
The North Hollywood Playhouse in 1962, when “Rebel Without a Cause” was being performed, from the Los Angeles Public Library. In her memoir, actress Teri Garr wrote being in the production.
For more than 75 years, North Hollywood has hosted theater companies offering acting opportunities for local residents, as well as presenting trained actors sharpening their skills. The North Hollywood Playhouse, located at 11043 Magnolia Blvd. and the corner of Blakeslee Avenue, perhaps served as the first theater in what is now theater row in North Hollywood, serving all ages as it promoted and extolled the joys of theater.
Little is known about the exact date the Playhouse opened and when it was built, as building records appear not to exist with the City of Los Angeles. City directories show that the address served as the Boy Scouts of America Hall from at least 1926-1930, but neither newspaper accounts nor building records show when this structure would have been erected, or whether it was later adapted into the Playhouse, though the city does list that an alteration permit was pulled in 1938 for the address. Not until February 20, 1941 was a certificate of occupancy issued for the theater.
Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,” will be released June 1.















I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story when police have questioned Robert M. “ Red” Manley, the last person known to have been with Elizabeth Short.