Globe Theatre

Life's Too Short on May 6, 2009 at 11:47 pm

The Globe auditorium doesn’t look too shabby:

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About seven or eight pictures here. Use the index to view the rest.

kencmcintyre on April 27, 2009 at 8:14 pm

An ad for the Newsreel can be seen on the back of the theater building in this 1939 photo from USC:
http://tinyurl.com/ccvlp6

kencmcintyre on April 10, 2009 at 7:15 pm

Here are 1980 and 1983 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/d33vv8
http://tinyurl.com/dx27x3

drb on March 8, 2009 at 4:59 am

Another article about the continuing problems of the Globe’s “Club 740” vs. loft residents:

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[quote]Downtown L.A. residents not loving the night life

Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Revelers hang out outside Club 740 in downtown Los Angeles at closing time. Residents have complained about club-goers who linger for hours and vendors who sell them food.
After complaints of noise and violence, Club 740 has been threatened with closure by the city. Now community members, police, business leaders and others must come up with a plan to help it survive.

By Cara Mia DiMassa
March 7, 2009

When Club 740 opened on Broadway in mid-2005, many saw it as solid evidence of the hip night life that downtown boosters had been trying to bring to the city center.

With the lure of pounding hip-hop, glass-walled VIP lounges and a massive dance floor, Club 740 managed to draw thousands of people to the old Globe movie theater, on a gritty street that also boasted swap meets and discount jewelry stores.

The club quickly distinguished itself — but not in a way that most people would boast about. Fights inside and outside the club, reports of sexual assaults and gang activity quickly garnered Club 740 a less-than-savory reputation. A man was stabbed in the parking lot behind the club in August 2006; last December, an intoxicated club-goer fell to his death from a third-floor railing.

Police officers and residents complained about the club, and the city began the process to shut it down.

The situation underscores the difficulties that sometimes come with trying to bring edgy night life into revitalizing areas. Downtown for decades was known as a district that pretty much closed down after dark. These days, however, the streets are teeming with night life from various clubs, eateries and bars.

Club 740 is one of several new downtown nightclubs to run into trouble.

Part of the problem is that downtown is becoming a residential area, with loft and condo dwellers who aren’t always excited about rowdy behavior well into the morning hours.

The Chapman Flats, a 168-unit apartment building, opened last year next door to Club 740. There’s a dry cleaner on the ground floor. Nearby, condos at the renovated Eastern Columbia building have fetched in the millions of dollars.

Club 740’s new neighbors quickly joined a chorus of others questioning whether a club that stays open sometimes as late as 4 or 5 a.m. belongs in the area. They complained about patrons who lingered in the parking lot behind the club for hours and vendors who hawked food and goods to those patrons.

Damian Jones, a spokesman for the club’s owner, Ralph Verdugo, said the club has taken steps to quell the violence and soundproof its property. He insists that Verdugo and the club are partners in the revitalization happening in the district.

“He has really cleaned up the area,” said Jones of Verdugo. “The club is a vibrant part of the bring-back-Broadway movement.”

But earlier this year, the Los Angeles Planning Department began proceedings to revoke the club’s conditional use permit. Criminal activities near the club “are jeopardizing and/or endangering the public health in the area,” said a report in preparation for the hearings, “… thereby constituting a public nuisance and contributing to the deterioration of the adjacent community.”

After a four-hour hearing on the matter, a zoning administrator ordered community members, police, business leaders and others to put together a plan for how the club might adapt in order to survive.

“A big part is working together, between the residents and the owners,” said Russell Brown, president of the Historic Business Improvement District, who has been involved in the negotiations.

Last year, police pushed to close Crash Mansion, which had seen its own share of criminal activity; eventually, that club folded after its liquor license was suspended and the Board of Equalization put a tax hold on it.

And Versus, which opened last November inside the old Los Angeles Stock Exchange building, was forced to close less than a month later after city inspectors required upgrades to its sprinkler system and bathrooms. The club’s website promised a reopening in February 2009, and a call to the club was not returned.

The zoning department’s investigation into Club 740 came after Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, whose district includes that stretch of Broadway, pushed for an examination of the club after a string of violent incidents there.

“There was a time when Broadway was kind of forgotten in the evening,” he said. “So if you had incidents happening in a parking lot or outside a club, very few people would notice. It was kind of no-person’s land. There was no one to say that this activity is happening on these streets. A lot of the incidents didn’t even get reported to police. Now, with more residents living nearby, I do think it is getting on people’s radar.”

Tamara Kamci, resident manager of the Chapman, said residents were “not trying to close them down by any means. That’s not our thing. We just want to quiet it down, especially with the noise in the parking lot.”

Jones said Verdugo had already invested $1.5 million in making the old theater “a good, strong and successful venue for downtown.” He said that included posted roving security guards outside the club. But, he added, “at a certain point, there is only so much they can do. If the people are on a public sidewalk or in the parking lot next door, they can’t do everything.”

Several people familiar with the negotiations about how the club might adjust to suit its neighbors said they expected several conditions to be established in order to ensure the club’s ongoing operation. Those conditions would include limits on hours of operation, hours of alcohol service and the use of outside promoters, as well as mandatory training of employees and increased security.

Huizar said that as officials seek conditions from the club management, there is very little wiggle room for compromises. “If a club exists there, they have to comply with all the rules and regulations,” Huizar said. “They can’t be a nuisance. It doesn’t matter whether they are downtown or in Eagle Rock or elsewhere.”

Jones said that the management of Club 740 wants to work with Huizar’s office, the LAPD and neighborhood groups “to figure out how we can be a productive member of downtown.”

“There are issues when downtowns get revitalized,” he added. “Things need to get worked out."
[/quote]

kencmcintyre on February 4, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Here are a couple of photos taken today. I hadn’t seen the Morosco Theater sign behind the marquee, but I assume it’s been there all along. It was more visible live than on these photos, unfortunately.
http://tinyurl.com/bthvft
http://tinyurl.com/awm96l

vokoban on February 4, 2009 at 4:47 pm

I don’t think I’ll be able to make it either…hopefully, someone will go and take some photos.

vokoban on February 4, 2009 at 4:23 pm

DISCOVER ALL ABOUT THE GLOBE-MOROSCO THEATRE

Globe-Morosco Theatre
744 S. Broadway
Here’s a little more about the event mentioned by Don S:

Enter 8th Street Alley
Downtown Los Angeles

Saturday, February 7th, 10:30 am. Doors open at 10 am

Free Admission! All Are Welcome!

THE GLOBE THEATRE

The brutal conversion of the Globe into a swap meet in 1987 and the closure of two other Broadway theatres were the impetus for the creation of the LAHTF in 1988. We are pleased to invite the public in to see how this theatre has been adaptively re-used by the Club 740 and owner-operator Ralph Verdugo. We thank Club 740 for opening their facility to us.

THE EVENT

The tour will take us up to the balcony, closed since the 1930’s, through the basement and up into the fly loft. Please dress accordingly and wear comfortable shoes. Plan to join us for further discussion of the theatre over lunch at Clifton’s Cafeteria immediately following the event.

Ed Kelsey will provide a power point presentation on the history of the theatre. To pique your curiosity, a taste of the theatre and its impresario’s colorful histories follow.

kencmcintyre on February 2, 2009 at 8:35 pm

This is part of an LA Times article dated 7/20/30:

Known in its heyday as a “cradle for actors', the old Morosco Theater, more recently the President, will become a motion-picture playhouse in the next thirty days. The theater, built eighteen years ago for Oliver Morosco, has been leased to Fox West Coast Theaters to become Los Angeles' first newsreel theater. In the next few days, workmen will enter the old building for purposes of refurbishing the interior, perhaps to tear out the old fashioned boxes and to install sound-picture projection equipment.

Under the Fox West Coast regime, it will show only newsreels. Programs will run around fifty minutes and will change as fast as new shots of important international, national and local events arrive. It will bear the title “Newsreel Theater”.

monika on August 20, 2008 at 4:10 pm

Here’s a current photo:
View link

kencmcintyre on March 23, 2008 at 11:27 pm

Here is the photo:
http://tinyurl.com/27cs7n

jmarellano on March 18, 2008 at 6:42 pm

I thought this was interesting.

I drove by the Globe today and noticed that they have finally replaced and restored the GLOBE letters on the marquee. not only that, the neon inside was lit and it was beautiful. Im glad that they finally have finished it. I wish I had a camera. But if you are in the area, stop by and look.

kencmcintyre on March 13, 2008 at 3:43 pm

Last July the marquee was advertising a night club. The club may be gone, that’s why they took those panels down. Just a guess.

Joe Vogel on March 7, 2008 at 9:58 pm

LOL!