Cameo Theatre
528 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
528 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
23 people
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Showing 26 - 50 of 52 comments
Here is a January 1915 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2gxd73
Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2pfnra
Spent many a day at the Cameo in the late 80’s, watching Dracula prince of darkness, 5 bronze men, ten to midnight, ect, ect, remember the bums who lived there in their regular seats, shouting and swearing at the screen, drunk on short dogs of nighttrain and mad dog 20/20, pissing in the aisles, panhandling me for my last dollar, i never ventured into the cameo restroom without a knife at the ready as you never knew what awaited you in that shithouse, YES, those were the days,i remember sneaking in candy and food cause i didn’t trust the Cameo snack bar staff with their open Heroin tracked marked arms to sell me something good,when i left at 8pm or so i smelt like cigarettes and stale wine and left the cameo denizens to another all night party. I miss the place.
And it’s shocking how nice it looked as late as the 1970’s, compared how horrible it looks today.
Now that so many people are moving back to Downtown to live, why is nobody playing movies in any of these theatres on a regular basis???
Come on! I’m very glad that most of them are still around, and most of them could be fixed up with too great an effort, but using the space as retail stores is just a crying shame. These are historic theatres!
I urge to city of L.A. to take over at least one of these old theatres (like was done for the Egyptian) and get some NGO to come in start showing films there on a regular basis again! It’s shame the way all of Broadway has gone to seed.
Here is a January 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y3bkc5
Here is a 1961 photo:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/spnb1/00017154.jpg
I took a Conservancy tour of this theatre yesterday. The owner of the electronics store nicely let us go back into the auditorium, which is being used as a storage room.
The space was not in bad shape. The walls were painted a salmon color, much soiled, of course, and very dark. The decorative pilasters were a greenish color. The scones and plaster ornament still held the traces of gold. The theatre features a coffered ceiling, and a skylight our docent called a lunette? Or moonlight something? that had been painted over, probably during WWII, she guessed. The whole ceiling was black, whether from paint or dirt I’m not sure. As someone said above, this theatre has no balcony.
The screen was still up – it appears to have been hung in front of the proscenium, I guess to provide the right proportion for modern films. Our docent had a blow-up of a colored postcard that showed the original proscenium. We couldn’t get on the stage at all.
It was a lovely, understated classical space, not opulent at all, but very charming.
The tour was definately worth taking; I want to take it again. I advise anyone taking the tour to bring a good flashlight with new batteries, and if you can figure out how to take photos in low light, please do so. We also saw the Arcade, the Los Angeles, the Million Dollar, the Warner and the Orpheum. We came tantalizingly close to sneaking into the Palace, too! Will update those theatre pages.
From the California State Library:
View link
An expanded version of the last picture, courtesy of you-are-here.com:
http://www.you-are-here.com/theatre/cameo2.html
Fairly recent photo:
http://www.gmrnet.com/graphics/theatr1l.jpg
Here is a picture of the Cameo and Arcade, circa 1983, courtesy of the LA Library:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics21/00030133.jpg
The July 4, 1924 edition of the Southwest Builder and Contractor notes that architect A. Godfrey Bailey had produced “plans for remodeling theatre at 528 S. Broadway for Wm Cutts; work to consist of removing toilets and enlarging foyer.” On Page 50, Col 1.
Look at the great line on the marquee for the other theatre. “An all sarong show” with the features Swamp Woman and Jungle Man.
In 1941 the Marquee of the Cameo crashed to the siedwalk on Broadway. See photo at this link:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater3/00015864.jpg
On a recent Los Angeles Conservancy tour I went inside the Cameo Theatre. The lobby is now an electronics store. The auditorium has had its seats removed and is still used for storage.
William:
Drop me a line. Want to ask you about doing screening in the city. Perhaps you can give me some tips. Thanks!
That is a better description…submarine. :) hehehe
Before the remodel for the theatres upstairs they had two of those. Working Beverly Center was like working in a submarine. Remember the stairs?
Yea, Chester and Bobby went to the Beverly Center, and I do recall Bobby learning to fix TVs also. I think I had a brain dump there for a minute. Working in the Beverly Center projection room is like working in a maze of tunnels. One projector actually reflects with a mirror down to the floor where another mirror sends the image out to the screen. What the heck is that???
The last time I saw him was over Beverly Center and he was learning to fix TV’s.
I wonder if Bobby Popita, the regular projectionist there, is still alive today. I used to be his relief in the late 70s. Seems like he was there forever.
During the early 30’s the Cameo was operated by Fox West Coast Theatres , along with a few other Downtown houses: Loew’s State, Palace, Tower , Pantages, United Artists. And later the Los Angeles Theatre.
The Cameo opened on October 10, 1910 as Clunes’s Broadway and had an original seating capacity of 775.
It operated continuously until it closed after showing movies on Sunday, December 3, 1991.
It was built as one of the first “movies only” theatres in the country.
In its last years, it attracted drunks and homeless who would sleep there until the movies ended at 4:00am.
The lobby has been divided into tiny retail stores.
The intact auditorium is used for storage.
On the below comment the Cameo doesn’t have a balcony. The two theatres next to this theatre have balconies (Roxie & Arcade). All three theatres are now used as stores.