The theater is obviously gone as is
that florist. However, after that corner was renovated into the Rosemead
5 Theater or some such, it still had a florist that occupied the store closest
to Rosemead Blvd. there. But now that is gone. There was a civic
battle a few years ago when Temple City entertained the idea of inviting a
WalMart to that corner lot. Local citizens won out. They did not want
a WalMart dominating their downtown landscape. But WalMart did not
relent. They filed for and won a store down in South Rosemead at Walnut
Grove and Rush Street. And it looks like it is doing very good
business. I was in that store once. Though I like the WalMarts in
the Denver, CO area, I do not like the WalMarts in the LA area.
I was not aware of that billiards down there further to the far right. I do remember and miss the Newsstand that was there. It was the best. Had all kinds of magazines and paperbacks and newspapers from around the world. I used to buy the Financial Times from that store. They had tobacco, candy, and little gadgets for sale. It was the perfect man's store. And they were open late. And they had a back entrance. You park in the back and enter through the back. Just a nice memory of the old days in Temple City. As to the movie theater, I saw a few movies there. I saw King Solomon's Mines, 1985, with Kathy Braidhill, where we argued over the historicity of the film afterward in the parking lot. We argued a lot. That movie seemed to be riding a wave of archaeological movies, like Raiders of the Lost Ark, the franchise that started in 1981 with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Then Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984, then Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989. Those were the only ones that I'd seen. There were two others in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, 2008, and the coming Indiana Jones 5, 2021. Romancing the Stone, 1984, a comedy-adventure film, followed 1981, Raiders of the Los Ark. Raiders was made on an $18 million budget, but it grossed $384 million worldwide throughout its theatrical releases. Romancing the Stone sold $115 million worldwide at the box office. Starring Michael Douglas, Danny Devito, and Kathleen Turner Romancing the Stone did have a sequel, titled The Jewel of the Nile, 1985, which grossed $96.7 million. We saw Gremlins, 1984, there too, which she loved and I thought was a bit annoying. I saw the movie, Babe, 1995, with Lynn McGonigle. We ate at Wahib's before the film started, and that was when Jerry West walked through the front door of Wahib's and I was starstruck. I saw other movies there, too, but I can't recall all of them. I did go on a date with Catherine Balcerski, aka, Catherine Morris, but I can't recall what we saw. We ate at a Thai place across the street, on the west side of Rosemead, that is no longer there.
James F. Schaub, owner of the photograph, noted that "This is
the Temple Theatre in Temple City on Rosemead Blvd. and Las Tunas. I heard or
read it was designed by the famed theatre architect, S Charles Lee. It was
razed about the mid-80s and replaced with a sparkling bland movie theatre
complex that went down a dozen or so years later. Big empty lot waiting
around for years. Supposed to be another complex something but a city council
member took a bribe from a developer." Mark Carlso added that ". . . the mayor went to prison." Terry Eagan added that ". . . The
show begins on the sidewalk." - S. Charles Lee. This
had some fantastic terrazzo in the exterior lobby as I remember it."
Jeremy Sunderland adds that "S.
Charles Lee (born Simeon Charles Levi, 1899-1990), was a noted Jewish
architect born in Chicago, who designed the Bruin Theater, the Tower Theater
and the Los Angeles Theater, the Max Factor Building, the La Reina Theater in
Sherman Oaks, and the Hollywood-Western Building, among other beautiful
landmark buildings in LA." He adds further that "The
other noted theater architect (also Jewish) in Los Angeles was G. Albert
Lansburgh, who designed the Palace Theatre in DTLA, the Martin Beck Theatre
(now the Al Hirschfeld) in New York, the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, the
Orpheum Theater on Broadway, the Shrine Auditorium across from USC, and the
Wiltern Theatre, among many others."
Great Observation by Schaub, "Mr.
Lee seems to be using a wagon wheel theme in the theatre pylon. I don't know
the year this pleasure palace was erected, but up to the postwar
suburbanization this area was pocketed with horse property and agrarian
living, so Lee likely styled his drawings fit the environs. Disney's famed
animator, Ward Kimble settled near here in the citrus groves where he had
loads of room to play train conductor with his live steam engines."
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