Oriental Theatre
7425 Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90046
7425 Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90046
7 people
favorited this theater
The Granada Theatre opened in around 1921. In around 1929 it was known as the West Coast Hollywood Theatre. By 1932 it had been renamed Oriental Theatre.
It closed in 1985 and has been converted into the Guitar Centre, with the building now altered.
Contributed by
William Gabel, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 33 comments)
There’s a great shot of this theater in the 1958 super-bad movie called Unwed Mother.
It’s quite a long sequence, too – a robbery scene.
This theatre is listed in the 1929 Los Angeles City Directory by the name West Coast Hollywood Theatre.
Here is a 1932 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/29ejnc
During the Mid to late 50’s “The Bugs Bunny Club†at the Oriental Theater was the place to be every Saturday afternoon . Mom and Dad got about three hours of Saturday peace and quiet at the expense of that poor Oriental Manager , every seat filled with screaming kids .
Fifty Cents admission , Ten weeks punched on the Bugs Bunny Club Card meant a free admission .
Saturday Lineup at 1PM
Cartoon
Serial, Flash Gordon , Western , etc.
Sometimes an on stage manager would draw for a prize.
Main feature movie
Always a second feature that required written permission from parents to stay longer .
Pedestrian Underpass beneath Sunset Boulevard at Gardner made a great play ground while waiting on parents to pick us up and take us home up to Laurel Canyon.
A few years earlier about 1954 , I recall my Dad taking me on a Red Car Trolley Ride , tracks cut diagonally through Sunset right along side of and behind the Oriental , the old easement for the trolley tracks can still be seen on Google Maps (satellite).
Doug
The Oriental was built in 1921, according to both the county assessor’s office and the April 15, 1921 issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor. The SB&C article gives the projected seating capacity of the theatre as 1200. Having been to this theatre, I can say this was a gross exaggeration.
Also, I’d say this theatre should definitely be listed as being in Hollywood, not Los Angeles. That’s why it was once called the West Coast Hollywood Theatre.
Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cq2ud6
1983 Night Photo
The year given for this photo is 1923.
The shots from the great 1958 Allied Artists epic “Unwed Mother” that vokoban and haineshisway mention in their 2007 posts:
Here we get Robert Vaughn crossing the street to the Oriental for a holdup:
View link
Leaving afterward:
View link
We see the cashier hitting the button on the floor of the boxoffice to summon the police. It doesn’t go well. The car won’t start and he gets caught.