Valerie Yaros

Built in 1942 by a maverick film preservationist, this small Los Angeles theater championed silent film at the very moment when the Hollywood studios across town were busily destroying their nitrate inventories. With hard chairs, phonograph-record accompaniments, and mostly original vintage prints, the dingy mom-and-pop operation was nonetheless a palace to the fanatical few who became its loyal audience.

Short documentary on the screen depiction and public reception of fictional Chinese-American detective character Charlie Chan, as well as cultural perceptions of Asians during the 1920s and 1930s.