Las Palmas Theatre

This theater has presented live shows for many years. It was a strip club in the 70's and then presented stage productions. It is also very close to the Cinerama Dome.

On the comment below is for the Ivar theatre located on Ivar near Selma in Hollywood. That theatre is located near the Cinerama Dome. The Las Palmas theatre is on Las Palmas near Hollywood Blvd. It's across the street from the Egyptian theatre.

The Las Palmas Theatre is located at 1642 Las Palmas Ave.. The Las Palmas is a small legitimate theatre that seated 600. During the 50's and 60's it was home for the Billy Barnes Revue as well as the Lyric Repertory Company. Survivng a fire in the 70's, the Las Palmas is still used as a club now.

Need to update the address as posted by William on 11/13/03.

In 1943, the Las Palmas was rechristened "Dante's Troupers Theater" for a long run of the world-touring magic and illusion show, "Sim Sala Bim" starring Dante (Harry Jansen) who in 1941 appeared with Laurel & Hardy in the film "A Haunting We Will Go." The Dante show was so big that much of the scenery and backdrops had to be cut down and folded to fit on the stage at the Las Palmas. The show ran about 6 months during 1943.

As you walk into this theatre, look up and you can see where they knocked out the projection booth - the door leading to it is still there!

The clubs that have made this theatre their home for the past four or five years have now moved to other venues. Not sure what this bodes for the future of the Las Palmas...

The Las Palmas Theatre sustained serious damage in a fire early in March 1977. It was obviously repaired and continued to operate. It originally opened in the late 1930's.

I saw "Normal Heart" here too with Martin Sheen. What a great location!

a pic is here
http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/detail.asp?im=%2D1&cat=43&offset=120&ID=4196

another one
http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/detail.asp?im=%2D1&cat=43&offset=128&ID=4197

RobertR; unfortunately, the two links you posted above are not the Las Palmas Theatre. Here is a photograph of the Las Palmas that I took in January 2005:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/368927936/

Dec. 2006 photo:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k79/hollywood90038/hwdLasPalmasTheaterdec2006001.jpg

At the recent memorial service for cinematographer Gary Graver, a photograph was shown, likely of '70's or '80's vintage, of him standing outside the theatre. It was credited to a recent TCM documentary EDGE OF OUTSIDE. It made me sad for losing both a talented guy and a classic theatre.

So what are the photos of the El Capitan that Robert posted from? Thnat's of course not the Paramount, aka Disney EL Capitan across from the Chinese Theater.

Here's a copy of the Las Palmas from the air:

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pph4sb544syk&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=6892008

I saw a few plays here when it was a theater. One was a play about the fifties called "Diners and Dinettes", or something like that. The other was a play starring my former struggling actress girlfriend, who was in a showcase. Another of her plays was at a theater in Hollywood that used to be a morgue. Bela Lugosi was embalmed there.

I think the play was called "Pumpboys and Dinettes". My memory is not what it used to be.

I watched a DVD of the Carlos Tobalina film Reflections in Love last night. The film was made in 1971. There is footage of a crowd in front of this theater watching some fire dancers perform. The marquee was advertising "I Am Curious Tahiti", which was another Tobalina film. Apparently Tobalina operated this as an (heterosexual) adult film house for a period of time in the early 1970's. (Tobalina also operated the Mayan & the X 1 & 2 at this time, shots of those theaters also appear in Reflections in Love.) Anybody know how long Carlos Tobalina operated this theater?

Bway: If you're still watching this page, the photos RobertR linked to back in 2005 depict the theatre on Vine Street north of Hollywood Boulevard which has been variously known as the Hollywood Playhouse, El Capitan Theater, Hollywood Palace, and the Avalon Hollywood, among other names. Built in 1926, it's been a playhouse, a television studio (during which time it was the location where Richard Nixon made his famous "Checkers" speech), and a night club, but never a movie theatre. If somebody would lease it for a few months for showing films then we'd be able to give it a page here.

The property is dormant right now. I wonder what it would take to do any sort of temporary film screening there, like a Last Remaining Seats for Hipsters?

The theatre most likely has not had a working projection booth decades.

Here is an early 70s ad from the LA Times. I don't know why they were demanding exact change to get into the theater. Maybe the manager used to be a bus driver:
http://tinyurl.com/3a5ytm

Here is another LA Times ad from February 1972. Now they're taking coupons. I wonder if they gave out green stamps as well:
http://tinyurl.com/3cnov4

From Oct. 2007:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/hwdLasPalmasTheaterOct112007001.jpg

Here is an October 1948 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/29962d

Here is a photo taken yesterday:
http://tinyurl.com/27blpl

This building was erected in 1927, according to assessor's information.

An item in Daily Variety for June 18, 1941, indicates that at that time this was a playhouse operating under the name Hollywood Troupers Theatre.

This theater is where the first production of "Lend An Ear" started, which launched the career of Carol Channing. The show moved to NYC but continued in Hollywood with a lot of future movie stars. Gene Nelson, Gower Champion were some of the names associated with that production.

I live just up the street from the Las Palmas on the same street. Several years ago I was inside this space during one of its incarnations as a nightclub. Unfortunately, the idea of resurrecting it as a theater is not viable. The space has been completely stripped back to the bare walls and beams and there are no seats. Its actually a pretty cool space inside. The former ultra exclusive LES DEUX nightclub is right next door to the right.

This site (link below) has some great vintage pictures of theatres in the Hollywood Blvd area. If you scroll down to the sixth listing, there are pics of the Las Palmas Theater in 1983.

http://www.lenrek.net/movies/Angel/theatres.html

Interior view of the Las Palmas Theatre, now operating as Element nightclub.

http://www.elementhollywood.com/ph_virtual.htm

This building appears in the movie "The Hidden" (1987) as the Harem Room where Claudia Christian works as a stripper. There are a number of shots up and down the street showing Miceli's Italian restaurant next door. I've wondered if the Harem Room was a real business, or if they mocked up the exterior. But from what I've read here, and from the adult book stores visible across the street, I'd guess it might have been real.

I saw "Pump Boys and Dinettes" there and had a great time. The next live show I saw there was "A Chorus Line". I recall the ad saying something like, "See it like it was meant to be seen", which meant in an intimate setting. I never saw ACL at the Public in NY but in rather large venues like the Shubert in L.A. (now gone), the Pantages and the monstrosity of the Wilshire. ACL at the Las Palmas was awesome, although the stage was a bit small for the finale. I do recall when I saw ALC there, Lily Tomlin was performing at then Huntington-Hartford, a musical at the Pantages and the area had a feeling of a legit theatre area. It's too bad the Pacific Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard cannot be converted into a legit theatre, but I know from other posts its not built for stage shows. I can only dream!

Rolando

Well the Pacific Theatre does have a full stage, but the bad wall has an angle to it. But on a good note, there is a parking lot behind the theatre. All they would have to do is extend the back wall of the stage house into the parking lot. The Wiltern Theatre did that in their remodel afew years back.

Thanks for that info William. Here's a perfect chance for the Shubert Organization to cash in on Hollywood Boulevard. WICKED could have moved over but since it's closing, L.A. is once again getting shows that have passed through this way before.

Here is part of an LA Times article dated 5/10/47:

Reopening Thursday night as a picture theater in a blaze of glory and lights, with any number of film celebrities present, and with handsome new decorations and freshly upholstered seats, Las Palmas is showing "Nais", adapted from Emile Zola's "Nais Macoulin", French-made film with English subtitles.

Stars present at the premier included Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, Denise Billincord, J. Carrol Naish, Marla Montez, Robert Stack and others.

Heres a google street view of the theater as a nightclub:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1642+Las+Palmas+Avenue,+Hollywood,+CA+90028+United+States&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=34.101073,-118.336122&spn=0.008671,0.01914&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=34.100982,-118.336128&panoid=xH4j92johOaclwsarQKvYg&cbp=12,70.57,,0,-4.48

Here is a March 1973 ad from the LAT:
http://tinyurl.com/oj9cv4