Mason Theatre

The Mason had three seating levels, the main auditorium, a balcony on the mezzanine level, and a balcony above that. The inside was rather plain looking. Demolished in 1955 to be replaced with a state building.

The original address for the Mason Theatre was 127 S. Broadway.

When I worked for Francisco Fouce in the 1950s, the Mason was part of his stable of Mexican film venues. The booth was at the back of the upper balcony, which was closed to the public, and accessible from Spring Street, but apparently not from the Main Street side. The then regular projectionist told me that when the theatre was built, this feature separated the top balcony with its very cheap seats from the more elegant and upscale lower balcony and mezzanine with their more upscale clientele.

I was told that the theatre was built as the Mason Opera House and its iron proscenium support beam was fabricated in the east and came to LA via sailing ship. Even if this is not true, it makes a wonderful tale...

I've forgotten tha amperage of the lamps, but I do recall that they had water-cooled jaws. The water cooling apparatus looked not unlike today's equipment for water-cooled gates.

The address is completely obliterated. A government office building sits on the site now.

The Mason Theater is indeed the same as the Mason Opera House. Opened in 1903, it was designed by Chicago architects Marshall and Wilson, working with Los Angeles architect John Parkinson. (Benjamin Marshall designed several Chicago theaters, including the ill-fated Iroquois, which opened the same year as the Mason.) The Mason was the first big theater on Broadway, and immediately became the prime venue for the most prestigious shows and soloists visiting Los Angeles. In its first years, it hosted such stars of the day as Lillie Langtry, Adelina Patti and Helen Modjeska.

The theater was sufficiently successful that it was able to finance a major renovation in 1924, carried out by the firm of Meyer and Holler, which enhanced the already lavish appointments of the house. One newspaper of the day reported the new style of the theater to be "Pompayan," but its interior style was in fact the sort of eclectic renaissance-beaux arts classicism which was soon to be displaced in fashion by more modern styles. The exterior of the theater retained the rather simple facade of an ordinary early 20th century commercial block, but the interiors were as opulent as anything in the city.

The new competition for the Mason at that time included David Belasco's new theater on Hill Street and the brand new Biltmore Theater on Fifth Street, adjacent to the Biltmore Hotel. Other legitimate theaters were opening in outlying districts, especially Hollywood, where the thriving theater district included the Hollywood Playhouse, the Vine Street Theater, the Music Box, and the El Capitan. The business district of Los Angeles was shifting south and west, and the Mason's neighborhood was becoming unfashionable, and no amount of decoration could change that fact. In the depression years, the theater began showing movies, though stage plays were mounted at least as late as 1941.

It was about that time that the theater came into the hands of Francisco Fouce, who established it as the leading venue for both Mexican films and Mexican Vaudeville in the city. By 1945, the Mason Theater was presenting stars of the Mexican stage to capacity audiences, and the foyer was lined with posters of the likes of Dolores Del Rio and Cantinflas. Themid-1940s to the mid-1950s were a second golden age for the Mason, which might have continued for years, had the block on which it stood not been targeted for demolition to accommodate the expanding dead zone of government buildings in the project that came to be called (with what I am sure was unintentional irony) the Civic Center. The real center of the city fled away, and the lively entertainments that had filled the Mason fled with it. The Mason has now been gone for almost as many years as it stood, and the street from which it was taken remains what it then became- as dull as a bureaucrat's dreams.

There is a web page with lots of information about the Mason Opera House, including a couple of photographs and a link to a fairly large scale map of the block it was on, showing the size of the building (which turns out to be larger than I had thought it was- the foyer and lobby ran back more than 150 feet from Broadway before reaching the auditorium entrance.)

Here is a view of the interior in 1955, shortly before demolition, courtesy of the LA Library:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics27/00033426.jpg

Here is another exterior shot, from the LAPL database:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032556.jpg

One more, apparently towards the end:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032555.jpg

1940, two features for ten cents. Such a deal:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032556.jpg

A photo by Arnold Hylen, circa 1950:

http://helios.library.ca.gov/soca/hylen/2001-0570.jpg

Gordon! I would really like to interview you with regards to your knowledge and interaction with Frank Fouce and his three theaters, please contact me via email at

eddiesantiago@mac.com

it's for a ongoing reseach project for the UCSB Film Studies department. Thanks.

Here is a rather melodramatic picture from the LA Library:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics27/00033423.jpg

Yet another photo. The Library is not too concerned about putting their photos in any organized fashion:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics11/00005094.jpg

Interior renovation, 1941. The girls do not appear to be working too hard:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032557.jpg

Here is a 1908 photo from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/f6m4m

Here is an old poster for the Mason theater and this is one for the Mason Opera House.

Here is a 1901 photo from the USC archive
http://tinyurl.com/kl9kp

Here is a 1920 photo from UCLA:
http://tinyurl.com/272r4z

Vaudeville act, 1945:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015138.jpg

Known as Erlanger's Mason in 1926.

Here is an excerpted article from the LA Times dated 12/21/54:

Historic Mason Opera House to Come Down

Passing of a famous Los Angeles landmark was revealed yesterday with the announcement that the Mason Opera House at 127 S. Broadway will be torn down. Frank Fouce, owner of the theater, said it has been sold to the state. He said the state had acquired title to a major portion of the block for expansion of the Civic Center.

The Mason's star began to fade in the early 20s, when the Biltmore theater became the leading legitimate theater. In recent years the Mason has been a Mexican film theater. Final presentation before the state takes possession will be the showing of a Mexican film "Pueblerina", starring Columba Dominguez.

Here are some photos from the LAPL:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015122.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015121.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015120.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015119.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015118.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015123.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015124.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015125.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015126.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015132.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015129.jpg

Interesting that the state building on First and Broadway that replaced the Mason has now been razed as well, for construction of something large. Tempus fugit.

Here is a repost of my May 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/68bzne

Is everyone posting reruns?

The URLs of the photos in UCLA's Times collection got changed. That's the problem with linking to other sites. I've got orphaned links all over the place.

I have hundreds of dead links too but unless there is something special about them, I usually let them rest in peace.

This is a 1939 photo. The building at approximately 107 S. Broadway looks like a theater, but it could be a number of things. It would have been a few doors north of the Mason.
http://tinyurl.com/5mg8h4

Gordon,
I am graduate student and would love to talk to you about the movies/performances at the Mason theater. PLease let me know if this is possible.
romeo guzman
romeo.a.guzman@gmail.com

Ken Mc, where is the Vaudeville 1945 photograph from? Does it belong to an archive?

The 1945 photo is from the LA Public Library database. Go to www.lapl.org

An ad for the Mason can be seen towards the bottom of this LA Times page of February 1947. The same film was playing at the California on Main Street:
http://tinyurl.com/45ul67

Here is a January 1953 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/49l7ry

Sounds like "El Bomb-o".

Found in a swapmeet box, an original 1938 mason opera house program "Cavalleria Rusticana y Payasos"

This is excerpted from the LA Times, 4/28/41:

Nazi Film Show Barred
Downtown Theater Closed While Crowd Grows at Box Office

While a crowd milled around the box office, officials of the Pacific Electric Co. yesterday afternoon closed the Pacific Electric Theater, 627 S. Los Angeles St., where exhibition of a German-made motion picture was about to begin.

For Frank K. Ferenz, theater man who was presenting the picture "Dr. Koch", it was the second German film closing in six months. Last October 13, managers of the Mason Theater, 127 S. Broadway, halted a performance of a German-made picture Ferenz was exhibiting. Ferenz suibsequently lost an $18,000 damage suit against the holders of the theater's master lease. Superior Court Judge Clement L. Shinn ruled that German-made motion pictures fomented hatred, criticism and emnity.

As the throng awaiting entrance to the Pacific Electric Theater grew, police were called, but no disturbances were reported. Neal B. Vickrey, manager of the Pacific Electric club, who had entered into an agreement to rent the theater to Ferenz every week-end, said it is probable that no more such films by Ferenz will be presented at the theater.

Here is an item in the LA Times on 11/8/56:

Office workers in the Civic Center area would have sworn yesterday that an earthquake occurred about 3:30 p.m. Well, the earth did shake, but it wasn't caused by turmoil beneath the earth's surface.

The vibration was merely the result of a falling wall at the site of the old Mason Theater, being demolished on Broadway between 1st and 2nd streets. Workmen accomplished the task by attaching a steel cable to the top of the wall and then pulling. The wall buckled in the center and came tumbling down.

I've just noticed ken mc's comment on the Pacific Electric Theater above. All my knowledge of the place comes from a conversation overheard between two bus drivers in the 1960s. As our bus was pulling into the 6th and Main station one day, the driver was telling a much younger off-duty driver riding to work that, back in the Pacific Electric era, he had gone to union meetings held the old P.E. Theatre next to the station. Apparently Metropolitan Coach Lines and then the MTA had discontinued the policy of letting the union hold meetings there.

The primary function of the place seems to have been business related, in any case. I had no idea they'd ever shown movies there. From the description of the event, it sounds like the company let Mr. Ferenz four-wall the house. I wonder if that was done frequently?

This is from the Arcadia Tribune in February 1932:

Fortune may return to this famous old theater on February 15 for on that evening "Shining Blackness" will open the Broadway theater with Lucille La Verne as the star, Helene Millard being among the supporting cast. The play is by Lulu Vollmer and Arthur Collins is the producer which means a fine production will be offered Los Angeles playgoers.

Miss La Verne has not been starred locally since "Sun Up" when she gave a memorable performance. It is to be hoped good fortune will perch on the banners of the old Mason Opera house, which has been closed for many weeks.

The 1947 project has a nice video clip on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/nq2jt8

This is from the LA Times in February 1941:

Arthur Spitz, Hungarian-born showman, has taken a three-year lease on the Mason Theater on Broadway near First St. and will present operettas at popular prices, he announced yesterday. The impresario intends to hire prominent singers, a chorus of 24, a line of 16 girls and a 24-piece orchestra.

Adding further novelty, Spitz says, “If anyone gets hungry during the intermission, we can take care of that too. There will be a five-cent buffet at which one can get anything from a hamburger to roast turkey.”

The not-unfamilar procedure of putting attractions to a popular vote will be followed by the producer. The public will be allowed to choose from a list including “The Merry Widow”, “Bittersweet”, “Show Boat”, “Rose Marie” and “The Desert Song”, Spitz revealed. Two shows daily are scheduled, with an owl performance on Saturdays. Spitz’s publicity representative has labeled the enterprise “The Woolworth of the Operetta.”