El Rey went through a number of changes through the years. I first attended a movie there in the early 1950’s. By that time, the triple arch had been replaced by a conventional entrance with a central, freestanding box office, and there was a taller marquee, reaching all the way to the cornice line, with the theater name and detail in colorful neon. I don’t have any memory of the decorated parapet with its classic urns, but I believe that the window-like niches on either side of the entrance were still there.
Inside, there was a compact lobby, with concession stand opposite the front doors, and between the doors to the two aisles. Again, I have no memory of any ornate decoration there, but I have the impression of a fairly modern-looking space, so it had probably been remodeled at the same time as the outer lobby and marquee. The auditorium had a shallowly vaulted ceiling, hung with six rather simple octagonal chandeliers of colored glass panels in metalwork frames. There were simple buttresses along the walls, topped by light fixtures of frosted, colored glass, but I don’t remember what color.
Unlike the other theaters in Alhambra, which all had big leather seats in their loge sections, El Rey’s loges were plush upholstered seats a bit larger than the regular seats, and their backrests had fancy, art-moderne looking tops, rather than the simple rounded tops of the cheaper seats. Their upholstery was a different shade, too, but I don’t remember the colors. (I seem to have a very bad memory for color.)
Though we went to the movies every Friday or Saturday night, we seldom went to this theater because, being operated by Fox as a first-run house, admission was considerably more expensive than at several other theaters in the area. I think we only went there once before it became the first theater in the area to install a Cinemascope screen. When that was done, we went for the second time, to see the Cinemascope remake of “Cimmaron.” It was the first Cinemascope picture I ever saw.
Sometime around 1960, El Rey came under the ownership of the Edwards circuit. With this acquisition, Edwards was in control of all the theaters in Alhambra, San Gabriel, Temple City, Arcadia, Monterey Park and South San Gabriel. (They shared a half interest in Alhambra’s Garfield Theater with another small circuit, which I believe was called Vinicoff, but Edwards managed the Garfield.)
A couple of years after taking over El Rey, Edwards did a major remodeling of the facade, covering all the remaining plaster work with slabs of marble (which may have been faux marble- I’m not sure) and installing a new marquee, slanted rather than square, and featuring the theater’s name in dozens of somewhat retro blinking lights instead of the former neon. When the old marquee was being taken down, I happened to pass by, and saw that the carved stone below the cornice line featuring the theater’s former name was revealed, but it was swiftly covered again by the new marquee. I was only inside the place a couple of times after that, and recall that the lobby had been spruced up a bit, too, but I don’t remember any great changes in the auditorium, which had been fairly simple for as long as I had known it.
I last saw El Rey in the summer of 1986, a few weeks before I moved away from Los Angeles. The next year, both it and the nearby Alhambra Theater were severely damaged by the Whittier Narrows earthquake, and both had to be demolished. I have pleasant memories of both, and I’m sorry that they have been lost.
The Warner Beverly was the place I saw both Lawrence of Arabia and Becket, in their road show engagements. That was in 1962 and 1963. The theater was impressive, and was still very well kept at that time. It was my favorite building in Beverly Hills, and, both inside and out, one of the best pieces of art deco in California.
In 1963, a friend of mine opened an art gallery in a storefront a few doors west of the Colorado Theater. One day, when he was preparing for his first show, we were standing in front of the building and the manager of the Colorado came down to see what was going into the building. He told us that the Laemmle company was converting a building near the east end of the block into a theater, and intended to show art films. The Colorado at that time was still a second-run neighborhood house. The new theater was the Esquire.
Until this conversion, the building that became Laemmle’s Esquire had for many years been a pizza parlor, which I believe was called McGoo’s. As far as I know, that particular building had never before been used as a movie theater. The manager of the Colorado (whose name I don’t recall after all these years) said that the construction crews had to rip out the building’s concrete floor to create a rake for the theater seats.
The Esquire opened in 1964, but a couple of years passed before I attended a movie there. The interior, as I recall, was done in a simple, 1960’s contemporary style, as was the facade. It was a pleasant enough theater, if a bit small, but I never became a regular patron. I always prefered Laemmle’s flagship theater, the Los Feliz on Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood.
El Rey went through a number of changes through the years. I first attended a movie there in the early 1950’s. By that time, the triple arch had been replaced by a conventional entrance with a central, freestanding box office, and there was a taller marquee, reaching all the way to the cornice line, with the theater name and detail in colorful neon. I don’t have any memory of the decorated parapet with its classic urns, but I believe that the window-like niches on either side of the entrance were still there.
Inside, there was a compact lobby, with concession stand opposite the front doors, and between the doors to the two aisles. Again, I have no memory of any ornate decoration there, but I have the impression of a fairly modern-looking space, so it had probably been remodeled at the same time as the outer lobby and marquee. The auditorium had a shallowly vaulted ceiling, hung with six rather simple octagonal chandeliers of colored glass panels in metalwork frames. There were simple buttresses along the walls, topped by light fixtures of frosted, colored glass, but I don’t remember what color.
Unlike the other theaters in Alhambra, which all had big leather seats in their loge sections, El Rey’s loges were plush upholstered seats a bit larger than the regular seats, and their backrests had fancy, art-moderne looking tops, rather than the simple rounded tops of the cheaper seats. Their upholstery was a different shade, too, but I don’t remember the colors. (I seem to have a very bad memory for color.)
Though we went to the movies every Friday or Saturday night, we seldom went to this theater because, being operated by Fox as a first-run house, admission was considerably more expensive than at several other theaters in the area. I think we only went there once before it became the first theater in the area to install a Cinemascope screen. When that was done, we went for the second time, to see the Cinemascope remake of “Cimmaron.” It was the first Cinemascope picture I ever saw.
Sometime around 1960, El Rey came under the ownership of the Edwards circuit. With this acquisition, Edwards was in control of all the theaters in Alhambra, San Gabriel, Temple City, Arcadia, Monterey Park and South San Gabriel. (They shared a half interest in Alhambra’s Garfield Theater with another small circuit, which I believe was called Vinicoff, but Edwards managed the Garfield.)
A couple of years after taking over El Rey, Edwards did a major remodeling of the facade, covering all the remaining plaster work with slabs of marble (which may have been faux marble- I’m not sure) and installing a new marquee, slanted rather than square, and featuring the theater’s name in dozens of somewhat retro blinking lights instead of the former neon. When the old marquee was being taken down, I happened to pass by, and saw that the carved stone below the cornice line featuring the theater’s former name was revealed, but it was swiftly covered again by the new marquee. I was only inside the place a couple of times after that, and recall that the lobby had been spruced up a bit, too, but I don’t remember any great changes in the auditorium, which had been fairly simple for as long as I had known it.
I last saw El Rey in the summer of 1986, a few weeks before I moved away from Los Angeles. The next year, both it and the nearby Alhambra Theater were severely damaged by the Whittier Narrows earthquake, and both had to be demolished. I have pleasant memories of both, and I’m sorry that they have been lost.
The Warner Beverly was the place I saw both Lawrence of Arabia and Becket, in their road show engagements. That was in 1962 and 1963. The theater was impressive, and was still very well kept at that time. It was my favorite building in Beverly Hills, and, both inside and out, one of the best pieces of art deco in California.
In 1963, a friend of mine opened an art gallery in a storefront a few doors west of the Colorado Theater. One day, when he was preparing for his first show, we were standing in front of the building and the manager of the Colorado came down to see what was going into the building. He told us that the Laemmle company was converting a building near the east end of the block into a theater, and intended to show art films. The Colorado at that time was still a second-run neighborhood house. The new theater was the Esquire.
Until this conversion, the building that became Laemmle’s Esquire had for many years been a pizza parlor, which I believe was called McGoo’s. As far as I know, that particular building had never before been used as a movie theater. The manager of the Colorado (whose name I don’t recall after all these years) said that the construction crews had to rip out the building’s concrete floor to create a rake for the theater seats.
The Esquire opened in 1964, but a couple of years passed before I attended a movie there. The interior, as I recall, was done in a simple, 1960’s contemporary style, as was the facade. It was a pleasant enough theater, if a bit small, but I never became a regular patron. I always prefered Laemmle’s flagship theater, the Los Feliz on Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood.