Grand Theater

730 S. Grand Avenue,
Los Angeles, CA 90017

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 15, 2023 at 8:40 pm

Here is an item about the Mozart Theatre from the September 7, 1912 issue of Moving Picture World:

“The new Mozart Theater, owned by Mrs. Anna Mozart and operated entirely by women, is turning out better than anyone expected. Although the theater is located on the outskirts of the shopping district and on a by-street the house has enjoyed excellent business ever since it opened its doors. The policy is to provide good music and good pictures and it has been living up to this policy. The first week the feature was ‘St. George and the Dragon.’ Last week ‘The Crusaders’ was the principal subject. This week ‘The Raven’ is the bill, and ‘Robin Hood’ is scheduled for next week. In addition to the feature two or three other reels—educational, travel, scenic or industrial—are run each week.”

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on February 17, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine in June 1946:

LOS ANGELES-The Grand Theater, leased by Herb Rosener from the George T. Walker estate, and which is part of the Walker Auditorium Building here, will end its 50-year career in July. It will be demolished. The site will provide extra parking space for the J.W. Robinson department store.

Rosener, who has operated the house for the past twelve years, also runs the Studio, Laurel and Esquire. All specialize in foreign films. He plans to construct another theater to replace the Grand when building conditions permit.

Velostigmat
Velostigmat on January 27, 2009 at 7:21 pm

Found a little bit on Anna Mozart.

“Mrs. Anna M. Mozart ran the Mozart Theater in Los Angeles, a high-class place charging ten to twenty-five cents and running special features for a week., with music supplied by the mechanical Photo-Player Orchestra (she played operatic concerts on it.)”

p. 47 of the 1994 paperback edition of “The Transformation of Cinema” by Eileen Bowser

vokoban
vokoban on October 7, 2008 at 8:04 am

I wish they would use the name of the longest incarnation and best known name for a theater instead of the last used name. The first known name has the same problems. Many times the last/first used name is fairly obscure and makes it difficult to locate on the site, especially for new users who might not realize that it is possible to search by previous names. Sometimes stringent rules don’t benefit the big picture. I think it should be up to the operators of this site to choose the name that makes it easiest to find.

William
William on October 7, 2008 at 7:23 am

The Fox Criterion Theatre operated till around 1941 and had a fire which closed the theatre. The theatre later reopened after being closed for a few years as the Grand Internationale. And was later razed to make way for a office building. The site did not add all the info in the Criterion’s opening comment.

vokoban
vokoban on October 7, 2008 at 5:14 am

Kenroe and Joe Vogel address the Grand Internationale at the beginning of the posts on this page.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 6, 2008 at 6:42 pm

If the 1946 photo was taken shortly before demolition, then the Grand would have been its last incarnation, and should rightly be the name under which the theater is listed.

vokoban
vokoban on October 5, 2008 at 8:59 am

I think I posted something similar on Mar 3, 2006 above but I’ve never seen that photo. I think this building was similar to the still standing Friday Morning Club (Variety Arts) on Figueroa right north of Olympic. A theater with a few auditoriums and meeting rooms above. Thanks for the photo!

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 4, 2008 at 9:02 pm

Here is a January 1928 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/4zvwpb

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 6, 2007 at 4:08 pm

Paging Joe Vogel – we have another aka for you…

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 30, 2007 at 8:19 pm

Here is a 1946 photo from the LAPL, shortly before demolition. I also have included the caption as there is a reference to another aka, Actor’s Theater. I thought Joe would like that:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics41/00070227.jpg

Grand Theatre, located in the Walker Auditorium Building at 750 South Grand Avenue, is to be demolished to make room for a parking lot. Built in 1907 by George W. Walker, the six-story theater was known as the Walker Auditorium and was the home of the theatrical hits of the day. It was renamed the Orange Grove Theater and became a music performance hall. Before being renamed one last time as the Grand Theatre in 1936 and converted in to a motion picture theater, it was briefly called the Actors Theatre. The building includes offices and meeting rooms. Photo dated: July 3, 1946.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 29, 2007 at 7:15 am

Here is a 1920 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2shcug

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 26, 2007 at 7:33 am

Here is an October 1915 ad when the Mozart was known as the Brooks Theater:
http://tinyurl.com/23zd5x

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 23, 2007 at 3:55 pm

Here is a February 1942 ad from the LA Times. The Russians were still the good guys then:
http://tinyurl.com/2dsvby

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 7, 2007 at 9:07 am

Here is a photo from the CA state library. The date is in question:
View link

reluctantpopstar
reluctantpopstar on May 5, 2007 at 3:34 pm

It’s from the LOC but I bought a printed version from a seller on E-Bay. I got the giant version (about 4 feet by 5 feet) which I had framed. Looks nice on my wall. The detail is quite amazing. Even though the map is huge, the print is tiny and provides a lot of insight to the city at that moment in history.

vokoban
vokoban on May 5, 2007 at 1:45 pm

Did you get that map in jpeg2000 format from the Library of Congress, Scott? If so, its pretty amazing. I don’t know how accurate it is but I spend hours looking at all of the details.

reluctantpopstar
reluctantpopstar on May 5, 2007 at 9:02 am

I have a panoramic map of Los Angeles in 1909 which shows the Walker Theater on the east side of the street.

vokoban
vokoban on October 15, 2006 at 7:30 am

Thanks for reposting those links Joe. I wish they would enable the zoom feature again. The detail was amazing on those scans.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 14, 2006 at 5:18 pm

Oh, rats! I probably have at least sixty USC links scattered about this site alone. It’s going to take ages to track them down and update them. I notice that the archive isn’t supporting the zoom feature anymore either. I’m going to miss that.

Here’s the new location for the picture I linked to in my comment of March 1, 2006, way up there near the top of the page. Unfortunately, without the zoom feature it’s just about impossible to make out the “Strand” name on the back wall of the theatre.

While I’m at it, here is the picture in vokoban’s first link of March 4th, and also the picture in his second link of that day, showing the “Clune’s Grand Ave. Theatre” sign painted on the side wall of the building. I can’t find the new location of the picture he linked to on March 5th.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 14, 2006 at 1:34 pm

All the USC links have expired. Here is one posted a while ago by vokoban showing the Mozart:
http://tinyurl.com/ylp2pm

vokoban
vokoban on March 5, 2006 at 5:14 am

I think this is the same house on the southeast corner of 7th and Grand during happier times.

View link

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 5, 2006 at 3:20 am

vokoban: It looks as though that is the Mozart building in that second picture. It’s the right distance down Grand Avenue, and is the right size. In fact, I recognized the cursive writing on the sign immediately, as I’ve seen a sign exactly like it, though much faded. It was (and according to a November 24th, 2004 comment by ejaycat on the Fox Pasadena page here, still is) on the wall of the former Clune’s Pasadena Theatre. Apparently, Billy Clune ran the Grand Avenue house for a while, too.

As for the date of the picture, it must be fairly close to 1912, and more likely earlier than later, given the fact that the southeast corner of 7th and Grand is still occupied by a house converted to commercial use, no cars are in sight, and the pavement looks very primitive. Even by the early 1920’s, that corner looked very different.