RKO Hillstreet Theatre
801 S. Hill Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
801 S. Hill Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
14 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 63 comments
Read Joe’s comment of 7/12/07.
I wonder what Junior Orpheum means…
Here is a 1920 photo from the USC archive. I assume the signs are advertising the impending construction of the RKO:
http://tinyurl.com/2s6qzm
Here are three interior photos from the CA state library:
View link
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Here is the location today:
http://tinyurl.com/29go8b
The pathetic little bank that replaced the theater is closed and up for sale. I took a picture of it. Did they save the bricks so we can rebuild the theater?
The 1964 Times article certainly erred in saying that this was the largest theatre downtown. The Paramount was the largest. I’m also skeptical of the article’s claim about the original name of this theatre. The writer of the piece probably gave only a cursory glance to the paper’s old articles from the time of the Theatre’s opening. Even before it was built, as shown in this c1920 photo the sign on the building that was soon to be demolished to make way for it called it the Hill Theatre (though the sign had the Junior Orpheum circuit’s logo on it as well.)
Many photos from the 1920’s show the name Hill Street Theatre on the building. Here’s one from c1924. When the name was changed in 1929, it was from Hill Street Theatre to RKO Theatre. The theatre’s name was changed again, to RKO Hillstreet Theatre, shortly thereafter. There were many theatres on the Junior Orpheum circuit, but I don’t think any of them were ever actually named Junior Orpheum Theatre. Junior Orpheum was more a generic appellation for all the theatres in the circuit, and most of them were probably referred to as the Junior Orpheum in whatever city at one time or another, but I’ve never heard of that name being on a marquee.
End of the road, 12/2/64, per the LA Times. Note the name of the theater early on before it was renamed the RKO Hillstreet:
The largest downtown theater, the historic RKO Hillstreet, will be demolished in April to make way for an eight-story parking garage, it was announced Tuesday. The theater’s doom was foreshadowed last spring when it was shut down for three months. It resumed showing movies during the summer.
The Hillstreet opened on March 20, 1922 with a vaudeville program and a film, “Why Announce Your Marriage” with Elaine Hammerstein. All seats were priced at 36 cents (50 cents on the weekends). Through the years, the theater was the site of many premieres. Originally named the Junior Orpheum, it was remodeled in 1929 and renamed the RKO Hillstreet.
On #728 you can also see the sizable Metropolitan/Paramount at the corner of 6th and Hill.
There’s an office building on that spot now. I think that’s around where Wilshire deadends on Grand and you have to turn right or left, or drive into the lobby of the building, I suppose.
Yes, the building with the classical facade fronting on Grand. The parking lot next to it would have been very handy for the well-to-do motorists who drove in from West Adams or Hancock Park or Silver Lake to see the latest movie without having to deal with the smelly crowds of streetcar riders on Broadway or Hill Street.
Is that at the bottom right?
#728 is interesting. At the lower right it gives a novel view of the Fox Criterion on Grand Avenue north of 7th Street.
Joe, if you go back two pictures from 730 to 729 and 728, you will see more aerial photos, also of the Pershing Square area. Interesting to try and pick out the different structures. Thanks for the tip.
Here is a 1930 aerial photo of downtown Los Angeles, looking north, with Pershing square at center. Follow Hill Street (on the right side of of the square) south for two blocks and you can see the Hillstreet Theatre on the left, with its corner dome. The side view shows how deep the building was, extending more than halfway through the block toward Olive Street.
Sickening.
This is from the LA Times dated 3/14/65. Who says irony is dead?
Self-Park Structure to Replace RKO Hillstreet
Another step in the revitalization of the downtown Los Angeles area will get under way April 1 with the demolition of a famous Los Angeles landmark, the RKO Hillstreet Theater building.
Here is an undated photo from the LAPL. I believe this is the RKO:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics37/00068244.jpg
The theatre on the west side of Hill Street between 7th and 8th was the Alhambra.
Does anyone know what theater is halfway down the block with the black marquee sticking out in the photo that ken mc posted on Oct. 4, 2006?
Here is a 1931 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/pyw7u
The one and only Steven McQueen in:
View link
Signs of the times: The woman is picketing a football movie in front of the RKO during the blacklist era:
http://tinyurl.com/q4bsm
Here is a 1930 photo. Try to focus on the theater and not on the unfortunate individual plunging to the street below:
http://tinyurl.com/glrha
ken mc: This is the first time I’ve seen the 1928 pictures to which you linked on December 3rd. The auditorium looks pretty much the same as it did in the theatre’s last years, except I recall the decoration being less noticeable due to it having been repainted mostly in a single shade of off-white (or maybe it was white after the 1947 renovation and it had just accumulated a coat of grime by the early 1960’s.)
The interesting photo to me is the one of the mezzanine area that gave access to the balcony. It was the longest such room in any downtown L.A. theatre, and the only one I recall that followed the curve of the auditorium back wall, and the total effect was very impressive. The renovation in the 1940’s had stripped the ceiling of its elaborate decoration and I believe the wainscoting was removed as well, and the whole space seemed even longer in the streamlined style it then received.
My memory of the details is dim after 40+ years, but I think the lighting had been changed too. I don’t remember those ornate chandeliers being there, and I think there had been some modern indirect cove lighting installed. I hope someday to come across a picture of this room as it looked after the 1940’s renovation.