Roxie Theatre
518 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
518 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
23 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Metropolitan Theatres
Architects: John Montgomery Cooper, Simeon Charles Lee
Styles: Art Deco
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Sep 6, 2004 — Roxie Theater Sign Gets Help
Built on the site of 1,600 seat Quinn’s Superba Theatre of 1914 (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures). The Roxie Theatre was the last theatre to be built on S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. It opened November 25, 1931 with Bebe Daniels in “Honor of the Family” & Laurel & Hardy in “Come Clean” plus Eda Edson and Her Orchestra. It has an Art Deco style façade with a stepped roof line, angular grillwork and chevron ornament topped by a vertical sky-sign spelling out the name of the theatre. The Roxie Theatre had 1,637-seats in orchestra and balcony levels. The auditorium is long and narrow and apart from the plaster moulded proscenium arch, is mainly decorated by flat murals in abstracted botanical forms combining the romance of nature with the energy of the machine age. The stage is only 15ft deep, and as the theatre was specifically built for movies, the stage was hardly used. It was equipped with an organ (make unknown).
Architect Simeon Charles Lee made some alterations to the building in 1939-1940 and in 1948 he designed a new sidewalk ticket office. The sidewalk has a spectacular terrazzo sunburst.
In its final years Metropolitan Theatres ran the Roxie Theatre from January 29, 1978 as a Spanish-language house. The Roxie Theatre was closed in summer of 1989. Since closure its front entrance has been vandalised and converted into retail use. The auditorium has been sealed off and remains empty. In May 2016 the building was ‘For Lease’.
The Roxie Theatre has been designated an Historic-Cultural Landmark.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 52 comments)
Here is the Roxie looking better than usual:
http://tinyurl.com/y5re637
Swap meet bonanza:
http://tinyurl.com/y54n3ah
A great 30s view with the Roxie marquee still using milk glass letters:
View link
It’s in post #9 on a Jalopy Journal Forum:
View link
Anyone have any idea what archive this photo comes from? I can’t make out the title on the marquee but it appears it’s something with Kay Francis.
The Roxie looks pretty sad these days especially now that some moron went and graffitied over the Roxie letters on the tower above the theatre. I’m not sure what you do with all these old cinemas on Broadway now that everyone stays home with VOD and Netflix.
Here are a few photos I took today of the Roxie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokoban/6693424923/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokoban/6693425389/in/photostream/
The Roxie, or at least a good shot of its terazzo and a few glimpses of the marquee, is seen in “The Muppets” (the 2011 movie), as seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WWWTW1P8rQ
There is a facebook page for the Roxie Theatre – run by someone advocating for the theatre’s restoration. Includes some nice current interior photos. A little dilapidated but definitely restorable. The page is at:
www.facebook.com/roxietheatre
I photographed the Roxie a few years ago. Check out some photos and a short write up at After the Final Curtain
The Roxie started its Spanish-language policy on January 29th, 1978. Grand opening ad posted.
El Roxie inició su política en español el 29 de enero de 1978. Se publicó un anuncio de inauguración.
Grand opening ad from Evening Post Record posted in the photo section.