Warner Grand Theatre
478 W. 6th Street,
San Pedro,
CA
90730
478 W. 6th Street,
San Pedro,
CA
90730
30 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 67 comments
Added a photo of the 1984 LA Times article interviewing the new operator of the theater, Raymond Howell. The former Mann’s Chinese Theatre manager was responsible for the initial 1984 restoration and changing the theater name & marquee from “Warner Bros” to “Warner Grand”.
The Warner Became A Stanley-Warner Operated Theater In The Spring Of 1954.
January 19th, 1931
The marquee and ticket booth show up prominently in the current film “Live by Night.”
I just spotted this theater in a new Sprint commercial
the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation is giving a lecture on the history of the theatre followed by a complete top to bottom tour of this movie palace on November 8th, 2014. check out http://www.lahtf.org/#news for more details
Incredible art deco interior with such great detail.
You can see some of the auditorium and lobby in the new film “Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer”.
The marquee and blade sign were completely repainted in 1996 by John Wittle, then a local painter and funded by Grand Vision Foundation. Originally, only the marquee was to have been repainted back to its original colors, but a local business man made a substantial donation and the blade sign as well as all of the neon were completed.
After stripping the paint off down to bare metal, the original zigzag pattern of the painting was discovered as the marquee had been painted over numerous times. There was a puzzle as to the colors and the proper scheme. When two pieces of angle iron that attached the side panels to the building were removed, the original paint, in like new, undisturbed condition was discovered allowing for a match and pattern to be determined.
What was in many ways important, was that original thin paint strips beneath the angle iron was not stripped for repainting, but re-covered as they were found and still remain as documentation if and when needed.
It would appear that this theatre has the rare distinction of still retaining the original marquee, always such an important part of a theatre’s design and so often destroyed over the years.
Looks in great shape, would love to go there someday.
That shot of the sign and marquee is awesome, Chuck!
Great pictures and history.
I volunteer with the GVF (Grand Vision Foundation) and have inside access to this theater. I have a set dedicated to the Warner Grand…
View link
Here is another 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yafhq23
Okay, I asked Hillsman Wright about this at the LAHTF tour today, and he said that Warners originally planned to build 6 theaters in this style. Three actually got built. One has been torn down. And the San Pedro Warner is the only one still operating. So the article is only talking about the small sample of Warner theaters in this specific style, not their whole empire.
Warner built the Warner Hollywood and leased Wiltern (aka Western). They opened the Western and closed it a few years later. And it was reopened as the Wiltern during the mid 30’s. Fox leased it for a short time along with afew independent operators. (This from a reopening program for the theatre). I know the Downtown was bought after Pantages had that problem with that girl in the theatre.
Back in 2006, William commented:
“In the article it states "Today, San Pedro’s Warner Grand Theatre is the only Warner movie palace standing.” The writer failed to mention that the Warner Hollywood (aka Pacific 1,2,3), Warner Wiltern and Warner Forum Theatres and the Warner Huntington Park and Warner Downtown are all still standing. Only the Warner Beverly Hills has been razed."
I think the author of the article is referring to theaters that the Warner Bros actually built and owned (San Pedro, Huntington and Beverly Hills). William is correct that two of these theaters still exist. The Huntington Theater also stands, and the community is looking for a way to restore it. Warners only got three theaters built before they changed their business plans.
As for the other theaters he mentions, I don’t know the precise history of most of them, however I do know that the Warner Downtown theater started life as a Pantages. This suggests that the other theaters in question may have been leased, not owned. Hope this helps.
See you at the Warner Grand tomorrow. Doors open at 10 a.m., the history presentation starts around 10:30 with the tour to follow. We’ll be there until around 12:30.
The next LAHTF “All About” is scheduled for Nov 21 at the Warner Grand.
Clearlight, I love your photo. I’ve never seen this theater at night. It’s beautiful!
Here are some 1931 photos from the LA library:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00079/00079036.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00079/00079037.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00079/00079038.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00079/00079039.jpg
Here’s a night shot of the theater marquee:
http://tinyurl.com/4yotaw
Thanks for looking.
The LA Harbor International Film Festival is this weekend. I am going to see “Unsinkable Molly Brown” on Saturday. I’ve never been inside the Warner.
“The Relevant Stage” is a new theatre company in residence at Warner Grand Theatre that specializes in producing live, performing arts that are relevant to today’s social issues, meeting the criteria of challenging hearts, engaging minds and exposing truths.
www.therelevantstage.com
In 2008, TRS will produce 5 productions at Warner Grand Theatre: Acts of Desperation, Over There/Over Here, Urinetown the Musical, Bat Boy the Musical, and Reinventing Eden.
Here are some recent photos of the theatre:
Daytime
Nightime
Here is a September 1942 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2kfay6
Here is a 1937 photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics26/00032596.jpg