobby are wainscoted in white Italian marble to a height of eight feet, crowning which is a twelve-inch molded cap of mahogany. The entrance doors are of mahogany, their bases trimmed in brass, and their upper panels of plate glass.
The box office is roomy. It is also wainscoted in marble, the woodwork of the upper part being in mahogany and the windows of plate glass. The brick wall of the lobby contains a beautiful leaded art glass window, semi-circular in shape, with a landscape design of beautiful coloring, especially so when seen illuminated at night. Bordering the design are the words 'Continuous Performance.' Radiating from the art glass window, which forms the nucleus of the shell, are a series of stucco shell ribs, each containing fifteen clear-globed eight-candlepower lights.
The inner lobby leading to the auditorium is 15x20 feet in size. The floor is of white tile, with six inch baseboard of marble. The lobby is paneled in oak to a height of 30 inches, above which it is covered with an imitation leather fabric.
Opening off the lobby are retiring rooms for both men and women, the rooms also being finished in tile and marble. A narrow stairway opening off the lobby leads to the office, operators booth and organ loft. The operators booth is roomy and is equipped with the latest apparatus, including two Edengraph projectoscopes and a stereopticon. To the right of the operator's balcony is the organ loft, containing a large pipe organ, a valuable addition to the orchestra in accompanying religious and special films.
The [auditorium] seats are of wood with iron standards. The side walls of the auditorium are paneled to a height of three feet in oak, above which are a series of five landscape paintings on each side, the borders of which are outlined with stenciled designs of a darker shade than the light green color scheme of the side walls. The height of the auditorium is twenty-four feet, and the stage is sixteen feet square. Facing the stage on each side are singing booths.
The auditorium is illuminated by ceiling lights and ten pairs of art glass side lights of tulip design with green globes. The ceiling is of white plaster with cream trim, and from it are suspended five electric fans.
The theatre is showing four first-run licensed films, and one illustrated song, except on Saturdays and Sundays, when two songs are used. The theater employs ten people. Girl ushers look after the seating arrangements. Five cents admission is charged to all parts of the house.
The theatre was completed early in the year [1911] and has played to good business ever since."
Swastikas as a design element...hmm.
The Liberty lasted through WWI and most of the 1920s. Traffic engineers, not changing tastes in movies, proved fatal to the Liberty.
By 1929, the 3rd Street jog became enough an annoyance to the city to condemn the buildings at the northeast corner of Main and 3rd:
LAT via
newspapers.com
and what was left of the theater was put up for sale:
LAT 8/26/29 via
http://www.newsapapers.com
Here's the 1921 Baist with the realignment shown in green, the Hotel Gray in red, and the future Play Room/bakery in blue, with the new address 101-3 E 3rd reflecting its new frontage.
Historic Map Works
From 1930 to 1942 the space was occupied by a series of cigar stores, jewelery shops, and second hand clothing outlets. During WWII it became the Blue Bird Cafe owned by H.A. Belcher & Co., a large real estate/insurance firm. One is not suprised to see:
3/23/1943 LAT via newspapers.com
The closure was not fatal, no doubt a campaign contribution to Bonelli helped smooth things over. In 1946, a big neon sign was erected, add it to the NLA list of lamented missing signage:
LADBS
In 1948, the Blue Bird was bought by Frank Enderle*, and converted into a retail hardware store which continued until 1969. That year Enderle obtained a permit for conversion from a "one-story type III-B 32' x 145' retail store" to a "bakery and restaurant with a maximum occupancy of 49." This restaurant was the Play Room.
The restaurant/bakery must have closed sometime between 1971 and 1988, because in the latter year, Richard Beagle was operating a print shop at 103 E. 3rd. Since
Scott Charles's photo shows a deserted restaurant, it must have been taken a little before 1988.
*Enderle (1908-1981) was a real estate developer who owned (and is buried in) Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth. Another Frank Enderle (a grandson?) was a friend to Ron Goldman of O.J. Simpson infamy.
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