THEATRES
Million Dollar Theatre, Roxie Theatre, Cameo Theatre, Arcade Theatre, Los Angeles Theatre, Palace Theatre, State Theatre, Globe Theatre, Tower Theatre, Rialto Theatre, Orpheum Theatre, United Artists Theatre
The Broadway Theatre District in Los Angeles features the largest concentration of historic theatres and movie palaces on one street in the nation, most of which date back to the 1920's and 1930's. There are twelve historic theatres along Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Each offers a different and important glimpse into the history of our city, and its primary industry - entertainment.
Vaudeville stages were all the rage when the theatres were built and famous acts such as the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, Houdini, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Will Rogers, Charlie Chaplin, Eddie Cantor, Lena Horne, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, and W.C. Fields all performed to the delight of Broadway audiences.
Behind their deceptively simple exteriors, Broadway's ornate and spectacular theatres featured sweeping marble staircases leading to ornate balconies, plush seats, and soaring, star-sprinkled ceilings, along with spacious, elaborately crafted interiors, gilded rococo designs and a wide range of flamboyant architectural styles. When cinema became in vogue, the theatres were mostly converted to grand movie palaces, and functioned as such for many years before many of them closed their doors.
Still, the importance of the theatre district in the home of the motion picture industry is clearly evident. The theaters provided drama, comedy, and vaudeville presentations until full-length motion pictures became popular. Thomas Tally, Sid Grauman, Oliver Morosco, and others vied for the honor of city impresario as the theaters along Broadway become larger and more numerous. Theatre architecture was more flamboyant than commercial styles and the influx of theatrical structures helped to provide variety for the Broadway streetscape. In all, theater development along Broadway provided a major source of revenue and a location for premieres for the movie industry, an important form of entertainment for Southern Californians, and a variety of architectural designs which gave a unique character to Broadway. (National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form, 1977.)
Programming & Use of Broadway Theatres:Currently, two of Broadway's theatres, the Orpheum and the Million Dollar Theatre are open on a regular basis for entertainment programming. A third, the Globe Theatre, functions as a night club. Bringing Back Broadway aims to revitalize the theatre district and implement the public policies and improvements, such as the streetscape plan, entertainment overlay zone and design guidelines, streetcar transportation system, and increased parking, that will catalyze private investment and reactivation of the theatres, along with the other commercial spaces along Broadway.
The Bringing Back Broadway initiative does not program the theatres, since they are all privately owned and operated. Information about fees and costs involved with opening these historically registered venues to the public, in terms of rental fees, permitting, electricity, water usage, security and venue staff requirements, cleaning and other related tasks are discussed directly between the prospective programmers and the venue owners/operators. Click here for a contact list for the theatre venues.
A Brief History of the Theatres:
The Cameo Theatre (1910)
(Formerly Clune's)
Architect: Alfred S. Rosenheim
The Cameo Theatre, which opened October 10, 1910 as Clune's Broadway, was the longest continuously operating movie theatre in the State of California and preliminary research indicates that it may have been the longest in the United States. The Cameo is also the last vestige of the motion picture entrepreneurialism that shaped the City of Los Angeles’ most important industry.
In 1910, when the Cameo opened, motion picture production and exhibition were two parts of a fledgling industry. By 1916, however, “Moving Picture World" reported that there were over 80 picture houses in Los Angeles. The most important of these were operated by three men: Thomas H. Tally, J. A. Quinn and William H. Clune. William H. Clune was one of the most successful motion picture men of his day. Born in Hannibal, Mo., Clune arrived in Los Angeles in 1887 while working on the railroad. A savvy real estate investment provided him with the capital to enter the motion picture exhibition business, and as early as 1907 he was operating store front theatres. In 1910, Clune added Clune's Broadway to his growing number of theatres and real estate holdings. He would one day own or operate five theatres, including "Clune's Auditorium," also known as the Philharmonic Building (now demolished). Described as an "active and shrewd showman" in one of his obituaries, Clune "had the happy facility of landing what the public wanted" and was loved by both the public and the press.
Everything played at Clune's, from "The Adventures of Kathlyn" (a popular story of the day that was even serialized in the Sunday paper), to the "The Perils of Pauline," starring Pearl White, "perhaps the world's most famous picture actress." It's been a great many years since the Cameo could be called "elaborate" or "handsome" but that's how it was described by an eager "Los Angeles Times" in July of 1910. Humble in comparison to the theatres that would spring up in the next decade, "Clune's Broadway" was touted as a "picture playhouse." This was still a new breed in 1910. Neither a storefront nickelodeon nor a lavish movie palace, Clune's Broadway represents that initial step reflecting a new commitment to constructing theatres solely for the purpose of motion picture exhibition. It is the only one of its kind left in Los Angeles.
The development of film exhibition was only one of Clune's contributions to the motion picture industry. He was a financial backer of D.W.Griffith's "Birth of a Nation," principal stockholder in a company that manufactured and developed motion picture cameras, and owner of one of the most active studios in Hollywood, now known as Raleigh Studios (the longest continuously operating studio in Hollywood). He retired from the theatrical business and sold all of his theatres in 1924. A member of several leading clubs, and a regional advisor to the Bank of Italy, when he died in his apartment at the Los Angeles Athletic Club at the age of 67 in 1927, Clune was remembered as "the genial, kindly figure that was wont to distribute sprightliness and good cheer as the sun does light." His romance with the press apparently lingered longer than he did. His fortune was estimated at more than six million tax free dollars. Clune was just the kind of man Los Angeles has always loved. A real estate developer, motion picture entrepreneur and showman, he was a man who had it all in a time when it was all still to be had. Today, the only remnant of his exhibition days is the Cameo Theatre. Little did he know that his ads proclaiming "continuous performance" would remain true for 85 years. (Courtesy of Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation)
The Arcade Theatre (1910)
(Formerly the Pantages)
Architects: Octavius Morgan and John A. Walls (Morgan & Walls)
The Arcade Theatre marked the entry into Southern California by Vaudeville independent Alexander Pantages. When it opened in 1910 as the Pantages, it was one of a growing number of Vaudeville, legitimate and moving picture houses in Los Angeles' thriving downtown retail and entertainment district. The theatre was built for Pantages by William Garland, an Irish immigrant and retired railroad entrepreneur turned real estate developer. A one-time director of the Security Trust and Savings Bank, and a member of the respectable California and Jonathan Clubs, Garland apparently had a yen for the theatre. He built at least three of them in Los Angeles; the Pantages on Broadway (1910), the Morosco (now the Club 740) on Broadway (1913), and the Pantages at 7th and Hill Streets (1919). A pioneer in many ways, Pantages' choice of the 500 block of Broadway for his theatre foretold the future of what would be the city's most important theatre street. The Cameo (originally Clune's Broadway – next door to the north) would open ten days later followed by the Morosco, the 1911 Orpheum (now the Palace) and others within the next decade. If the decision to build on Broadway instead of Main Street was bold, Pantages minimized his risk by building his theatre immediately north of Mercantile Place (now the site of the Arcade Building): then, as now, a place overflowing with busy foot traffic. None of this was by accident, as Eugene Clinton Elliott wrote in 1944: "(Pantages) selected his location on the basis of the movement of the crowds, who generally follow the path of least resistance . . . as people came to know that his shows were always good, he soon would be getting more than his full share of patronage." Los Angeles was considered by showmen to be one of the most promising cities of its day and other, bigger, operators were already established. When Pantages opened his theatre on Broadway, he ruffled the feathers of many small time presenters and planted himself firmly in the territory of the mighty Orpheum Circuit, which, try as it might, could not shake the newcomer from his foothold.
The Orpheum was always considered the best Vaudeville circuit represented in Los Angeles, however, Pantages' staying power and success were prodigious and he was ultimately regarded as one of the two most important independent Vaudeville presenters in the United States (Marcus Loew was the other). When Pantages opened his theatre on Broadway, the Orpheum was still operating its big time circuit in a rented theatre on Spring Street. Within a year of the Pantages opening, the Orpheum relocated on Broadway in its own new Orpheum Theatre (now the Palace). In his 1936 obituary "Variety" said, "Pantages played big time acts at big salaries, but never went big time as to policy ... although he always regarded the picture as a necessary element, he considered the Vaudeville most important and was never anything but a distinctly vaudeville showman." He may have considered moving pictures a "necessary element" under ordinary circumstances, but on opening night, September 26, 1910, the bill at the Pantages was strictly Vaudeville, and "big time" Vaudeville at that -- Barnold's Dog & Monkey Pantomime, featuring Dan, the drunken canine in "A Hot Time in Dogville," headlined opening night. This act was so popular that an article in "Everybody's" magazine from October, 1907, reported that "(t)his act was engaged for the [Hammerstein's] Victoria roof garden in New York at $300 a week. It made such a success that it was booked for two years at $1,000 a week." Among the other performers on opening night - billed after the dog act - was Sophie Tucker, who in 1910 was just starting to make a name for herself. This booking on the Pantages Circuit was her first West Coast tour. She was paid $250 per week, plus railroad fare. On the other side of the footlights that night were Pantages and his wife, Morgan and Walls and their wives and William Garland. Souvenir programs were printed on silk. According to newspaper accounts of the opening, the paint was barely dry and the stage manager was lauded for bringing the show off without a hitch. The ensuing years filled the Pantages with some of Vaudeville's most popular acts; many of which are unknown today because of their inability to adapt into movies and radio. By 1919, when Stan Laurel played the Pantages with his common law wife Mae, (Oliver Hardy still loomed in the future), new excitement was building around Alexander Pantages. Patronage was still strong and the reviews were still glowing at his Broadway theatre, but now the stories were beginning to end with an anticipatory note for the opening of the new Pantages Theatre on Hill at 7th, now a Jewelry Mart.
In 1925, the theatre (and probably the entire building) became the property of the Dalton brothers. Newcomers to Los Angeles, the three Daltons, F.O., R.A., and T.V., also owned and operated the Follies, a burlesque theatre on South Main. In 1924 the busy Mercantile Place had been transformed into the Arcade Building and in 1928 the Daltons changed the name of their theatre to "Arcade," hoping that some of the new building's luster would rub off. The Arcade was wired for sound in 1930 and has been a motion picture house ever since. Also worthy of note is the combination use of the Pantages building as commercial and retail space. In addition to theatre offices, the upper floors were occupied by a variety of doctors and dentists. These floors and the basement, which housed a restaurant, were served by an elevator, as well as stairs; alterations to the building have masked the original entrances.
It is clearly evident that the Arcade Theatre, often cited as "one of the unimportant ones on Broadway," is anything but that. Not only does it hold a key position in a National Register District, the Arcade is an important element in the development of the theatre scene on Broadway and demonstrates the chutzpah and tenacity of immigrants to this country. It was immigrants like Alexander Pantages, William Garland and Octavius Morgan who made business and cultural contributions to Los Angeles which helped to shape not only our city as we know it, but our societal vision of what life was like in an earlier era. It is important to realize, also, that the contribution made by these men need not be limited to the memory of a sepia-toned past but can be developed into a cultural resource for the city of tomorrow. Pantages' instinct on the movement of crowds still holds true today, eighty years later. A block from the Los Angeles Theatre Center and a stone's throw from the Central Library, Cultural Affairs Department and CRA, few other blighted sections of Broadway can boast such a strong foundation to spearhead reclamation as can the 500 block. Developing a theatrical reuse of the building could make it a leader in the redevelopment of Broadway, just as it was ninety-nine years ago. (Courtesy of the L.A. Historic Theatre Foundation)
The Palace Theatre (1911)
(Formerly the Orpheum)
Architect: G. Albert Landsburg
From its beginning in the late 1800s, the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit ruled the west coast. The most popular singers, dancers and comediennes played the circuit which extended from the Midwest through the West to the Pacific; the most elite played in Los Angeles. The first Orpheum Theatre was built in Los Angeles in the 1880s. When the second L.A. Orpheum Theatre burned down, a larger, more ornate palace was built; opening in 1911, this is the oldest of the remaining Orpheum theatres in the United States.
The Palace's principal architect was G. Albert Landsburg, a principal theatre designer in the west between 1909 and 1930 - he later designed the new Orpheum Theatre down the street. His local work includes the Warner Bros. Theatre Building in Hollywood, and the interiors of the Wiltern and El Capitan theatres. The intimate scale of the Palace, in concert with its elegant French details, reminds one of a 17th-century European opera house and offers an unusually charming and graceful setting. As an early vaudeville house, built without amplified sound, it was designed so that no seat is further than 80 feet from the stage.
While the interior is French, the exterior is loosely styled after a Florentine Renaissance palazzo, with multicolored terra cotta swags, flowers, fairies and theatrical masks illustrating the spirit of entertainment. The façade includes four panels depicting the muses of Song, Dance, Music and Drama (sculpted by Domingo Mora, a Spaniard whose work also decorated New York’s old Metropolitan Opera House.) Landsburg loved to use recessed lighting, which can be seen in the three ceiling mural domes. As you look at the borders of the balcony you can see bare light bulbs; since it was very exciting for a theater to have electricity at the turn of the century, they showed them off. The theatre was also built with fire safety in mind. During a children's matinee show in Chicago in 1906, patrons were trapped behind exit doors that only opened inwards -- all perished. As a direct response to new fire concerns and codes, the Palace was built with 22 fire escape exits and has one of the first sprinkler systems built in the city.
In 1911, the theatre could house 2,200 people in the orchestra and two balconies, the mezzanine and the gallery. The gallery was designed for “Negroes Only,” - a rare artifact of the generally tolerant Los Angeles. There is some controversy whether it was used as a minority balcony for people who were not white or if it was a "third class" balcony for the poor with cheaper seating. Either way, the gallery had a separate entrance from the alley and separate restrooms. The gallery was closed in the forties when the theatre was renovated to be a movie theatre; as altered, the theater currently seats 1,050.
After its opening, every major vaudeville star on the Orpheum circuit performed in this theatre including the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Sarah Bernhardt, Bob Hope, Al Jolson and Will Rogers. When Harry Houdini performed his stage magic and death-defying escapes, an ambulance was kept parked on the curb in case of emergency. In 1926, after a new Orpheum theatre was built two blocks away, the third Orpheum was renamed the Palace Theatre and transformed into a silent movie theater showing a continuous bill of newsreels and shorts. Later, it became a first run movie house for features with sound.
When the primary entertainment shifted to film, the beautiful box seating along the sides of the auditorium were removed. They were replaced with two beautiful murals done by Anthony Hiemsburgen, a famous Los Angeles muralist. These murals were revealed again five years ago after having been covered with red velvet.
After a long history as a first run movie theatre, the Palace declined along with Broadway and its once flourishing entertainment district. Showing second-run and Spanish language films, the theatre eventually closed in the mid-nineties. Recently, the theatre has become a featured location for film and television shoots. In the coming year the Palace Theatre will reopen as a live performance venue, once again serving all of Los Angeles. (www.losangelestheatre.com)
The Globe Theatre (1912)
(Formerly the Morosco)
Architects: Octavius Morgan, Octavius W. Morgan, John A. Walls (Morgan, Walls, & Morgan)
Opened in 1913 by Oliver Morosco, this theatre was conceived not as a vaudeville house or nickelodeon, but as an elegant dramatic play house – the first legitimate house on Broadway. Oliver Morosco, impresario and the first owner of the Morosco Theatre, initially featured stage shows rather than nickelodeon entertainment. Alfred F. Rosenheim served as the designer for the theatre interior. Among other unique touches, the theatre included special rows of seats that accommodated portly patrons who weighed more than 200 pounds. Morosco also filled the orchestra pit with foliage rather than having patrons yell over loud intermission music, which Morosco deemed an intrusion.
Morosco also owned the Burbank and Majestic Theatres in Los Angeles, California. The Morosco, like most 20th century theatres, has had a number of names changes bestowed by its changing owners. These include the Morosco (for the first two decades of its existence), the President (during the 1930s), the Newsreel (during the 1940s, before that name was transferred to the Tower Theatre) and, finally, the Globe.
During the Depression, newsreels took over, lasting throughout WWII. In 1958, a Mexican wax museum opened in the basement to accompany the Spanish-language programming upstairs. In 1987, concrete was used to level the floor from the lobby to the stage, so that a permanent indoor swap meet could supplant what had once been the first serious playhouse in Los Angeles. (Sources: cinematreasures.org; H. Wright - The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation)
The Rialto Theatre (1917)
Architect: Oliver Perry Dennis
Quinn's Rialto Theatre was built in 1917 by F.P. Fay for J.A.Quinn and leased to him under a ten-year contract. The theatre opened on the afternoon of May 21, 1917 with the American premiere of Selig's film, "The Garden of Allah," accompanied by a symphony orchestra and other musical acts. Within two years the Rialto was sold to Sid Grauman who had also recently opened the Million Dollar Theatre on Broadway.
The two-story Rialto, designed for film by architect Oliver P. Dennis, had a seating capacity of close to 900. In addition to a pipe organ, there was an elevator-type orchestra pit that could hold 25 musicians and a balcony on each side of the stage for singers. Long and narrow, the auditorium had a stadium-style build with a sharply raked floor extending to the mezzanine level. Patrons entered through tunnels from the lobby to the main floor. Due to stores positioned on either side of the main entrance, the lobby itself was narrow and finished in marble, as was the exterior entrance. The front of the building was covered with vitrified brick and stone, had an ornamental iron marquee, and arched windows on the second story. At the end of October, 1919, Sid Grauman announced that the theatre would be closed for several weeks for redecorating and remodeling.
The New Rialto Theatre, as it was renamed, opened November 20, 1919, with Cecil B. DeMille's "Male and Female, Created He Them." Grauman introduced long runs for films playing in this theater, in contrast to the one-week runs at the Million Dollar. He was able to do this through careful selection of the films, extensive publicity, and the relatively small seating capacity. In addition to staging prologues designed around the feature film, the less complex productions at the Million Dollar were moved to the Rialto since films playing at the Rialto tended to be more intimate and romantic than those at the Million Dollar.
In order to stage the prologues, Sid Grauman hired William Lee Woollett, who had also been involved in the design of the Million Dollar, to remodel the theatre. A thrust stage, large enough to hold 30-50 people, was added and the orchestra pit rebuilt. Stage exits were widened. A green room and dressing rooms were built in the basement. The lobby entrance was widened, and the exterior brickwork was covered with stucco. The theatre was now billed as "the most beautiful little theater in the world." That statement may have been an exaggeration, but business was good and the theatre was in its heyday; it was claimed in 1924 that the Rialto hosted more world premieres than any other theatre in the world. Many of the elements that have become attached to movie premieres - searchlights, stars, social and industrial leaders, and politicians - started at the Rialto.
In 1924, the theatre was again closed for renovations. By 1926, neighborhood theaters, with full fly lofts and the ability to stage any type of show, were offering competition to the Downtown movie palaces. Sid Grauman shifted his attention to Hollywood, and the Rialto began to be advertised with the Paramount Publix Theatres. The marquee was modified in 1930 and has become the single most important feature of the theater today - the longest still in existence in Los Angeles. The theatre briefly screened X-rated films and enjoyed a more extended showing of Mexican films before eventually closing. The interior has subsequently been gutted. (Victoria K. Steele, courtesy of L.A. Historic Theatre Foundation www.lahtf.org)
The Million Dollar Theatre (1918)
Architect: Albert Carey Martin Sr., William Lee Woollett
Sid Grauman's first major theatre was named Grauman's Theatre when it opened on February 1, 1918 with William S. Hart in "The Silent Man." Following the hype over its price tag it soon became known as Grauman's Million Dollar Theatre, although it was not officially named this until 1922. The auditorium was built behind the twelve story Edison office building; the exterior is a magnificent example of a variation of Spanish Rococo style known as Churrigueresque. Deeply molded features decorate the theatre entrance, and heroic figures and symbols of western Americana, such as bison heads and longhorn steer skulls, crafted by sculptor Joseph Mora, accent the facade.
The auditorium is 106 feet long and 103 feet wide, decorated in a similar style to the exterior, and has a curved proscenium arch 40 feet wide and 40 feet high. The ceiling has a coffered dome and with numerous statues and niches. The organ grilles on the side walls are in the style of Spanish Colonial altar screens. Architect William Lee Woollett is credited with the design of the interior. The proscenium, with its flanking columns and coffered ceiling, foreshadowed the fantastical design by Woollett for Grauman's Metropolitan Theatre (later Paramount). The eclectic, fantasy design of the Million Dollar Theatre in 1918 contrasted with the more conventional, neoclassic look of most movie palaces at that time. By the end of the 1920's, exotic themes and atmospherics were the rage in movie palace design, and many early movie palaces looked dated, but the Million Dollar Theatre still looked fresh and almost a century later, still wows.
Although designed specifically as a movie palace, full stage facilities were installed. Within two months of opening, Sid Grauman began to stage spectacular prologues prior to the film show on the 35 feet deep stage, which was 103 feet wide. Seating was provided for 1,400 in the orchestra and 945 in the balcony. An unusual feature was the positioning of the projection booth at the front of the balcony, rather than the usual position at the rear of the balcony. This gave a shorter throw to the screen which resulted in a brighter picture. The initial organ, a small 2 manual, 7 rank Wurlitzer installed and opened by Jesse Crawford, proved inadequate, and was replaced on December 23, 1918 by a larger 2 manual 16 rank Wurlitzer. The original organ was transferred to the Rialto Theatre on South Broadway, which Grauman also operated. Among the famous names who attended the opening night were: Jesse L. Lasky, Thomas Ince, Mack Sennett, Hal Roach, Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.
Grauman sold his interests in his downtown Los Angeles theatres (the Million Dollar, Rialto and Metropolitan-later Paramount) to Paramount-Publix in 1924, in order to focus on Hollywood, notably running the Egyptian Theatre and planning the Chinese Theatre. The theatre was leased out to Fox West Coast Theatres briefly, but Great Depression business losses caused them to close it down by 1930. After running under several different independent operators, Metropolitan Theatres assumed control in 1945 and breathed new life into the theater by presenting live shows starring Billy Holiday, Cab Calloway and Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra. Beginning in the summer of 1950, the Million Dollar became a film and stage venue exclusively for Spanish speaking audiences. The first downtown Los Angeles theatre catering to this audience, stars such as Maria Felix and Delores Del Rio appeared on its stage. By 1975 new general release movies, with Spanish voice-overs, and live Mexican vaudville shows appeared for one week each month. Metropolitan Theatres closed the venue on March 1, 1993.
Under the guise of 'modernising' the theater, during the early 1960's the original plaster decorations of the foyer area were hidden by a suspended drop ceiling and covered walls. After Metropolitan Theater's closure of the Million Dollar, a church immediately took over the theater and painted over chandeliers and original wall murals with white paint. The name 'Million Dollar' was removed from the marquee at this time. In 1998, the church moved out and down Broadway to the former (Loews) State Theatre and, in October 2005, the theater was leased by former nightclub owner Robert Voskanian. Over one million dollars have been spent renovating the theater on new marble floors, refurbishing the stone proscenium arch, and a new red and gold paint scheme.
The Million Dollar Theatre reopened on February 28, 2008 with a performance by Mexican singer and Latin Grammy Award winner Pepe Aguilar. There are plans to host film screenings, movie premieres, stage performances and concerts. (Excerpts from Roe and Haas; Cinema Treasures)
The State Theatre (1921)
(Formerly Lowe's State Theatre)
Architects: William Day and Charles Peter Weeks (Reid Brothers, Weeks & Day)
The State Theatre opened its doors on November 12, 1921, with Loew's vaudeville and "A Trip to Paradise" starring Bert Lytell. Loew's State Theatre was one of three operated by the circuit in California, and one of dozens across the country to bear the name Loew's State. Its location at Seventh and Broadway proved to be the most profitable theatre location in Southern California entertainment history. It is still the most profitable of several downtown theatre operations today. Occupying half a block on the west side of Broadway, Loew's State was situated at the apex of the city's two busiest retail streets, and the major intersection of the Los Angeles Railway System, a 1,000 mile street railway network which provided low cost public transportation from virtually every corner of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, including many of its suburbs.
The 2,350 seat auditorium was designed by the San Francisco firm of Weeks & Day, who would later design Fox Theatres in San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, and Oakland. The San Diego Fox has already been renovated as a symphony hall, and restoration of the San Jose Fox is now complete. Weeks & Day designed an eclectic auditorium which has been described as Spanish Renaissance in style. It is surrounded on two sides by a 12 story height limit retail/office frontage, faced with Southern California's largest brick veneer facade. Both the theatre and office building are of Class I-A steel reinforced concrete construction. The facade combines brick and rusticated terra cotta trim, and has been extensively illuminated with neon and floodlighting at various times in its history. Loew's State also held the distinction of having had more marquees than any other theatre in California. Originally, the theatre had two entrances; one on Broadway (which still exists) and another on Seventh Street which connected with the west end of the lobby. Both were equipped with single-line bronze canopies, which were later replaced by two-line marquees, accompanied by three vertical signs, and a neon display extending from the cornice line all the way to the ends of the building. The original tin and glass lettering systems were first enhanced by light bulbs, then replaced by neon and plastic. The surviving marquee dates from 1949.
Both silent films and Loew's vaudeville were successfully accompanied by an un-amplified pit orchestra until 1925. At that time Loew's acquired MGM Studios, installed a 3 manual, 13 rank Wurlitzer pipe organ and turned the vaudeville operation over to Fanchon & Marco. From 1925 until 1935, Fanchon & Marco parlayed their operation here into a touring road show operation which placed "prologues" in theatres as far east as the Roxy in New York, and which ultimately earned them their own chain of theatres here in Los Angeles. Their story was immortalized in the 1933 Warner Brothers film classic, "Footlight Parade." Among the famous troupers to appear at Loew's State during these years were a perennial favorite called the Meglen Kiddies, many of whom became stars for Hal Roach's "Our Gang" comedies. A 1929 attraction from Bakersfield, called the Gumm Sisters, featured a lead singer who earned the nick name of "leather lungs" because of her ability to be heard distinctly all the way to the back of the 125 foot long auditorium. With the discontinuance of vaudeville at the State in 1935, the Gumm Sisters and the Fanchonettes traveled to Culver City to appear in an experimental Technicolor musical called "Fiesta in Santa Barbara," "Leather Lungs" changed her name to Judy Garland, and put her six years experience at Loew's State to a new use.
Continuing as the downtown home of first run MGM Pictures from 1935 to 1955, Loew's State continued to attract crowds into the 1960's, when Loew's decided to re-enter California and attempted unsuccessfully to reacquire the lease it had abandoned a few years earlier. On August 7, 1963, the theatre began its first Spanish language engagement with an opening night premiere of "Cielo Rojo" which brought out thousands of fans for a crowd scene not seen on Broadway since 1931. Although the history of the State Theater has been inextricably linked with MGM and film for the past 53 years, its 28 foot stage and acoustics successfully accommodated live performers for 14 years, most of it without any electronic amplification. Despite the stage's inactivity during the past half century, much of its rigging remains, including a sensational Armstrong- Powers fire curtain, depicting a fantasy city from a 1921 perspective. The theater’s current tenant is the Cathedral of Faith. (Courtesy of L.A. Historic Theatre Foundation)
The Orpheum Theatre (1926)
Architect: G. Albert Lansberg
When planning began in 1923 for the Orpheum Theatre as the fourth and final house operated by the Orpheum vaudeville circuit in Los Angeles, who could have foretold the memories this magnificent venue would harbor over the years.
Since its February 15, 1926 opening, the Orpheum has played host to some of the most venerable names in show business – from burlesque queen Sally Rand, a young Judy Garland (as Francis Gumm) and comedian Jack Benny, to jazz greats like Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. The 1960s brought a completely new dimension to the theater – "rock and roll" – with performers such as Little Richard, Aretha Franklin and Little Stevie Wonder.
In more recent years, television, film and music video stars have added another new feature to the theatre’s history – location filming. Today, the Orpheum continues to build on its entertainment industry memories and stands ready once again to welcome live performance and many other special events to its legendary stage. (www.laorpheum.com)
The Tower Theatre (1927)
Architect: S. Charles Lee
Opening in 1927, the Tower Theatre was the first theater designed by renowned architect S. Charles Lee as well as the first movie palace in Downtown wired for sound films. The Tower was designed in the French Renaissance motif with Spanish, Romanesque and Moorish influences. The theatre has had an illustrious history for a smaller scale theatre that mainly showed movies; it was the original sneak preview location for the famed Warner Brothers movie The Jazz Singer (1927).
Independently operated for the Tower's first several decades of existence, newsreel films were run in the 1940’s and early 1950’s. Alternately known as the Newsreel and the Music Hall, the Tower returned to its original name after a major renovation in the early 1960’s. According to limited historic documentation, the renovation included an interior repainting covering up much of the original ornate decorative painting by A.T. Heinsbergen & Co.; the famous canvas ceiling dome murals (which featured clouds, angels and classic nude ladies) were also permanently removed. Around this time a much wider faux-proscenium was installed of elaborate red-velvet curtain fabric which allowed the projection of popular wide screen films. In later years, however, it was operated consecutively by the Pacific Theaters and Metropolitan Theaters Corporation chains.
The theatre closed its doors in 1988 due to waning downtown movie audiences; its main floor seats were removed in anticipation of the building being converted to an indoor swap meet. Thankfully that use never materialized and the location remained dormant until 1991 when Warner Brothers temporarily converted the venue into Miami's 'Empire Ballroom' as a key movie set for Mambo Kings (1992) (also marking the American movie debut of actor Antonio Banderas). That film’s art department took advantage of the Tower’s missing main floor seats and installed a semi-permanent floating wood dance floor which remains today. The Tower’s original small wooden stage and organ chamber were preserved and protected with a newer vintage-style ‘horseshoe’-style stage which was carefully built over it for this particular movie. Following this shoot came a large volume of location filming uses for countless music videos, TV commercials and occasional feature films.
In 2001 with the decline of local location filming, the Tower was used as a church until mid-2003 when the theatre again became a filming location. Over the past decade the Tower has only been publicly used for the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Last Remaining Seats classic film series launch parties and occasional VIP architectural tours. (Excerpted from The Tower theater http://www.towertheaterla.com)
The United Artists Theatre (1927)
Architect: Walker & Eisen
The United Artists Theatre opened on December 26, 1927, simultaneously with two other studio movie palaces (one in Detroit, a day earlier; and another in Chicago, which was a remodeling) heralding the studio's entrance into the arena of theatre operation. The opening of the studio's Flagship premiere house in L.A. marked the beginning of a theatre chain that is one of the nation's largest today. Mary Pickford took large part in the project, selecting the site, the architect, and spending so much money on it that the plaster cast molds used for the theatre had to be re-used in Detroit and Chicago to amortize their cost. Although C. Howard Crane of Detroit was engaged to design his only theatre west of Omaha (not counting Sydney, Australia), the 12-story office frontage for the complex was designed by the L.A. firm of Walker and Eisen for a long term lease by Texaco for their western regional offices. The UA Building was the tallest privately owned structure in LA until 1956, when the city finally repealed its Beaux Arts inspired "City Beautiful" concept of a 125-foot height limit for everyone but City Hall. In fact, the tower on the roof exceeds that limit but squeezed through on a technicality since it was unoccupied space used to house elevator equipment, the sprinkler system reservoir, and other equipment. The building permits described it as "signage."
The style of the building was originally described as "Spanish Gothic," a rare combination for an auditorium. Much of the plaster decorations around the building’s entrances and in the auditorium are copied from those at the Cathedral at Segovia – although the Spaniards themselves never contemplated anything on this scale. The lobby of the UA is half a block long, separating the auditorium from an adjacent office building. To mitigate the length and height of the lobby space, Crane designed two double-decked bridges to connect each balcony with a staircase on the opposite side of the lobby. The vaulted ceiling is finished in fresco murals, the only installation of its type on a west coast theatre. All mirrors in the lobby are gold-backed. Stairways at either end lead to basement lounges, a smoking room and a powder room. The smoking room was elaborately furnished in the Moorish manner and still retains its elaborate Malibu tile baseboards. Most of the original furnishings were relocated to Santa Barbara when the Fox Arlington theatre was restored as a performing arts center. The lavishness of the smoking room could probably be explained by the fact that it also functioned as a lobby for a private screening room built for Mary Pickford's use. The screening room is also connected by passageways with the dressing rooms, and elevators from the lobby to the balconies.
Although United Artists needed a theatre to guarantee an outlet for their product, they had no intention of operating it themselves. The Publix unit of the Paramount Corporation was engaged to open the theatre, an arrangement that lasted until the depression. Always more committed to film than to the stage, United Artists discontinued stage productions here several times, but always seemed to revive them when competition got the edge with downtown stage shows. The theatre was closed briefly during the depression, then reopened to spotty attendance, due to the relatively remote location it occupied too far south on Broadway. Saddled with a 50 year lease they couldn't break, UA decided in 1956 to day and- date first run with their Hollywood houses by remodeling the UA for 70mm Todd- AO wide screen projection. The booth was relocated from the second balcony to the main floor, a curtain and a screen were installed in front of the proscenium (necessitating the removal of some decorative elements), and the first balcony or "golden horseshoe" was removed to guarantee sightlines from the back corners of the orchestra level. The remodeling cost over $200,000. The theatre reopened with a first-run engagement of "Oklahoma," which soon closed, as did the theatre. After being dark for the next 10 years, the UA reopened as a Spanish language movie house, in surprisingly good condition as a result of the wear and tear it was spared in the early 60's.
Several notable features of the UA include the auditorium murals depicting the history of the film industry, featuring UA players, of course. The fire curtain bears an adaptation of the Shakespeare quote "The Picture's The Thing" implying the ultimate triumph of the motion picture over performing arts. The theatre also contains one of the most ambitious lighting systems of its time, controlled by an immense 35 foot, pre-set control board. All ceiling fan vaulting is backlit, as are organ screens, illuminated in layers. The ceiling dome is indirectly floodlit, and can be adjusted to contrasting and changing color combinations. The 4 manual Wurlitzer was removed in 1955, but an orchestra pit lift still functions (outliving those at the Hollywood Pantages and downtown Paramount). (Courtesy of the L.A. Historic Theatre Foundation)
The Los Angeles Theatre (1931)
Architect: S. Tilden Norton / S. Charles Lee
The Los Angeles Theatre opened on January 31, 1931, with a world premier of Charlie Chaplin’s silent screen classic "City Lights," an Irving Berlin Musical "The Little Things in Life," on stage and a concert on the mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. Celebrities on hand for the opening included Mr. Chaplin, Albert Einstein, Carl Laemmle, and S. Charles Lee, the Architect of the theater.
The Los Angeles Theatre was the fourth and final theatre to bear the city’s name, and the last motion picture palace constructed in Los Angeles. Built at a cost of nearly $2 million in depression dollars, employing fast-track construction methods, it may still be the most expensive theatre ever constructed in Los Angeles, on a per-seat basis.
The auditorium is based on the much larger San Francisco Fox, which was destroyed in 1963. Unlike its predecessor, the Los Angeles has a coffered ceiling, lunette murals by the Anthony Heisenberg Studios, and a House Curtain that ranks among the most costly in the nation – a B.F. Shearer panel depicting an 18th century garden scene with three dimensional figures installed at a cost of $50,000 in 1931.
The theatre was constructed by H.L. Gumbiner, a local exhibitor who believed that opulence could attract top billings, even from recalcitrant studios owning their own theatre chains. He gambled and lost within a year. In fact, the escalating cost of the Los Angeles exceeded even Gumbiner’s resources. A second entrance proposed on Sixth Street was never built, and even though Chaplin put up money to finish the theatre, only the front half of the stage received a scenery loft.
The Los Angeles opened with a host of innovative features that later found common usage around the world. The auditorium is complemented by a cry room for infants, a glassed-in smoking room for smokers, neon aisle lighting beneath frosted glass strips on either side of each orchestra level aisle, and six main floor aisles, so no one has to climb over more than two patrons to reach the aisle. Two shallow balconies provide an optimum view of the cavernous auditorium from nearly every seat, at the expense of seating capacity. The volume of the auditorium would have permitted nearly 3,000 seats, if a single span balcony had been employed. By reverting to the dress circle and upper balcony configuration, seats were sacrificed for effect. The present seating capacity is just under 2,000.
In addition to auditorium features, the original direct current electrical system included prototype Westinghouse miniature boards in a horseshoe configuration, employing miniaturized switching to access more rectifiers. This novel experiment permitted one man operation for the equivalent of a 30 foot board, and would later be employed at Radio City Music Hall. A seat indicator beneath the mezzanine stairs alerted ushers whenever a patron stood up to leave his seat.
The lobby and lounge spaces at the Los Angeles are unrivaled on the west coast. The half-block long lobby employs mirrors on either side to disguise the narrow fifty foot frontage for a 150 foot wide auditorium. A basement ballroom was intended for patrons awaiting the next performance, and was originally equipped with a periscope viewing screen from the booth, as was the ticket lobby. A children’s playroom, ornate powder room, coffee shop, and women’s lavatory with full marble rooms instead of stalls, are adjacent to the ballroom.
City Lights was only the first of many openings and first run screenings at the Los Angeles. Gumbiner, who failed to heed Lee’s advice to lease the theatre to Fox, soon lost the property to the major studio; for the next 25 years, it would be the downtown home for Fox films. The Los Angeles flourished as the heart of the Broadway Entertainment District into the 1960s. Although still owned by the Fox estate until 1988, the theatre has been operated by Metropolitan Theatres since the early 1960’s.
As the fortunes of Downtown declined, the interest and attendance of the Los Angeles Theatre waned until it closed its doors to regular screenings in the 1990s. The Los Angeles Historical Theatre Foundation, the Los Angeles Conservancy and the Da Camara Society have successfully used the theatre for live performances and film festivals, and a live chamber orchestra concert has amply demonstrated the fine acoustics of the theatre. Sustained as a film location and through special events, including the star studded opening of Chaplin, the Los Angeles has waited for Downtown’s resurgence. This gathering revitalization will see the Los Angeles Theatre return to its past glory within the heart of our city’s entertainment district. (The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation; www.losangelestheatre.com)
The Roxie Theatre (1931)
Architect: J.M. Cooper
Rising on the site of the former Quinn's Superba theatre (1910), the Roxie, designed by J.M. Cooper Co., was the last theatre built on Broadway before Hollywood usurped the position of Los Angeles's principal theatre district. Like its predecessor, the Roxie was equipped for live stage performances (including a pipe organ), but its long, narrow auditorium, with a seating capacity of 1,600, was intended primarily for motion picture display. The Roxie's Art Deco styling represents a significant departure from Broadway's earlier theatre designs. The unbridled extravagance of the Orpheum or the Los Angeles Theatre is here replaced by an elegant economy, efficiently reducing ornament without sacrificing the excitement associated with movie-going.
Characteristics of the Art Deco, or Zigzag Moderne, include the stepped roofline of the theater's exterior elevation, angular grillwork and chevron ornament on the facade, and a spectacular terrazzo sunburst in the sidewalk. Inside, a poured-concrete balcony in the auditorium forms a stair step, or zigzag, configuration that adds visual interest to the mezzanine ceiling by using structural form for decorative effect. Applied ornament in the auditorium is concentrated on structural members, and consists of flat, abstracted botanical forms combining the romance of nature with the energy of the machine age. Characteristics of the later Streamline Moderne style were once evident at the theatre's entrance, in the form of a sleek maroon-and-grey ticket booth flanked by serpentine walls. These features were removed when the foyer and lobby were converted to retail use. (Reprinted with the kind permission of the Los Angeles Conservancy, from their Downtown Historic Theatre District Walking Tour publication.)