Comments from Joe Vogel

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Astor Theatre on Oct 29, 2007 at 6:13 pm

The Astor Theatre building is still there. Though Ken’s photos from June 29 do not show the address 4821 displayed on any of the buildings depicted, the city’s zoning information system provides a report on the addresses 4819 through 4821-½. It looks as though the address 4819 has migrated over the years and is now in the building south of the original theatre building.

A combination of zoning information reports and a TerraServer satellite view of the block have convinced me that the white building in Ken’s photo was the location of the Astor Theatre. The zoning information report reveals that this building was built in 1914. The Astor Theatre was listed at 4821 S. Vermont in the 1921 Los Angeles City Directory (the earliest available on the Internet.)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Edwards Village Theatre on Oct 28, 2007 at 9:47 pm

Here’s a photo of Edwards Village Theatre in 1963.

In the L.A. Times theatre listings for February 10, 1971, this is the way the theatre is listed: The Village.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Grand Theater on Oct 28, 2007 at 7:18 pm

Ken: “Century Vaudeville” in the top ad on that latest scan must refer to the the Gaiety Theatre, but what is the hidden name beginning with the letter “H”?

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Arcade Theatre on Oct 28, 2007 at 6:52 pm

Mercantile Street was where the Broadway/Spring Arcade is now.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Grand Theater on Oct 28, 2007 at 4:48 pm

The Hotchkiss has a CT page now, as the Capitol Theater.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Marina Theatre on Oct 27, 2007 at 11:25 pm

MKThink, the architectural firm that did the plans for the renovation of this theatre, has this page about it on their website. It says that the former balcony will contain an auditorium with 264 stadium seats, plus an 86 seat screening room.

Of course it also says that the theatre will reopen in 2006, so maybe things have changed. In the photo Lost Memory linked to in August it looks as though the Walgreen’s on the main floor was already open. I wonder why the delay in getting the theatre open?

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Tally's Broadway Theatre on Oct 26, 2007 at 7:59 am

Marie Doro pulled a Garbo in the late twenties and has remained obscure until now, when she suddenly runs the risk of becoming a star on the Internet.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Fox Criterion Theatre on Oct 26, 2007 at 7:32 am

730 S. Grand was the address of the Mozart Theatre, which apparently was the only theatre in history to change its name more frequently than it changed its program.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Monterey Theatre on Oct 25, 2007 at 6:24 am

Dublinboyo: I’m going to make a wild guess that the vintage ad you saw on display at the Big Newport might have announced the 1940 opening of the Annex, which was an early name of the small theatre in what came to be known as the Alhambra Twin Cinemas on Main Street at Atlantic in Alhambra.

A second possibility is that the ad featured plans for a theatre which Edwards wanted to build in Monterey Park in 1939, but which were never carried out.

As far as I know, the Mission/Monterey was the only indoor theatre in Monterey Park until Edwards built its replacement, the Monterey Mall triplex on Atlantic Boulevard, in the 1970s.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Regal Edwards Greenway Grand Palace on Oct 25, 2007 at 5:48 am

Opened in 1999, this 5600 seat megaplex was designed by the Long Beach-based architectural firm of Perkowitz + Ruth. The lead architect was Marios Savapoulos. Perkowitz + Ruth designed quite a few complexes for Edwards, as well as for other exhibitors.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Optic Theatre on Oct 25, 2007 at 5:43 am

I don’t know if Belasco had any interest in the first Optic. It’s a possibility that he took a shot at exhibiting movies, though by 1906 I think he was spending most of his time in New York City, from which he directed his far-flung theatrical enterprise. It seems more likely that the building in which the Optic rented space was a conveniently low edifice which provided an ideal location for a billboard, easily seen by the passing throngs on Broadway, and for which the owners of the property undoubtedly received a handsome rent. That it sported an ad touting the Belasco at the time this photo was made may have been mere chance.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Optic Theatre on Oct 24, 2007 at 10:44 pm

Behold the original location of the Optic Theatre on the east side of Broadway between 4th and 5th Streets.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Mission Theatre on Oct 24, 2007 at 5:01 pm

As the term “improvements” refers to any structures, pavements, landscaping, etc. which are on a piece of property, the phrase “improved with” in the article only means that the Mission Theatre and the parking lot (interesting that they call it a parking station) were on the property where the Orpheum was to be built.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about National Theatre on Oct 22, 2007 at 10:49 pm

This theatre was designed by the Los Angeles firm of Harold W. Levitt & Associates. Their successor firm, Levitt & Moss, maintains on its website this memorial page for Harold Levitt. It doesn’t feature any information about the National Theatre, but it does feature a rendering of an unnamed theatre and a photo of the Levitt-designed Fox Valley Circle Theatre in San Diego.

Another interesting thing I’ve run across is on the website of Behr Browers Architects, the firm which did the plans for the renovations of the Criterion in Santa Monica and the Chinese in Hollywood, as well as renovations of the Mann Village and Bruin theatres in 1999. In a section of their website called “Plan Room”, subsection “historic renovations”, there is a mention of construction documents prepared for the Mann National Theatre in Westwood. Maybe Mann intended to renovate the National but the project didn’t pencil out?

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about AMC Criterion 6 on Oct 22, 2007 at 4:29 pm

The renovation of the 1924 Criterion Building and of the 1980s 6-plex that replaced the original auditorium was completed in 2001. The plans were by the firm of Behr Browers Architects, the same company that did the renovation and expansion of the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, completed in 2002.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on Oct 20, 2007 at 7:40 pm

Cinematown USA is the correct name of the company. I accidentally wrote “Cinemaworld” in the body of the text above. Among Cinematown’s projects are Cinemaworld multiplexes in Lincoln, Rhode Island and West Melbourne, Florida.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Cinemaworld Lincoln Mall 16 on Oct 20, 2007 at 7:14 pm

This is one of several multiplex theatres designed and erected by the Cinematown USA division of CRR Builders, Overland Park, Kansas. It has a sister theatre in West Melbourne, Florida.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Star Ship 9 on Oct 20, 2007 at 7:05 pm

This cinema has been closed and was demolished almost a year ago.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Bourbon Theatre on Oct 20, 2007 at 4:32 pm

The State Theater has reopened as a combination movie house/bar/limited menu restaurant. Seating has been reduced from the original 950 to about 250.

Here is their website.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Los Angeles Optic Theater on fire site on Oct 17, 2007 at 8:42 pm

Here’s a direct link to the Brennan Hotel fire page.

In a couple of the pictures you’ll get a glimpse not only of the Optic but of another theatre just north of the Brennan Hotel. Called the Century at the time, it is listed at Cinema Treasures as the Gaiety Theatre.

The Brennan Hotel building survived the fire and by 1915 one of its gutted ground floor storefronts had become the location of a small movie theatre which was last known as the Star.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Fairfax Cinemas on Oct 17, 2007 at 7:05 am

The 1986 restoration/renovation of the Fairfax Cinemas for Cineplex Odeon was designed by Toronto architect David Mesbur, now of Mesbur+Smith Architects. Between 1982 and 1990, Mesbur was lead architect on some 250 projects for Cineplex Odeon, making him one of the more prolific theatre architects of the modern period.

The German fellow who runs the website You-Are-Here attributes the original design of the Fairfax Theatre to architect William C. Pennell (see the caption of this photo.) I don’t know the source for this claim, but it does seem possible (though the site mistakenly claims that the Fairfax was built in 1929,which diminishes its credibility a bit.)

Pennell was for a time in a partnership with the much better-known Los Angeles architect John Austin (until 1914), and around 1920 he was in a partnership with architect L.A. Smith, who was the designer of at least 40 theatres in the Los Angeles area. I’m unable to find a death date for Pennell, but he might well have still been around and practicing when the Fairfax was built.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Fox Anaheim Theatre on Oct 15, 2007 at 4:56 am

The history of this theatre is well documented in both text and photographs. It was built in 1920 for the Gore Brothers and Sol Lesser, operated by their company, West Coast Theatres, for several years as the California Theatre, and later was renamed the Fox Theatre, operated by the successor circuit Fox-West Coast. Here’s a 1923 photograph of the theatre when it was the site of the premier of the movie Main Street.

It is possible that there was a later theatre in Anaheim also called the California, opened after this theatre was renamed, but this theatre definitely bore the name California Theatre before it became the Fox Theatre.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on Oct 13, 2007 at 10:58 pm

I would report this link (see “report” link above) but the report feature is either broken, or doesn’t work with the latest version of my web browser (Opera), which is the only thing that’s changed on my computer since the last time I reported a spam link to the site.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on Oct 13, 2007 at 10:52 pm

Spam link to a company which hires out temporary shelters (called “marquees” in Britain) for weddings and other events.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel commented about Phoenix Theatres The Mall of Monroe on Oct 13, 2007 at 10:26 pm

This cinema closed on August 19, 2007,part of a contraction of the operator, Regal Cinema Group, which has taken place over the last year. However, this particular cinema is slated to be reopened in early November by an independent Michigan-based chain called Phoenix Theatres, which plans a complete renovation.