Broadway Theatre

anyone know the address of this theater?

The Broadway Theatre was the first theatre in the Metropolitan Chain back in 1924. The Broadway is located at 428 S. Broadway. It is now used as a store. The marquee in the picture has long been removed.

This theatre dates back to the 30's and was remodeled in the mid 60's, most of the original decor has been removed. If more people started to live in the Downtown area or going to things in that area then your post would work. If I was to cloose a theatre to restore the Broadway would not be my first pick. To open it as a cinema it would be a money pit. Because after around the 1988 all the theatres on Broadway started to die. Because of cheap VCRs, families shopped goes every weekend to the theatres. Before 1988 all the theatres on Broadway filled up every weekend. The big 2000 seat houses would be running at near full seating. During the week was another story, you were lucky if you broke 50 to 100 people all day. The only house that did do some business was the Cameo Theatre. But the Cameo was a Grind house that stayed open all night till about 5am. You could see 4 features for $1.50 , it also became a cheap hotel too. During the early to mid 90's Metropolitan Theatres let the leases run out or they sub leased the lobby areas for retail use.

The marquee is gone but there is still a vertical sign on the building that reads "Teatro Broadway".

Vertical "Teatro Broadway" theatre sign still there, above the Hierbas Medicinales / Alvarado Clothing stores. This was also Tally's New Broadway Theatre (1919 - 1925), and the New Broadway (1930). Mr. Tally also had a theatre in Santa Barbara in 1911 or so - the theatre that eventually became The Rose.

If this theater was owned by Thomas Tally, then it was the second of his movie houses of that name (which I suppose accounts for it being called Tally's "New" Broadway.) A Los Angeles Times article of 12/28/1909 announced that Tally had leased a site for a theater on Broadway near 9th Street. A Times article of 7/7/1929 is headlined "Old Broadway landmark passes into history" and announces the demolition of Tally's Broadway to make room for an expansion of the May Company department store. The old May Company building (originally called Hamburger's Department Store) still extends a bit more than halfway down the block from 8th Street, so Tally's original Broadway must have been a couple of doors north of the old Majestic Theater.

Incidentally, Mr. Hamburger owned the Majestic himself, and was a member of the investment group which financed the construction of the new theater (across Broadway from the Majestic) which became the 4th Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles.

The Broadway Theatre closed in Summer 1988.

This is still the herbal medicine store, with the aforementioned Teatro Broadway sign extant.

The Los Angeles Public Library photo collection contains a picture (revealed by Cinema Treasures user ken mc, by the way), of Tally's New Broadway Theatre, clearly showing the location as being in the 500 block of Broadway, on the east side of the street, just north of 6th Street (this can be seen by the presence of a sign in the background on the wall of the Hotel Hayward, which was at the southwest corner of 6th and Spring.) If this theatre at 428 Broadway was also Tally's New Broadway, it must have been given that name after the Tally's New Broadway in the 500 block was closed. I have no idea when that latter event took place, though.

Could the picture of Tally's New Broadway Theatre (in the 500 block of S. Broadway) be the Garnett Theatre (ex Tally's) which was located at 554 S. Broadway? The Garnett Theatre has it's own listing here on Cinema Treasures.

If that address is immediately south of the Broadway Arcade Building, then it probably is the Garnett. I think the Arcade Building was completed in 1927, and the theatre would have been its next door neighbor, assuming it was still there by then. Here is a photo of the Broadway end of the Arcade Building dated 1929, showing the commercial building which replaced the theatre next door.

This picture from 1925 shows Grauman's Theater at Sixth and Broadway. Can anyone tell me what listing this theater is under? I assume that it was renamed later. Thanks.

http://digarc.usc.edu:8089/cispubsearch/sidview.jsp?object_name=chs-m18845&ORN=CHS-9013

ken mc; the photo link above is a very rare view of the Broadway entrance to the Grauman's/Metropolitan/Paramount Theatre which was located on the N.E. corner of 6th Street and Hill Street. This entrance was only in use from 1923 until 1929, the Grauman name was removed from the building in 1926.

I had completely forgotten about that Broadway entrance to the Metropolitan! There was originally an entrance on Hill Street, as well, but only the Sixth Street entrance remained when I first saw the theatre. The L.A. Library has a photo of the interior of the Broadway entrance to the Metropolitan.

CALLING ALL THEATRE / MOVIE ENTHUSIASTS!!!

T'he Los Angeles Theatre' on South Broadway, LA is playing host to the UK television show 'Dead Famous LIVE'. We are currently looking for people who would like to come along as part of the studio audience.

'Dead Famous LIVE' is a studio entertainment show all about Hollywood History and the paranormal. We will be welcoming celebrity guests on to the show and investigating famous locations around Hollywood which are rumoured to be haunted including the Los Angeles Theatre itself.

This is an invaluable chance to get access to the Los Angeles Theatre, the place where Charlie Chaplin's 'City Lights' premiered in 1931 and to have a thoroughly great day out! (And its free!!)

We're transmitting 'Live' back to the United Kingdom so expect it to be exciting and fun!

We will be filming on three days from 11th - 13th November between 11.30am - 4pm. If you are interested in coming on one or all of these days then email me for tickets!

george.hughes@twofour.co.uk

I look forward to your responses!

I think the original Tally's Broadway was at 6th & Broadway and then there were two subsequent theaters called Tally's New Broadway. Does this sound correct? Here's a few newspaper quotes:

(Nov. 28, 1909)abridged
...the property which now faces Broadway for sixty feet adjoining the Hamburger store immediately to the south....Yesterday Judge Hutton acted as attorney for the Lang Estate in the drawing of a lease to T.L. Tally for the term of fifty years for the same property....Through its terms T.L. Tally acquires for half a century the use of the valuable ground area specified, the depth of which is 165 feet. It is Mr. Tally's intention to at once begin the erection of a theater building on the site. This structure will be of a height not yet determined, although both two-story and eight-story buildings are being considered. The ground floor of the building will be given over entirely to the Tally Broadway Theater, which is at present located on the east side of South Broadway, just off Sixth street.

I find this part pretty amazing:

(May 1, 1910)
TALLEY ERECTS $45,000 THEATER IN THIRTY DAYS-WILL OPEN TOMORROW NIGHT
The opening of Tally's New Broadway Theater tomorrow night at No. 833 South Broadway will celebrate a record-breaking incident in the history of rapid building in Los Angeles. Mr. Tally has constructed in thirty days a two-story brick building, costing between $40,000 and $45,000. For a part of the last month he has had 150 men working night and day to complete the structure. The theater seats nearly 900 persons.
T.L. Tally was the first man to bring moving pictures to Los Angeles, and has been in the front rank of the business for fifteen years. He will make music a prominent feature of entertainment in his new theater. He has engaged several fine musicians for his orchestra, and will make a specialty of illustrated songs.

Strangely enough, it was Tally's New Broadway Theater at 554 S. Broadway which opened first, a few years before Tally's Broadway Theater next door to Hamberger's Department Store. The New Broadway is listed at cinema Treasures under its later name, the Garnett Theatre. The theatre next to Hamberger's is listed here as Tally's Broadway Theatre. There are extant photos of both theatres, with the locations identifiable by surrounding landmarks, so the names are confirmed.

Perhaps Tally called his first Broadway theatre the New Broadway in order to differentiate it from an even earlier Broadway Theatre owned either by him or by someone else. There was also a Clune's Broadway Theatre (later called the Cameo), but it didn't open until 1910. There have been at least four theatres bearing the name of the street, and at least two of them were operating simultaneously (Clune's and Tally's.)

As for this theatre at 428 S Broadway, I've never seen anything about its history anywhere but here. William says in his first comment that in 1924 it became the first theatre in what became the Metropolitan Theatre Circuit, but his second comment says that the theatre dates back only to the 1930's. Magic Lantern says in comment five that it was Tally's New Broadway from 1919 to 1925. I have no idea which of those conflicting dates is accurate, and don't know the original sources for them.

The vertical "Teatro Broadway" sign has been removed. The entire building is being renovated, possibly to become loft space as is currently the fashion downtown. Couldn't be a better time than now to see if photographs of the inside can be taken. Joe, I got those Tally's New Broadway dates from Mike Rivest's old list.

I notice that Rivest's latest list only shows "? 1930-1988" for this theatre. I wonder what his source for the original 1919 date was? Both Tally's New Broadway at 554 S. and the Tally's Broadway at 833 S. are documented in the L.A. library photo collection, but this theatre isn't, and it isn't mentioned in the library's California Index, either.

Apparently, Tally gave up the original New Broadway when he opened the Broadway next to Hamburger's (later the May Company), and that's when it became the Garnett. As the Broadway remained open until 1929, when it was demolished to make way for an expansion to the May Company, it would have made sense for Tally to revive the New Broadway name for this theatre at 428 S. Broadway. Even at that, the question remains of exactly when this theatre opened, though.

I've been doing a little searching and I've found a close time to the opening, but not the actual date. Here's a little about what was at this address:

(Nov. 3, 1906)
Trustee Property No. 2
Located at 424-428 South Broadway. Ground Area 59x155 Feet.

(March 5, 1907)
One of the properties in which these Unit-Interests are offered is the new ten-story steel-frame, fire-proof, office building under construction at 426-428-430 South Broadway. This property is valued at $525,000 and is divided into 525 Units, which are being sold at the price of $1000 per Unit.

(July 19, 1908)
The fine large storeroom, 428 South Broadway, in the Trustee building, has been rented by a party of New York importers of oriental rugs,.....

(Dec. 28, 1908)
Wiley B. Allen Co. Formerly at 416-418 South Broadway Re-Opens at 428 So. Broadway Temporarily {Piano Store}

There are consistent ads for Hollander & Funke The Family Shoe Store at 428 S. Broadway from May 1908-October 1910.

General Agency New Home Sewing Machine Store occupied this address from 1913-1914.

Apparently, Hollander & Funke Shoe Store returned to this address for another year in 1915.

(Feb. 17, 1916)
When in a Hurry for Breakfast eat at Boos Bros.
BOOS BROS. Where Quality Never Varies
428 South Broadway

(May 24, 1921)
BUYS BROADWAY BUILDING.
....in the sale of the Broadway Central Building, a ten-story and basement class A structure at 424-428 South Broadway, by the Trustee Company to Oscar Gumbinsky, prominent paper pulp manufacturer of Chicago, for a consideration of $500,000...The building, erected in 1906, is one of the best constructed in the city, being of steel frame with concrete filler walls......

This is the first mention of a theater, so the opening date should be sometime not too long after this advertisement for the Wurlitzer Company. There are a few of these ads for December.

(Dec. 9, 1924)
Listen to the new Wurlitzer Organ in the New Broadway Theater, which will open soon at 428 S. Broadway.

(March 15, 1926)
As scores of pedestrians and motorists passed in front, three armed bandits held up the Broadway Theater, 428 South Broadway, and obtained $400 in cash from the cashier and manager, according to police reports yesterday. The hold-up occurred late Saturday night shortly after theater crowds began pouring into the streets.

To fill in a gap in the my posting above, Hollander & Funke Shoes moved into 428 S. Broadway for a third time in 1918. From 1919 until 1922 the space seems to have been occupied by Young's Shoes For Men.

So, the theatre must have opened in very late 1924 or early 1925 as the New Broadway Theater, and then dropped the "New" from its name before March of 1926 (assuming that the Times' reporters got the names right.) The building's owners were lucky to get such a reliable tenant as the Broadway. That endless parade of arriving and departing retail tenants prior to the theatre's 60-some year occupancy must have been annoying.

I realize that this theater only had 400 seats, but it must have been quite a makeover to turn a shoe store into a theater. Although, the article from 1908 describes the space as a 'fine large storeroom'.

Here is a map, circa 1950, which shows the Broadway between 4th and 5th:
http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/subwayarea.htm

This photo shows the Broadway at the north end of the street. It's a little hard to make out, but it shows you the location relative to the other businesses. The photo of Chicken Boy is a bonus:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008061.jpg

The caption from the USC Archive says this 1928 photo is looking north from 4th Street. As the Broadway is on the east side of the street, the view would have to be looking south from 4th to 5th:
http://tinyurl.com/rutsj

ken: You're right, the view has to be southward. The tall, white building on the left a couple of blocks down is the Story Building on the southwest corner of Sixth and Broadway. The picture must have been taken with a telephoto lens, as all the building facades appear squashed, and you can see all the way to that old hotel on Eleventh Street between Main and Broadway which blocked the view south of downtown because of the bend in the streets.

This is an LA Library photo which appears to be from the seventies:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics16/00007875.jpg

The herbal store has moved. The windows on the second floor are boarded up, and the building looks pretty shabby.

Here is the 1928 photo again as the link has expired:
http://tinyurl.com/r5a6v

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979

Broadway Theater and Commercial District ** (added 1979 - District - #79000484)
300--849 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: Multiple
Architectural Style: Art Deco, Early Commercial, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals
Area of Significance: Architecture, Commerce
Period of Significance: 1875-1899, 1900-1924, 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Business, Department Store, Financial Institution, Theater
Current Function: Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Business, Department Store, Financial Institution, Restaurant, Theater

Here is a January 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y39aq3

Here is a photo from 1906. The building exists, but the theater has not yet opened:
http://tinyurl.com/2nbhb8

The interior is being renovated. I tried to get in for a look around, but one of the construction workers evicted me. I did see a good sized auditorium towards the back of the building.

Here is a photo from you-are-here.com. My monitor is worthless on this antique I´m using, so you can let me know if the theater is actually shown in the photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2hrbjx

Very cool. I can see Sabino's jewelry with a Broadway theatre sign below.

This building is now known as the Judson C. Rives building. Don't know exactly when that name was applied, because, apparently, originally it was the Broadway Central building. Amazing they were able to cram a theater into this space.

I will be downtown next week. I am curious to see how the renovation is going. I assume it will be retail space.

I had seen this LAPL photo before, but today I noticed the Broadway in the background. The photo is dated 1967:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics22/00045998.jpg

That big marquee and only 400 seats?

The space looks pretty large today, as I was peeking the other day. I still can't get into the building, however.

From the Los Angeles Times, November 24 1918:

'T.L. Tally, while not ready to say much about it in detail, announces that with the closing of the war and the bright outlook for pictures, his new theater will soon be no longer a mere dream. That it will be one of the handsomest and most comfortable picture houses in the country, with the finest music obtainable, one needs only to know the conduct of Tally's Broadway to believe.'

But by the time of a career-retrospective feature (Times, October 27 1929, which says he has been retired 'a few' years) there is no mention of him having built anything after his 'new' Broadway, next door to the May Company (ie at 833).

This theatre was opened by Joseph Corwin, founder of the Metropolitan Theatres circuit. Metropolitan's page says that Joseph Corwin opened the Broadway, his first theatre in Los Angeles, in 1923. Thus it was always operated by Metropolitan, and was never Tally's New Broadway.

As far as I've been able to determine, the only "New Broadway" theatre that ever existed on Broadway was Tally's New Broadway Theatre at Broadway near 6th, which is the one listed at Cinema Treasures as the Garnett Theatre. That the Garnett was called Tally's New Broadway is undeniable from the photographic evidence.

I was poking around there today. Whatever kind of retail being planned is proceeding rapidly. Today some automatic doors were installed in the entrance. I could see the auditorium, and it looks like it's been completely stripped.

Looks like apartments up top and retail on the ground floor. Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/33o3mk

The auditorium has been split into two retail spaces, so adios Broadway.

The retail conversion is done, and the two stores are open for business. Both have drop ceilings, no sign that it was a theater space. One is a shoe store and I forget what the other one was.

It already is listed as retail.

I know. I was updating what was going on with the conversion.

Oh

Here is an exterior photo:
http://tinyurl.com/49lzky

Is that recent?

Yesterday.

That's recent.

Double feature on July 7, 1971, per the LA Times: "Las Piranas" and "Pacto Diabolico".

It probably shouldn't be added to Cinema Treasures, as it's open only two nights a month, but the Broadway Theatre now has a cinematic neighbor of sorts called the Angel City Drive-In. It's located at 240 W. 4th Street (corner of Broadway), on the upper level parking lot.

The place started out as the Million Dollar Drive-In, on August 25, 2007, and was originally located in the parking lot south of the Alexandria Hotel on Spring Street, with the movie projected onto the wall of the hotel. They soon changed the name to Angel City Drive-In, and the move to 4th Street seems to have been made in 2008.

They use a portable screen which appears to be mounted on the wall of the Judson Rives Building, and the projector will be perched atop a car. Here's a weblog post from April 13, 2008, which includes a couple of photos of the impromptu drive-in.

There are many references to the Angel City Drive-In on the Internet, and the project has obviously attracted enough patronage to keep it going for two years now. There will never be a movie shown in the Broadway Theatre again, but it's an interesting twist of fate that there are now movies being shown on the outside wall of its building.

This site has a 1980 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/djyzpt

Here is a 1939 photo from USC:
http://tinyurl.com/ccya44

Here is a 1983 night shot:
http://tinyurl.com/cjeh9o

Here is the theater building today:
http://tinyurl.com/pjtqlg

Here is an expanded view of the photo at the top of the page, from the LAPL:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015242.jpg