A while ago I was discussing the Susan Hayward film “I’ll Cry Tomorrow”, as related to scenes shot on Main Street. I actually found a copy in my living room today when I was throwing out some junk. Nothing was filmed on Skid Row. One scene was shot at the Hard Rock bar (the original, not the Peter Morton place) over on Hill Street. Doors fans may recall this bar from the Morrison Hotel album.
HAIL TO THE CALIFORNIA.
The Beautiful New Miller Theater Holds a Merry Christmas Eve.
Miller’s wonderful new motionpicture theater is open at last! All Los Angeles has been awaiting the great event, and last night, Christmas Eve, Main street was the most brilliant thoroughfare of our town, ablaze with lights, thronged with automobiles, jammed with pedestrians—and lights, machines and people were all focussed on one spot, the handsome white facade of the splendid new California Theater.
Golden success crowns the Goldwyn regime at the California at last night’s brilliant opening of that theater under the new management, with Geraldine Farrar in “Flame of the Desert” as the feature, be any criterion. Crowds swarmed to the doors long before the house opened at 3 o'clock, and waited in two block-long lines up and down Main street.
PLAYHOUSE TO BE ELABORATE.
Large Picture Theater for Broadway Site
Auditorium Will Seat Over Nine Hundred
Ornate Design and Lighting Scheme Features. HANDSOME PICTURE PLAYHOUSE FOR SOUTH BROADWAY
A.F. Rosenhelm, architect of Clune’s new Broadway Theater, has awarded the general contract for the construction of that structure to John F. Jacobs & Son.
The changes announced by W.H. Clune for advancing his popular Broadway theater still further, are now taking place. In the future this splendid theater will give big feature film dramas with much of local interest interspersed. Yesterday, however, the ever popular “Adventures of Kathlyn” entertained capacity crowds the entire day.
Here is a recap of the sale by Grauman in March 1923, from the LA Times:
DOWNTOWN PLAYHOUSE NOW SOLD
Grauman and Lasky Turn Over Metropolitan Theater to New Owners
Grauman’s Metropolitan Theater, Sixth and Hill Streets, with the property on which it stands, was sold yesterday by Sid Grauman and the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation to a syndicate of local and San Francisco business men headed by A.C. Blumenthal of A.C. Blumenthal and Company, for $4,000,000, according to announcement last night of Mr. Grauman.
The theater changed hands in September 1947, according to the LA Times:
Pan-Pacific Sold to Cord in $2,250,000 Deal
In a $2,250,000 transaction, stockholders of the Pan-Pacific Corp. yesterday sold the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, Theater and Bowling Alley and the Los Angeles ice hockey team franchise to E. L. Cord, former automobile manufacturer.
WOMAN CASHIER THUG’S VICTIM.
ROBBED AND DEALT BLOW UPON BASE OF SKULL
Lies Unconscious in Lot for an Hour, Then Walks to Her Home Where Medical Attention Is Secured—Accompanies Police on Search for Assailant.
Slugged in the head by a pursesnatcher on Tenth street near Grand avenue, early last evening. Miss Nellie Hartman, a pretty young woman of 25, cashier of the Alhambra Theater, lay in a semi-conscious condition.
BANDITS ROB ON BROADWAY
Twelve Hundred Dollars Taken From Messengers in Theater Crowd at Eighth Street
As they were about to drive away from the crowded corner of Eighth street and Broadway shortly after 10 o'clock last night with $1200 in cash and 6000 theater tickets, R.W. Neily and F.W. Peters, messengers for the Grauman Rialto Theater, were held up and robbed by three men in a large automobile.
Here is a very early photo from the LAPL. You can see the Normal School up the street which preceded the LA Library. Also the Biltmore has not yet been constructed: http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics37/00068275.jpg
An article in today’s LA Times discussed a proposal to turn Broadway between 2nd and 9th into a pedestrian mall with a busway. This had been proposed in 1977, but nothing came of it. The general manager of the Los Angeles theater was quoted favorably on the issue. I recall that this was done on Chestnut Street in the 80s with limited success. I think that street is once again open to traffic.
THEATER PANIC BARELY HALTED
Smoke from Bakery Blaze Starts Exodus
Manager Reassures Crowd and Stops Rush
Cafe Employees Driven to Street by Fire.
A panic was narrowly averted in Bard’s Cinema Theater, 444 South Hill street, late yesterday, when a fire originating in the storeroom of the M. Lowis bakery and cafe, next door, raged for nearly an hour, threatening for a time to spread to the theater.
There was a fire on 9/16/96, according to the LA Times:
A COSTLY BLAZE.
PHONOGRAPH PARLORS BADLY SCORCHED LAST EVENING. The Fire was Caused by an Electric-light Wife—Vitascope Damaged and Valuable pictures Destroyed.
Fire in Tally’s phonograph parior at No. 311 South Spring street last night did damage to the amount of several thousand dollars in less than a quarter of an Hour.
OLD BROADWAY LANDMARK PASSES INTO HISTORY
Ten-Story Building Will Replace Famous Early Motion-Picture Playhouse
PASSING of practically the last of Broadway’s interesting old landmarks took place recently when workmen removed the last of Tally’s “New Broadway” Theater to make way for erection of the new $2,000,000 addition to the May Company’s building between Eighth and Ninth on Broadway.
This article was in the LA Times on ¼/85. It turned out OK, at least:
La Reina Theatre Developer’s Ax Poised Over Landmark Movie House
The news saddened Encino resident Anna Tulanian Boyajian, 61, who grew up with La Reina. She recalled that her parents used to take her there to see Shirley Temple films and that a beau escorted her to a matinee on her first date.
If La Reina is demolished, it would leave only two other single-screen theaters in the Valley showing English-language pictures-the Studio in Studio City and the Holiday in Canoga Park. Seven other large Valley theaters have featured Spanish-language films since the late 1970s. It was then that theater chains began vacating single-screen theaters because they were too difficult to keep filled.
Dennis Bass said he sympathizes with members of the community who would like to see La Reina stay, but added, “It’s totally impractical. From the standpoint of the theater in today’s marketplace, you cannot operate with one screen.”
After 33 Years, the Main Street Gym Is Being Turned Into a Parking Lot
It Was Here That Dreams Came True
The Main Street Gym has been at its present address since 1951, ever since the original across the street burned down. Not much has changed. The ring floors, lately more electrician’s tape than canvas, have to be original issue.
Here is an LA Times blurb from 2/24/83. “Sure, we demolished the theater, but we named the office building for it, so we’re square, right?”
Culver Rebuilds
$4-Million Plaza on Old Meralta Theater Site First Major Project in Once-Ignored Downtown
Demolition has started on an entire block of old buildings in downtown Culver City to make way for the first of three major redevelopment projects—a $4-million, three-story office building called Meralta Plaza.
This is from the LA Times dated 3/14/65. Who says irony is dead?
Self-Park Structure to Replace RKO Hillstreet
Another step in the revitalization of the downtown Los Angeles area will get under way April 1 with the demolition of a famous Los Angeles landmark, the RKO Hillstreet Theater building.
Sam Hall Kaplan reported the imminent demise of the Wiltern on 4/15/79. How close was this theater to becoming a parking lot?
PERMIT SOUGHT FOR DEMOLITION
Landmark Theater in Jeopardy
A beneficent buyer is needed to save the historic Wiltern Theater from becoming just another vacant lot on Wilshire Blvd. with a forsaken “for sale” sign on it.
This blurb from the LA Times is dated 5/13/14. It doesn’t seem to correspond with the opening date of any Riverside theater listed, so perhaps the construction was delayed or canceled:
NEW BUILDING REPLACING OLD.
Riverside to Have Theater on Modern Lines
RIVERSIDE, May 12.—Plans for the demolition of a good building in the heart of the business district and the erection on the site of a motion picture theater to cost $75,000, were announced today.
True crime in September 1932, as reported (breathlessly) by the LA Times:
Two Bandits Escape With $1000 After Forcing Theater Manager to Open Vault
WILSHIRE FILM HOUSE ROBBED Pair Bind Executive, but Fail to Open Money Box Prisoner Then Freed to Work Combination
Two bandits obtained nearly $1000 from the safe of the Fox Ritz Theater at 5214 Wilshire Boulevard early yesterday after they had forced the manager. M. Spencer Leve, to accompany them from his home, 902 Shenandoah Street, and open the vault, Leve told Wilshire police.
Hawaii Theater to Open Tomorrow in Film City
Structure Introduces Numerous Unique Innovations in Design and Construction CINEMA STRUCTURE OF UNIQUE CHARM READY HAWAII THEATER TO OPEN TOMORROW IN FILM CITY
Ready for its formal dedication tomorrow night is Hollywood’s new $250,000 Hawaii Theater, unique in architectural design and structural innovations.
Here is a blurb from the LA Times on the State’s opening, dated 11/12/21:
DOORS TO OPEN TONIGHT.
State Theater Will be Honored by Presence of Many Stars of Stage and Screenland. STATE THEATER OPENS TONIGHT. Distinguished Guests, Will View First Program
Screen Stars to Appear in Impromptu Stunts
“Liliom” in Film Version is Headliner. Playing Leading Roles in Housewarming. STATE THEATER OPENS TONIGHT.
With Gov. Stephens in one box and Mayor Cryer in the other, and Marcus Loew, together with at least thirty noted motion-picture stars in the audience, Loew’s State Theater will open its doors tonight. A feature program is announced, to be preceded by many clever impromptu stunts in which some of the most prominent members of the local theatrical world will appear.
A while ago I was discussing the Susan Hayward film “I’ll Cry Tomorrow”, as related to scenes shot on Main Street. I actually found a copy in my living room today when I was throwing out some junk. Nothing was filmed on Skid Row. One scene was shot at the Hard Rock bar (the original, not the Peter Morton place) over on Hill Street. Doors fans may recall this bar from the Morrison Hotel album.
Christmas Day, 1918 (LA Times):
HAIL TO THE CALIFORNIA.
The Beautiful New Miller Theater Holds a Merry Christmas Eve.
Miller’s wonderful new motionpicture theater is open at last! All Los Angeles has been awaiting the great event, and last night, Christmas Eve, Main street was the most brilliant thoroughfare of our town, ablaze with lights, thronged with automobiles, jammed with pedestrians—and lights, machines and people were all focussed on one spot, the handsome white facade of the splendid new California Theater.
Under new management (LA Times, 11/8/19)
Golden success crowns the Goldwyn regime at the California at last night’s brilliant opening of that theater under the new management, with Geraldine Farrar in “Flame of the Desert” as the feature, be any criterion. Crowds swarmed to the doors long before the house opened at 3 o'clock, and waited in two block-long lines up and down Main street.
Architect was A.F. Rosenhelm (LA Times, 7/17/10)
PLAYHOUSE TO BE ELABORATE.
Large Picture Theater for Broadway Site
Auditorium Will Seat Over Nine Hundred
Ornate Design and Lighting Scheme Features. HANDSOME PICTURE PLAYHOUSE FOR SOUTH BROADWAY
A.F. Rosenhelm, architect of Clune’s new Broadway Theater, has awarded the general contract for the construction of that structure to John F. Jacobs & Son.
From the LA Times, 5/20/14:
The changes announced by W.H. Clune for advancing his popular Broadway theater still further, are now taking place. In the future this splendid theater will give big feature film dramas with much of local interest interspersed. Yesterday, however, the ever popular “Adventures of Kathlyn” entertained capacity crowds the entire day.
Here is a recap of the sale by Grauman in March 1923, from the LA Times:
DOWNTOWN PLAYHOUSE NOW SOLD
Grauman and Lasky Turn Over Metropolitan Theater to New Owners
Grauman’s Metropolitan Theater, Sixth and Hill Streets, with the property on which it stands, was sold yesterday by Sid Grauman and the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation to a syndicate of local and San Francisco business men headed by A.C. Blumenthal of A.C. Blumenthal and Company, for $4,000,000, according to announcement last night of Mr. Grauman.
The theater changed hands in September 1947, according to the LA Times:
Pan-Pacific Sold to Cord in $2,250,000 Deal
In a $2,250,000 transaction, stockholders of the Pan-Pacific Corp. yesterday sold the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, Theater and Bowling Alley and the Los Angeles ice hockey team franchise to E. L. Cord, former automobile manufacturer.
True crime in April 1914, from the LA Times:
WOMAN CASHIER THUG’S VICTIM.
ROBBED AND DEALT BLOW UPON BASE OF SKULL
Lies Unconscious in Lot for an Hour, Then Walks to Her Home Where Medical Attention Is Secured—Accompanies Police on Search for Assailant.
Slugged in the head by a pursesnatcher on Tenth street near Grand avenue, early last evening. Miss Nellie Hartman, a pretty young woman of 25, cashier of the Alhambra Theater, lay in a semi-conscious condition.
True crime in February 1922, from the LA Times:
BANDITS ROB ON BROADWAY
Twelve Hundred Dollars Taken From Messengers in Theater Crowd at Eighth Street
As they were about to drive away from the crowded corner of Eighth street and Broadway shortly after 10 o'clock last night with $1200 in cash and 6000 theater tickets, R.W. Neily and F.W. Peters, messengers for the Grauman Rialto Theater, were held up and robbed by three men in a large automobile.
Here is a very early photo from the LAPL. You can see the Normal School up the street which preceded the LA Library. Also the Biltmore has not yet been constructed:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics37/00068275.jpg
An article in today’s LA Times discussed a proposal to turn Broadway between 2nd and 9th into a pedestrian mall with a busway. This had been proposed in 1977, but nothing came of it. The general manager of the Los Angeles theater was quoted favorably on the issue. I recall that this was done on Chestnut Street in the 80s with limited success. I think that street is once again open to traffic.
It sounded pretty grim, didn’t it?
aka Bard’s Cinema Theater? LA Times, 8/8/22:
THEATER PANIC BARELY HALTED
Smoke from Bakery Blaze Starts Exodus
Manager Reassures Crowd and Stops Rush
Cafe Employees Driven to Street by Fire.
A panic was narrowly averted in Bard’s Cinema Theater, 444 South Hill street, late yesterday, when a fire originating in the storeroom of the M. Lowis bakery and cafe, next door, raged for nearly an hour, threatening for a time to spread to the theater.
There was a fire on 9/16/96, according to the LA Times:
A COSTLY BLAZE.
PHONOGRAPH PARLORS BADLY SCORCHED LAST EVENING. The Fire was Caused by an Electric-light Wife—Vitascope Damaged and Valuable pictures Destroyed.
Fire in Tally’s phonograph parior at No. 311 South Spring street last night did damage to the amount of several thousand dollars in less than a quarter of an Hour.
End of the road, 7/7/29:
OLD BROADWAY LANDMARK PASSES INTO HISTORY
Ten-Story Building Will Replace Famous Early Motion-Picture Playhouse
PASSING of practically the last of Broadway’s interesting old landmarks took place recently when workmen removed the last of Tally’s “New Broadway” Theater to make way for erection of the new $2,000,000 addition to the May Company’s building between Eighth and Ninth on Broadway.
Maybe they had some extra rooms in the back? This is from the LA Times dated 9/21/27:
Los Angeles City Club luncheon meeting, clubhouse, 833 South Broadway, noon. Alexander Bevanl will speak on “Italy As I Found It Under Mussolini.”
This article was in the LA Times on ¼/85. It turned out OK, at least:
La Reina Theatre Developer’s Ax Poised Over Landmark Movie House
The news saddened Encino resident Anna Tulanian Boyajian, 61, who grew up with La Reina. She recalled that her parents used to take her there to see Shirley Temple films and that a beau escorted her to a matinee on her first date.
If La Reina is demolished, it would leave only two other single-screen theaters in the Valley showing English-language pictures-the Studio in Studio City and the Holiday in Canoga Park. Seven other large Valley theaters have featured Spanish-language films since the late 1970s. It was then that theater chains began vacating single-screen theaters because they were too difficult to keep filled.
Dennis Bass said he sympathizes with members of the community who would like to see La Reina stay, but added, “It’s totally impractical. From the standpoint of the theater in today’s marketplace, you cannot operate with one screen.”
This is from the LA Times, 11/1/84:
After 33 Years, the Main Street Gym Is Being Turned Into a Parking Lot
It Was Here That Dreams Came True
The Main Street Gym has been at its present address since 1951, ever since the original across the street burned down. Not much has changed. The ring floors, lately more electrician’s tape than canvas, have to be original issue.
Here is an LA Times blurb from 2/24/83. “Sure, we demolished the theater, but we named the office building for it, so we’re square, right?”
Culver Rebuilds
$4-Million Plaza on Old Meralta Theater Site First Major Project in Once-Ignored Downtown
Demolition has started on an entire block of old buildings in downtown Culver City to make way for the first of three major redevelopment projects—a $4-million, three-story office building called Meralta Plaza.
This is from the LA Times dated 3/14/65. Who says irony is dead?
Self-Park Structure to Replace RKO Hillstreet
Another step in the revitalization of the downtown Los Angeles area will get under way April 1 with the demolition of a famous Los Angeles landmark, the RKO Hillstreet Theater building.
Sam Hall Kaplan reported the imminent demise of the Wiltern on 4/15/79. How close was this theater to becoming a parking lot?
PERMIT SOUGHT FOR DEMOLITION
Landmark Theater in Jeopardy
A beneficent buyer is needed to save the historic Wiltern Theater from becoming just another vacant lot on Wilshire Blvd. with a forsaken “for sale” sign on it.
This blurb from the LA Times is dated 5/13/14. It doesn’t seem to correspond with the opening date of any Riverside theater listed, so perhaps the construction was delayed or canceled:
NEW BUILDING REPLACING OLD.
Riverside to Have Theater on Modern Lines
RIVERSIDE, May 12.—Plans for the demolition of a good building in the heart of the business district and the erection on the site of a motion picture theater to cost $75,000, were announced today.
True crime in September 1932, as reported (breathlessly) by the LA Times:
Two Bandits Escape With $1000 After Forcing Theater Manager to Open Vault
WILSHIRE FILM HOUSE ROBBED Pair Bind Executive, but Fail to Open Money Box Prisoner Then Freed to Work Combination
Two bandits obtained nearly $1000 from the safe of the Fox Ritz Theater at 5214 Wilshire Boulevard early yesterday after they had forced the manager. M. Spencer Leve, to accompany them from his home, 902 Shenandoah Street, and open the vault, Leve told Wilshire police.
This is from the Times, dated 5/5/40:
Hawaii Theater to Open Tomorrow in Film City
Structure Introduces Numerous Unique Innovations in Design and Construction CINEMA STRUCTURE OF UNIQUE CHARM READY HAWAII THEATER TO OPEN TOMORROW IN FILM CITY
Ready for its formal dedication tomorrow night is Hollywood’s new $250,000 Hawaii Theater, unique in architectural design and structural innovations.
Here is a blurb from the LA Times on the State’s opening, dated 11/12/21:
DOORS TO OPEN TONIGHT.
State Theater Will be Honored by Presence of Many Stars of Stage and Screenland. STATE THEATER OPENS TONIGHT. Distinguished Guests, Will View First Program
Screen Stars to Appear in Impromptu Stunts
“Liliom” in Film Version is Headliner. Playing Leading Roles in Housewarming. STATE THEATER OPENS TONIGHT.
With Gov. Stephens in one box and Mayor Cryer in the other, and Marcus Loew, together with at least thirty noted motion-picture stars in the audience, Loew’s State Theater will open its doors tonight. A feature program is announced, to be preceded by many clever impromptu stunts in which some of the most prominent members of the local theatrical world will appear.