Regent Theatre
448 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
448 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
12 people
favorited this theater
The Regent Theatre in downtown Los Angeles is one of the last theaters located on South Main Street (the other one is the Linda Lea Theatre).
In its day, S. Main Street had about 20 theaters that were small to medium sized, not like the big theatres along Broadway, two blocks away. The theaters ranged from the 248-seat Novelty Theatre to the 2,100-seat Hippodrome Theatre.
The last of the large theaters to leave was the 1,500-seat California Theatre. The Regent closed late in 2000 after running its last years as an adult movie house.
In September 2008, it was reopened as a live performance venue.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 148 comments)
The White Stripes did the same thing for their last record, turning the closed Tower Records on Sunset into Ickythump Records for a few days.
I wonder if they painted over the mural that was above the marquee.
Here is another 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/n89e45
Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/yem8ee4
Nice that they have fixed the marquee up.
There used to be a colorful mural over the marquee. Too bad. It looks kind of plain now.
Don. I did that mural. It was a banner and now in storage. There are no plans for it know.
That was a great banner. It really brought the building to life.
Their webpage (www.safari-sams.com) now goes to some other webpage about dogs. One of the internet yellow pages sites has their phone number ((323) 666-7267; )) and the correct address but indicated it is currently closed. There was one positive review about the place so it looks like it was open briefly. Let’s hope the closure isn’t permanent!
Myron Hunt, architect of the Ambassador Theatre, may well have also designed the Regent too, as the two auditorium designs ware so similar.
Regent images:
View link
Ambassador auditorium;
View link
A major reconstruction will happen in 2012 and it will reopen as a major music venue.