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 51 - 67 of 67 comments
The Warner Grand website is truly beautiful. The photos really show off the art deco decor so be sure and check it out!
The Debbie Marr watercolor of this theatre is very nice and would be a great one for someone’s theatre art collection!
No, sorry, the LA Conservancy Tours only cover the downtown Broadway theatres in LA (Tours every Saturday morning). San Pedro is several miles away south, closer to Long Beach.
Is this one of the theaters that’s on that LA Conservancy Tour?
Or did I see Star Wars at the Strand?
Fond memories of this place in the 70’s growing up in San Pedro as a kid. So glad it’s still there. I wish I could say the same for the other on on Pacific (Strand?). Saw the original Star Wars here.
When the Stanley Warner chain dropped their California theatre holdings in late 1968. Pacific Theatres picked-up all their theatres except the Warner San Pedro Theatre. Fox West Coast Theatres operated two theatres nearby in this area, Fox Cabrillo and the Strand.
The Warner Grand Theater opened as the Warner Theatre on 20th January 1931 with Joe E. Brown starring in “Goin' Wild” on the screen and Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell attending in person. An opening seating capacity was given as 1,598.
Anthony B. Heinsbergen designed the beautiful Art Deco interior decorations which are still there to be admired today.
Warner’s leased the theatre out in the 1970’s and it screened Spanish language films under the name Teatro Juarez.
The Warner Grand Theatre is featured on the Los Angeles Conservancy’s San Pedro Walking Tour. I went inside during their inaugural tour. It is a great old theater. What is very noticeable is a remnant from the days when the theater showed Spanish language films. The seats are spilt into three sections with each in a different color. One red, one white, one green, the colors of the Mexican flag. The Warner Grand Theatre was also shown in an episode of “American Dreams” during the first season.
It’s great to read these comments about the Warner Grand, yes it was formerly Warner Brothers Theatre. You’ll be happy to know we are installing a brand new heating and a/c system in the theatre right now which should be finished by the end of the year. Also, we’re in the thick of the SAVE YOUR SEAT campaign to raise funds to make the stage rigging safe and usable, and completely repair, restore and recushion all 1500 of the theatre’s well-worn original seats. We’re going to try to reproduce the original fabric as best we can. Please get involved if you love the theatre and want to see it more functional & comfortable. Contributers (starting at $350) receive their name on a seat. All the info is at www.grandvision.org Becoming a member is also a great way to help, and memberships start at $25 for seniors & students. Grand Vision is an all-volunteer group supported completely by the community. Please help spread the word!
Thanks
Liz Schindler Johnson
Grand Vision Foundation
Liz Schindler
Executive Director, Grand Vision Foundation
Please add a reference to our website, www.grandvision.org, a non profit community organization whose mission is to preserve and promote the historic Warner Grand Theatre. The site contains extensive historic information and photographs.
Thanks!
Liz Schindler Johnson
Executive Director, Grand Vision Foundation
I highly encourage everyone in Southern California to support this theatre! I attended the recent screening of “The Princess Bride” and was awed by the beauty of the interior. The inside is not in the best shape, but that gives it more character in my opinion. The presentation is quite good, although the sound could be a bit better. It seats 1500 people inicluding a balcony that is currently closed for repairs. The recent screening was fairly well attended (300-400 people would be my guess). Please visit the Web site and make plans to attend one of their classic or foriegn film screenings. You will be very glad you did!
Also, Moviemanforever, the area surrounding the Warner Grand seemed a bit run down, but fairly clean and safe to me. It is located on 6th street a few blocks from the Ports o' Call shopping center. Most of the shops on 6th were closed, but looked nice, and a number of small restaurants were doing booming business. Parking was available at extremely low cost just steps from the theatre.
Again, this theatre is an absolute joy to visit!
This was where it all happened-where aliens invaded the Earth on a Saturday night at a science fiction film festival screening – at least that’s the way it was when we made “INVASION EARTH – The Aliens Are Here” in 1986-87. I worked here for several months from the fall of ‘86 until we wrapped shooting in March of '87.
The movie, a cheesy low-budget B-movie comedy spoof, wasn’t very good, but we all had a lot of fun making it! And the fans loved it!
I worked on the special visual effects crew for Dennis Skotak, and acted in the film as one of the alien crewmembers in a green BEM (bug-eyed-monster) head and costume, which was great fun. I enjoyed pretending I was the Creature From the Black Lagoon.
This beautiful, ornate and truly grand picture palace was a great location for a sci-fi movie spoof, as well as other more ambitious Hollywood movies like “Pearl Harbor” recently.
Just to let you know the correct web site for the Warner Grand is: www.warnergrand.org. The web site has some great interior pictures and a list of current and upcoming events.
Recently featured in “Pearl Harbor,” as was the coffeehouse next door. A delightful place to visit for their periodic series of Friday night films. The seats, by the way, are in the colors of the Mexican flag, dating back to the theater’s last days as a Spanish-language house.
Modest in size, but still a highly effective example of an art deco movie palace. 0pened June 18, 1930 and architect was B. Marcus Priteca.
Theatre was known as the Warner San Pedro. Warner built three theatres about the same size Warner Beverly Hills (razed), Warner Huntington Park (twin), Warner San Pedro.