Fox Uptown Theatre

The Uptown Theatre was located at the southwest corner of S. Western Avenue & W. Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles (six blocks south of the soon to be built Wiltern Theatre). It opened on December 29, 1925 with Norma Talmadge in “Graustark” and on stage were Charlie Nelso and his Playboys. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer organ. It was built and operated by the West Coast Theatres chain. It had 1,715 seats and was soon part of the Fox West Coast Theatres chain.

This theatre ran first-run movies for Fox West Coast Theatres and seated 1,715 people. It also had a large roof top sign.

The theatre was last operated by National General Theatres and closed on October 23, 1959 with Vincent price in “The Tingler”. It was demolished in the mid-1960’s to build a Ralphs store. A Bank of America building stands on the site today.

Recent comments (view all 16 comments)

kencmcintyre on November 28, 2005 at 2:43 pm

Here are some additional photos from the LA Library:

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015500.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015491.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015493.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015495.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015494.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015497.jpg

kencmcintyre on August 5, 2007 at 5:11 pm

Here are some additional photos and an architect’s sketch from the LAPL:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics50/00044621.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics50/00044624.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics50/00044622.jpg

unihikid on March 8, 2008 at 1:18 pm

hey ken that last photo looks an awful lot like the golden gate.

William on June 17, 2008 at 4:48 pm

The middle photo from ken mc’s post from Aug. 5, 2007 is the Westlake Theatre in Los Angeles.

kencmcintyre on June 17, 2008 at 5:07 pm

Sure looks that way. Nobody’s perfect.

kencmcintyre on November 25, 2009 at 4:36 pm

The last ad for the Uptown in the LA Times is dated 10/23/59 for William Castle’s “The Tingler”. A March 1965 LAT item states that a new Ralphs will open on the site formerly occupied by Fox West Coast’s Uptown Theater. That would put the demolition in the early or mid 1960s. The Times does not mention the closing of the theater or its demolition, that I saw.

William on December 11, 2009 at 2:47 pm

The demolition was done by the Cleveland Wrecking Company.

kencmcintyre on December 11, 2009 at 8:09 pm

They also did the RKO Hillstreet and the Burbank on Main Street.

vokoban on September 10, 2010 at 6:01 am

Here is a 1958 photo of the Uptown. It was in a term paper I found at an estate sale:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokoban/4975407995/

rivest266 on September 7, 2019 at 3:18 pm

Grand opening ad posted.