Where are they now? Historic movie palaces of Los Angeles today.

This blog entry was inspired by laasB’s Flickr post, which gives a nice overview of the historic movie theatres on or near Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. Buildings pictured at that link include the Million Dollar Theatre, the Cameo, the Los Angeles, the Palace, the State, the Globe, the Olympic, the Tower, the (downtown) Rialto, the Orpheum, the United Artists, and the Mayan. On the posting, laasB has included a nifty map and the occasional photo headings give nice historical run-downs. The flickr set served as an inspiration and starting point; then this grand list helped me to figure out what these and more historic theatres are being used for now. The guide at www.seeing-stars.com is also somewhat useful, as is this collection of photos as well. Bill Counter and latimachines.com have informative pages. I also compiled this blog as a guide for the convenient map (“map it” and “expand” to see a larger map).

Cameo Theatre - 1910

(Please note that if you want to watch a movie in one of these historic downtown locations the time is now as Los Angeles Conservancy has their Last Remaining Seats program in May and June. The rest of year the LA Conservancy has walking tours every Saturday).

VENUES:

The Orpheum -1926

Until 2000, you could could buy a normal movie ticket for this grand movie palace. In 2003 the building was extensively renovated; the inside is gorgeous and is used for location filming, special performances, and occasional screenings. They boast one of the three original theatre organs in California. This place was the fourth Orpheum Theatre in the United States and opened to house performances of the vaudeville troupe of the same name.

Orpheum Theatre

The Mayan – 1927

The Mayan has had a widely varied history. The building was designed by Morgan, Walls, and Clements (the architectural firm also responsible for the El Capitan and the Wiltern below); the artist Francisco Corejo designed the hieroglyphics and other ornamentation. The style is “Mayan Revival” and they really went gonzo with the hand carving and painting. Over the years this theatre has shown first-run, second-run, Spanish-language, arthouse and pornographic movies. In 1990 it re-opened as a nightclub and today the club continues to feature live perfomances and a bustling dancefloor.

Wresting at the Mayan

Million Dollar Theatre – 1918

This is another of the downtown theatres that is now used as a live performance space. Both movies and stage performances were part of the early history of this theatre, when it was owned by Sid Grauman (see the Egyptian and Chinese Theatres below). The place went through a number of owners through the years; like The Mayan, this place showed Spanish-language movies during the 1950′s. In 2005 it was leased to Robert Voskanian and in February 2008 the theatre re-opened for movies, performances, and concerts. The name refers to the publicized expense of the original construction and became official in 1922.

Million Dollar Theatre

The Wiltern – 1931

Going slight west to Koreatown, we come to the Wiltern, another site designed by the architectural firm of Morgan, Walls, and Clements. This building is a blue-green terra-cotta Art Deco landmark (similar in appearance to the Eastern Columbia Building). It contains offices and restaurants as well as the theatre space. Initially owned by the Warner Brother’s theater chain, it was sold to the Franklin Life Insurance Company in 1956. By the late 1970′s the Wiltern was in bad shape and was on the verge of being demolished. Wayne Ratkovich bought the property in 1981 and hired the architect Brenda Levin to help renovate the place. In 1985 the Wiltern opened as a performance and music venue. SFX (a company now owned by Live Nation) purchased the lease to the Wiltern in 2000; the venue continues to attract well-known acts to the very large auditorium.

The Wiltern

El Rey – 1936

Slightly further west again in the Miracle Mile district, El Rey is now an all-ages performance venue that can accommodate about 700 guests . This art deco theatre operated as a movie house for fifty years, under both Fox and Mann theater management. In the 1980′s it became a nightclub called “Wall Street;” then in 1994 it was converted for live performances. Booking for the shows is done by Goldenvoice.

El Rey

MOVIE THEATRES:

The Highland – 1924

In my opinion the Highland is special because it does not feel like it has been repackaged for your consumption and the tickets are cheap. Yes, there are soda pop stains in abundance and yes the theatre has been triplexed. However, this is an L. A. Smith theatre (built in a Spanish style two years before he died) and it is a living, breathing place to see a first run movie on a big enough screen. Restoration of the neon has had some funding through the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Neon Program and the Targeted Neighborhood Initiative Program. Overall, this is a great place to catch a flick.

Highland Theatres

The Vista – 1923

This Los Feliz landmark has been extensively renovated (they added extra space between the comfortable seats) and now shows first run movies. This place opened as Bard’s Hollywood; Lou Bard had a number theaters in the area that featured an Egyptian-style interior. The architect was L. A. Smith, who designed a number of other buildings in the area (including cinemas such as the Rialto in Pasadena, the Highland, and the Beverly). This theatre has showed classics (under Landmark management), pornographic films (while owned by legendary gay figure Shan Sayles and his partner Violet Savage), and most everything in-between at one point or another. The place is apparently now owned by Mike Thomas, who I think is also currently renovating the Rialto in Pasadena.

The Egyptian – 1922

Originally opened by the Grauman’s company and designed by the architecture firm of Meyer and Holler, this was the first Egyptian themed movie house in the nation. (Soon after this establishment opened, the discovery of King’ Tut’s tomb was publicized and Egyptian fever seized the country). In the 1990′s the American Cinematheque and the Community Redevelopment Agency acquired the building and undertook a 9 million dollar renovation. The theatre reopened in 1998, featuring a main auditorium and a smaller screening room. The American Cinematheque runs this place (as well as the Aero in Santa Monica) as a calendar theatre showing mostly classics and arthouse movies.

The Egyptian

El Capitan -1926

El Capitan has been so thoroughly refurbished that it has become something else entirely; the place has had a number of chapters in its existence. This was the second of Sid Gramaun’s theatres on this stretch of Hollywood Boulevard; this time he had the architect Stiles Clements of Morgan, Wall, and Clements come up with the plan (featuring a Spanish extrerior and an East Indian interior). By the early 40′s business had slowed down and the place was sold to Paramount Pictures. They renovated the place and used it as their flagship theatre in California. After Paramount was forced to divest because of anti-trust laws, Pacific Theatres Circuit took over management.. In 1989 Disney entered the picture; they took over the lease, spent 14 million on renovations, and restored the original name. Today the place continues to be a showcase for Disney movies.

El Capitan

Grauman’s Chinese -1927

Seeing that the Egyptian theatre was thriving, Sid Grauman used the same architects (Meyer and Holler) to build this Chinese extravaganza. In 1929, Grauman sold his third of the property to Fox West Coast Theaters (he continued to work there as managing director until his death in 1950). Over the years the theatre was run by the Fox and then the Mann theater management companies. After the Mann bankruptcy in 2001 a number of Mann Theatres, including this one, and the Mann brand were sold to a partnership of Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures. (These parties do not now own the land the building sits on, it was sold to the CIM Group in 2008). The theatre has been extensively renovated and is ground zero for the Hollywood tourist zone. Immediately outside is the “Hollywood Walk of Fame” (the site of all those concrete handprints and footprints); the sidewalk is constantly bustling and busy. First-run movies continue to play here on a daily basis. This is also a favorite site for extravagant movie premieres. The Oscars were held here a couple times in the 40′s but are now at the nearby Kodak Theatre.

Grauman's Chinese

The Nuart -1940s

Moving past these thoroughly re-vamped corporate giants above, I want to end on this venerable westside arthouse locale. Initial part of the Fox West Coast Theater chain, the Nuart became Landmark Theatre’s first venue when they purchased the place in 1974. Landmark is still a leading independent exhibitor with 55 movie houses, many of them historic. The Nuart has continued to be a premiere calender theatre showing great non-mainstream films (they do continue to play “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Saturdays at midnite.) The building is a mid-sized Art Deco style movie house. It is newer than most of the ones listed on this page but it’s still no spring chicken! The latest renovation here was in 2006.

Nuart Theatre

And a couple more. . .

The Silent Movie Theatre/Cinefamily (1942) and the New Beverly (the building is from 1929, movies started being shown at a later date) are smaller theatres that certainly deserve mention. The Rialto (1925) in South Pasadena (another L.A Smith movie house) will hopefully be reopened soon as well. At the end of the day, my favorite place to see a movie here in Los Angeles is at the Cinerama in the Arclight (the dome is from 1963). The Arclight is a little more expensive but the place is grand and professional.

I have tried to focus here on the buildings that are still used for movies or at least performances. There are so many more historic movie houses now being used for entirely different purposes out there in Los Angeles as well!