RKO Hillstreet Theatre
801 S. Hill Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
801 S. Hill Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
11 people
favorited this theater
The RKO Hillstreet Theatre was the sister theatre of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre. Opened in March 1922, it was designed in a Gothic style. In 1947, the foyer and entrance was remodeled into a ‘Moderne’ style, to the plans of the Heinsbergen Decorating Company.
The theatre closed in April 1963, and was demolished in 1965. Today what once was the site of the RKO Hillstreet Theatre sits a bank branch and a parking lot.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 78 comments)
In November, 1930, this was being advertised under the name of R-K-O Theatre. The circuit was still in infancy and would later drop the hyphens between the letters that stood for Radio, Keith, and Orpheum. At the time of this ad, R-K-O operated only two theatres in Los Angeles, and the Orpheum had been reduced to showing movies only. The vaudeville at the R-K-O Theatre was described as “direct” from the Palace in New York City, but I would guess that there were other engagements along the way: View link
The April 26, 1947, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran an article about the recent remodeling of the Hillstreet Theatre, with several photographs. The remodeling was designed by the A.B. Heinsbergen Company.
Here is a late 1930s view from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/cm6klq
Here is a 1938 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/qw39a8
Now I understand why these ads are clearer.
It looks like they are turning the old bank building on the theater space into a nightclub. Here is a 1940 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/lon8j6
Here is part of an article in the LA Times on 4/29/63:
The largest theater in downtown Los Angeles closed two weeks ago-at least temporarily-with no more fanfare than was accorded its opening 41 years ago. The Hillstreet, at 8th and Hill, opened Monday afternoon March 20, 1922, with a vaudeville program and the film “Why Announce Your Marriage?†with Elaine Hammerstein. The theater closed Sunday evening April 14, 1963 with Vincent Price in “Diary of a Madmanâ€.
Although “shortage of product†was the reason given for the theater’s closing, it is reliably estimated that at each of the last three evening performances the 2,752 seats were occupied by a tiny fraction of its capacity. Metropolitan Theater Corp., which leased the Hillstreet from the Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corp. in 1959, said it hopes to resume regular programming when summer vacation begins for the city’s schoolchildren.
Designed by G. Albert Lansburgh, the most prolific theater architect in western United States, now living in retirement in San Mateo, the Hillstreet has an almost identical “sister†theater, the Golden Gate, in San Francisco. Though somewhat smaller than the San Francisco house, the Hillstreet has the same faintly ecclesiastical Spanish Renaissance styling. The fan-vaulted ceiling in the foyer of the Hillstreet was covered up when the entrances to both theaters were modernized on their 25th anniversaries.
The USC photo links from above, plus a few “new” ones, are now here:
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The dazzling marquee was displayed across the bottom of this 1948 trade ad: boxofficemagazine
I’m curious as to why the status states “closed”
Mr Gabel’s description of this fine former venue clearly states
“The theatre closed in April 1963, and was demolished in 1965. Today what once was the site of the RKO Hillstreet Theatre sits a bank branch and a parking lot.”