Boulevard Theatre

rdimucci: Yes, the Boulevard Theatre was the first home of the Inner City Cultural Center, from its founding in 1966 until 1972. The Center moved into the former Masonic Temple at 1308 S. New Hampshire Avenue in 1972 and acquired the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood in 1986.

Another observation for those that recall the Boulevard. The large openings on the west side of the theater were fire exits shown in the photo. Several doors in each allowed balcony customers by a long interior carpeted ramp and mezzanine customers directly to exit in the event of an emergency. The small door directly accessed the mezzanine level for similar purposes. Similar fire doors were on the east side that exited into an interior passageway which then passed to Vermont Avenue between small businesses the occupied the east side of the building.

Homeboy: You’re right about the area around Washington and Vermont having been the home of L.A.’s “Film Row” with a number of booking offices, but the only theater I recall in the immediate area was the Boulevard itself, and it was on the northwest corner.

The nearest theater on Vermont to the south was La Tosca, at 30th Street, and to the north there was the Fox Parisian, but that was all the way up at 8th Street.

To the west were the Arlington Theatre, on the north side of Washington just west of Arlington, and the Maynard Theatre, on the south side of Washington just east of Arlington. I don’t remember there being any theaters on Washington east of the Boulevard.

The only cluster of three theaters close together that I recall on the south side was the one around Broadway and Manchester. The Manchester Theatre was the big one, just west of Broadway, and then there were the smaller Mecca and Mayfair Theatres, about a block apart on Broadway south of Manchester.

There were several more theaters on South Vermont, but they were all south of Exposition Park.

West Coast Theaters were originally Gore Bros, who later partnered/sold out with Skouras and Fox – I can’t get the whole story straight. My mother cashiered at this theater probably in the mid thirties. Thriftimart was also Smart and Final – I rememer being in the offices and seeing a beautiful stairway going up and my dad telling me that my mom had worked there before marriage. My mom was a Gore and a niece of the “Gore Bros.”

Clarkus,

I remember two brothers, first names Billy and Clark, who lived up the street. Would that be you? If not, please let me know who. You can email me at

Patrick

At least we have our beautiful St. Sophia Cathedral at Pico & Normandie thanks to Charles Skouras, who is buried on the church grounds in a mausaleum.

If I remember correctly, the executive offices and conference room wwere on the 4th floor facing east to Vermont Avenue. This is the side with windows. There were no windows of any consequence on the other three sides of the building above the first floor. The largest office shown was probably that of Charles Skouras, President of FWC Theaters. The medical facility, showers and steam room, etc. were also on the 4th floor. Skouras suffered from heart disease; hence, the closeness of the medical facilities to the executive area.

I just looked at the pictures of the Fox West Coast Theater Co. offices located in the building housing the Boulevard Theater, posted by ken mc. They brought back a lot of memories for me as my father, Manager of the Boulevard from 1945-57, often took me to the offices with him when he attended manager staff meetings, when I was 5-7 years old. If I recall correctly, the Division Manager, a Mr. Bowser(?),held the meetings in his office, which looked similar to the offices shown in the pictures. I remember his secretary’s name was Mrs. Scofield, as I was left in her charge while the meetings were held. My father would also often take me to the in-house barber for my haircuts. The offices were very palatial by the standards of the day. a lot of wood paneling and large conference rooms.
One additional observation. Several times the offices are listed by commentators as being in the sub-basement of the building. I don’t think this is correct,as one would use the elevator to access the offices on the buildings 2-4 floors, with the penthouse occupying the 5th floor. The only FWC facilities I ever saw on the first floor was the the FWC cafeteria bordering Washington Blvd. and the 50 seat screening room used to preview motion pictures on the Vermont Ave side. The theater and commercial spaces occupied the rest. My father’s office was just off the second landing of the stairs leading to the theater’s balcony. One could access the FWC offices from both sides of the first landing and opposite my father’s office on the second landing. The only spaces I ever saw below ground (basement area) was the theater’s heating and a/c control room.

Interesting, as I was working there at the time. Do not remember my father mentioning a fire. Must have been a minor blaze. Would have thought my dad would mention anything significant, especially if it involved the theater. I remember the janitor of the theater at that time. Really nice European gentleman, always accomnpanied by his dog. This was a Chow dog that could retrieve a bottle cap thrown into the dark auditorium. It was pitch dark in there and that dog would invariably retieve a thrown bottle cap. This was back when we poured Coke/Pepsi colas from bottles, just prior to the conversion to soda fountain type dispensers.

BOULEVARD THEATER PENTHOUSE
One of the above commentators mentions knowing of the penthouse, but had never had the opportunity to see it. I was in it many times when my father was managing the Boulevard. I, also, was assigned to operate the elevator serving the penthouse(nothing like knowing the boss) when I was working as an usher (1952-57) for several of Mr. Skouras' parties.

The penthouse was on the fifth floor and the elevator opened onto a fairly good sized rooftop patio with numerous planters. A 20' walk led directly into the penthouse, although a side path took one to the stairs to the upper level full sized projection booth that provided movies to the main penthouse living room.

Once inside the penthouse entryway, you could either step down a stair or two into a very large, white carpeted living room or walk up to another level with a full bar. The living room had a very high ceiling, to accomodate the higher bar level. This also enabled a large, but scaled down Cinemascope screen to electrically descend from the ceiling for the screening of movies. When lowered this screen covered the room’s large fireplace and mantle. The decor was mostly light colored furniture and blonde wood, typical of 1950’s style furnishings. An interesting item, to me at least, was a small box that contained an old fashioned rotary telephone dial that, instead of numerals, allowed one to dial any one of a number of radio stations to automatically tune in the AM radio. Primitive by today’s electronic standards, but very high tech for that time. Not surprisingly, I do not recall a television set, as this was during the height of the TV vs Motion Pictures war.

The upper bar level also contained two, floor to ceiling, glass enclosed, lighted shotgun display cases with several dozen shotguns.
Mr Skouras was an avid duck hunter, and my father periodically brought home various cooked duck based entrees made from fowl bagged by Mr. Skouras.I do not recall ever going into any of the bedrooms, so I do not know how many the penthouse contained. I do recall being impressed by it’s luxuriousness. My impression of Mr. Skouras, on the one or two occasions I saw him, was that of a rather short, stout and pleasant individual, whose presence was not overly intimidating, despite his iconic stature in the industry. My father always spoke well of him.

As a side note, I soon learned that although the Skouras family was wealthy and powerful, and lived in a world far from mine, all was not well in paradise. My father, from the adjacent parking lot, witnessed Mr Skouras' daughter’s suicide, when she jumped from the penthouse garden patio. She impacted the street below close by the entrance to the small lobby area where the penthouse elevator was located.

Thanks for asking. I referred back to my Jan 10, 2004 entry where I stated my Dad worked there from 1946 to 1957. I was in error by a year as he obviously was there in 1945. My mistake, but I was only five years old in ‘45 so my memory is a little scanty. He previously managed the Carleton in 1943-44. Before that the Princess Theater in Milwaukee from 1934 to our departure for California in 1943. I worked the Boulevard from 1952-57 as an usher, as did my brother before me. The only picture we have is my Dad leading Adlai Stevenson to the stage at the Teamsters Convention held at the Boulevard during the Eisenhower-Stevenson presidential campaign. The picture also includes my brother in his gold braided usher’s uniform.

My father, Leonard J. Howard, was the Manager of the Boulevard at the time of the 1945 robbery. I recall him telling me he was in the cashier’s booth at the time and advised Ms. Arbuthnot to quietly hand over all the money she had in the cash drawer. He figured no amount was worth anyone getting shot. Besides, as with most theaters, cash was routinely (hourly?) deposited in the double drop safe in the booth and was not retrievable until it was removed by the manager with a separate key.

I wonder if they sold the space before the ICCC (Inner City Cultural Center) took over the space or if it was rented to that group.