Gazetteers of cinemas , theatres and opera houses and piers also provide histories of each building type. Images Search collections in local libraries, art galleries. These were popular subjects for artists.
Postcards are a good source for seaside piers, pleasure gardens.
Some of the sources below may be illustrated. Theatrical memoirs by actors and managers from the late 18C onwards provide a profusion of hilarious anecdotes. They may have been collected by an aficionado in a scrap book, perhaps deposited in a local library. The Theatre Museum , a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.