Optic Theatre
533 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
533 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
5 people
favorited this theater
One of many independent theaters in the Main Street section of downtown Los Angeles, this old 700-seat movie house was situated next to the Art Theatre and across the street from the Burbank Theatre.
In its last years, it ran a grind policy of four films and was open all night until about 4-5 in the morning.
Now a parking lot has taken the place of all three of these theaters.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 89 comments)
Here is a 1911 photo that Larry Harnisch posted on the LA Times' Daily Mirror" blog. The building advertising vaudeville is similar to the photos of the Optic building posted above, at least for the links that still work. All my USC archive links have expired, again.
http://tinyurl.com/5mrusg
Believe it or not, Walnut Properties either owned or leased the Optic Theatre in its last days. It was running as a grindhouse and was not showing x-rated. I was there a few times for service calls and repairs. By that time (some time between 1978 and 1981) it was in bad shape and had some scary clientele (and I don’t scare easily). The projector heads were Simplex E7s, the lamphouses were Peerless Magnarc xenon conversions done by Leonard Pincus and the pedestals were those old, heavy cast-iron Simplex 5-point pedestals. The screen had been torn so many time that Mr. Miranda and Mr. Tate had pegboard installed and painted white. On one of my calls, I remember an episode of that awful “T. J. Hooker” show with William Shatner was being shot in a nearby parking lot. I was told that the Optic was one of the first houses in Los Angeles to install sound; I have no idea if that’s true or not.
Someone above mentioned a house with a glass screen. One of my projection mentors, a Mr. William Rankin, told me many years ago of a house in Los Angeles that had a sandblasted mirror for a screen and that it weighed several tons. I sure can’t remember what house he said it was.
Here is a good view of the Optic in 1983:
http://tinyurl.com/dmo9vm
My USC links have all changed again, too, so here’s the current link to the wide view of the original Optic Theatre on Broadway (located at lower right of the photo.) There is also this cropped version with the Optic in close-up.
Note that just up the street the Broadway Central Building, later to become the location of the Broadway Theatre, is under construction.
Here is a nice view of the Optic in the late 1930s. The Star is next door. There is another theater a bit north.
http://tinyurl.com/d6c6uo
Here is Woodley’s Optic, circa late 1930s:
http://tinyurl.com/obtejv
Does anyone remember an article I posted about someone jumping from the roof of a building and crashing through the roof of a theater? I thought it was this theater, but I don’t see it on here. I thought it was on Main.
Nevermind….I found it. It happened at the Lark.
Great History.
I believe the Optic as well as the Regent, Liberty, Lyceum and Kinema Theaters were all part of the West Coast Theater Chain operated by the Gore Brothers – Mike and Abe. All of their brothers and family were made managers of theaters. From the LA Times, December 11, 1920, Herman Gore is being sued for divorce by his wife of 16 days, Ruth. “She declares he earns $110. a week as Manager for Optic and Regent Theaters; also that he has an interest in the new Ambassador Theater being built in Hollywo0d, and the Liberty, Lyceum, Kinema Theaters.