Esquire Theater

This Laemmle Theater is closed along with it's neighbor, the Colorado. Both showed "art" films and were single screens.

The theatre, as mentioned in the previous comment, is closed. The Marquee is still there, it is red and white, with the name ESQUIRE in a red striped area at the top, and the rest is white. The last time I saw anything on this Marquee, I seem to remember that it was foreign language.

The "for sale" sign is down. Let us pray.

This lovely theater has been sold to Washigton Mutual bank, and will be demolished very soon. I should mention that there is a Washington Mutual just across the street from the theater.

Does anyone have any photos of the Esquire's interior - classic or relatively recent - that they'd be willing to post on the site or know of where one can find them on the Web?

I've attempted to contact the realtors about the esquire for private use and, of course, they don't return my phone calls. I guess we really DO need more Washington Mutuals...

Remodeling of the Esquire into a Washington Mutual branch has begun. With the recent gutting of the State and the conversion of the Colorado to a church is the Raymond Theater Pasadena's last hope? By the way, the Guitar Center being advertised in the pic above is located next door.

The Washington Mutual has opened. Oddly enough, the exterior has been kept the same The box office area is still there, and the marquee is still there. A back entrance has been added

The former Washington Mutual location across the street is vacant. Maybe they are going to convert it into a theater? Sorry, starting to become cynical.

Does anything remain of the Esquire's interior, beyond some semblance of the former box office?

In 1963, a friend of mine opened an art gallery in a storefront a few doors west of the Colorado Theater. One day, when he was preparing for his first show, we were standing in front of the building and the manager of the Colorado came down to see what was going into the building. He told us that the Laemmle company was converting a building near the east end of the block into a theater, and intended to show art films. The Colorado at that time was still a second-run neighborhood house. The new theater was the Esquire.

Until this conversion, the building that became Laemmle's Esquire had for many years been a pizza parlor, which I believe was called McGoo's. As far as I know, that particular building had never before been used as a movie theater. The manager of the Colorado (whose name I don't recall after all these years) said that the construction crews had to rip out the building's concrete floor to create a rake for the theater seats.

The Esquire opened in 1964, but a couple of years passed before I attended a movie there. The interior, as I recall, was done in a simple, 1960's contemporary style, as was the facade. It was a pleasant enough theater, if a bit small, but I never became a regular patron. I always prefered Laemmle's flagship theater, the Los Feliz on Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood.

The Esquire and the Colorado closed because of the opening of a Laemmle multiplex West on Colorado. I can only remember seeing one film here, "A Brief History of Time".

Back in 87, before going to work for Universal, I used to be the relief projectionist. It was a shared job between the Esquire and the Colorado ( http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2531/ ) just down the street. It was an attempt to save money and actually a fun job. Sorry to see these two theaters are history.

Can a moderator please move this theatre from "Chain Unknown", to Laemmle Theatres. Thanks... The marquee is still there but has been changed from white to Washington Mutual blue...

Since the Esquire Theater is listed in Pasadena I'm sure anyone posting on this theatre link is also aware of the Raymond Theatre in Pasadena. The Raymond is in it's 11th hour so anyone who would like to show their support to save this historical theatre please come to a Final Design Review hearing on Monday, the 24th at 7 (All Saints Church, Sweetland Hall 132 N. Euclid). To learn more about the Raymond Theatre and its past/present history go to www.raymondtheatre.com Thank you.


posted by Patsy on Oct 23, 2005 at 8:36pm

This is a photo of the former Esquire Theater.

I share Meredith Rhule's grief that the Esquire, which I managed for the Laemmles for four years beginning in 1980, is no more. I understand the Laemmles even used to schedule chamber music concerts there in earlier years. A little culture never hurt any neighborhood.

The Esquire and Colorado did close due to the Laemmle 7-let's not forget the closing of the wonderful State Theatre as well. I saw one of the last movies shown at the Colorado in November of 2000- "Yi Yi", then they were showing "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" through christmas, and that was it. The theater was in awful bad shape when I went, they must have known for some time it was going. A good amount of seats were broken. Never went to the Esquire.

Here is the location today:
http://tinyurl.com/4ghd59

The exact opening date for the Esquire was April 1, 1964, according to the April 6 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year. The opening movie was the French ballet-drama "The Lovers of Tereul".

Among the unusual features (for that time) of the Esquire were a wheelchair platform accommodating four persons, and a row of seats wired to the sound system for hard-of-hearing patrons.

The interior and exterior of the theater, which was located in an existing building, was designed by motion picture art director Eugene Lourie.

Oh, I forgot to include that Boxoffice gave the Esquire's seating capacity as 525.

I also mourn the closing of the Esquire, as my father managed it in the late 60's and early 70's -- I had many great times there as a kid. Using my blog, we are actively seeking out his staff from that era, but would also welcome comments from anyone who has a memory they'd like to share. If either of the above describes you, please stop by and leave a comment at http://blog.claysteiner.com

(If you're reading this as an older post, you may need to search "Esquire" in the search box at top right of the front page.)