Paramount Theatre
323 W. 6th Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
323 W. 6th Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 127 comments
A grand Theater for sure with not just one, but two balconies. I last saw a double 3-D bill there of “It Came from Outer Space,” and “The Creature from The Black Lagoon.” It was so cool because instead of the old anaglyphic 3-D they used the new Polaroid which was awesome.
The Paramount theatre held a reopening on May 29th, 1952. Free parking or transit was offered. Grand opening ads posted.
Article:
Graumans Metro Opening 1923 Fri, Jan 26, 1923 – 27 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com
An article in the March 22, 1952 issue of Boxoffice said that operation of the downtown Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles had been taken over by United Paramount Theatres on March 18, at the end of a twenty year lease by Fanchon & Marco. United Paramount would undertake the remodeling job that began later that year.
F&M’s lease on the Hollywood Paramount continued, and though now under separate management, the day-and-date policy at the two houses would also continue. The first movie opened under the new regime was the Paramount release “Something to Live For,” on March 21.
The sphinx stair decoration was in the Broadway entrance to the building. The building it was in is still standing, but the entrance was closed in 1929 and the space converted to a retail store. I have no idea what became of that sphinx.
Wow! in that article there is a photo of what must have been the Lobby with a sphinx that makes it look like the lobby of a grand art museum or public library.
Story about the life and death of the Paramount. http://southonspring.com/paramount-theater-downtown/
There are a few errors in our description of the Paramount. First, though the foundations of the Metropolitan were designed to carry a 13-floor, height limit building, only five floors of offices were ever built above the ground floor.
Second, though the theater did open with two entrances, they were the main entrance on Sixth Street and a secondary entrance on Hill Street. The Broadway entrance added later and used only until 1929 was the third. The building the Broadway entrance ran through is still standing.
Third, though the Paramount closed in 1960, it was not demolished until 1962. During its last two years it sported a billboard touting the 35-story office building which had been planned for the site. The office building project fell through, and this was rumored to have been, at least in part, due to the unexpectedly high cost of demolishing what had probably been the most substantial theater building ever erected in Los Angeles.
Fourth, the building now on the site is not a bank, but the International Jewelry Center, a 16-floor tower built in 1981 for the wholesale and retail jewelry trade. The jewelry trade has gradually taken over several blocks along Hill Street, including the former Warner Bros. Downtown Theatre at Seventh and Hill. It’s unfortunate that the jewelers didn’t come along a few years earlier. They might have saved the Paramount’s building as they did the Warner’s.
January 26th, 1923 grand opening ad in photo section.
If I had even a little bit of Warren Buffet-style money, after I’d tended to some charities, I’d locate the blueprints of Grauman’s Metropolitan (they must exist somewhere!) and have it rebuilt in its original form. And most importantly, in a location where it would never be wrecked by alteration or demolition. This house is one of the most unique in the world, right up there with Radio City, the NY Roxy, the UA in LA, and the Shrine Auditorium. Maybe I’ll give Mr. Buffet a call…
I originally posted:nonsportsnut on June 7, 2009 at 6:03 pm The Three Stooges Fan Club is trying to document a 1957 personal appearance of Joe Besser, Moe Howard and Larry Fine as The Three Stooges at the Paramount. This would be the only personal appearance by Besser with the Three Stooges. Any documentation, such as a newspaper ad or review would be greatly appreciated. My email address is: Thanks, Frank Reighter
In the Spring 2014 Three Stooges Fan Club Journal, the true story of this is written. The ad never was for a Joe Besser appearance, but was erroneously used for several appearances for the Three Stooges Moe Howard, Larry Fine and (Later to be known as Curly Joe) Joe DeRita in Portland, Oregon, Tacoma and Seattle Washington in December 1959. As far as is known, Joe Besser NEVER made any personal appearances as a member of the Three Stooges.
Frank Reighter
This house, in its original Grauman condition, is so powerful, it’s spooky.
I have now come across multiple references to George Edwin Bergstrom having been one of the architects of Grauman’s Metropolitan Theatre. Both Soutnwest Builder & Contractor and the national trade publication Engineering and Contracting mention his involvement in the project. The latter publication’s issue of April 27, 1921, carries this item, which mentions Bergstrom supervising construction on the project in conjunction with engineer R.C. Mitchell.
Various items in Southwest Builder & Contractor indicate that William Lee Woollett designed the interiors of the Metropolitan Theatre, but that the lead architect on the project was Bergstrom. Woollett probably designed the details on the facade of the building as well, but I haven’t found any specific sources saying he did. Woollett was apparently the sole architect on the later project creating a Broadway entrance for the theater.
Very Very nice too bad its gone now.
An ad campaign concerning the new, modernized Paramount was in Boxoffice in June 1952.
http://tinyurl.com/yeamgpp
I think the necktie photo mentioned on 8/17 is on the Clune’s Auditorium page.
When the theater went to screening B films in the late 50s a basement bar called the Metro that was a gay scene opened just east of the box office on 6th next to the alley. Also a post razing Wm.Reagh photo of the necktie stand @ the corner of Hill and 6th- it’s in the picture catalog of California State Library – search terms: Reagh and Hill ( he didn’t i.d. the site )
The Metropolitan/Paramount was the second largest movie palace ever built on the West Coast the largest was the Fox in San Francisco. My friend Dick who worked for Disney and United Artists said this was the most impressive Movie Palace in LA. brucec
Here is a 1943 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/mvp9a4
Here is a January 1949 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/ngfejz
The Three Stooges Fan Club is trying to document a 1957 personal appearance of Joe Besser, Moe Howard and Larry Fine as The Three Stooges at the Paramount. This would be the only personal appearance by Besser with the Three Stooges. Any documentation, such as a newspaper ad or review would be greatly appreciated. My email address is: Thanks, Frank Reighter
In December 1938 they were staging basketball games on the theater stage, according to this LA Times ad:
http://tinyurl.com/dzjzv4
Here is a photo from May 1946, may have been previously posted from another venue, here it is:
View link
This is a 1923 ad from the LA Times. I thought it was interesting as it shows Sid Grauman’s influence at that time, as he owned the Metropolitan, the Egyptian, the Million Dollar and the Rialto. The Chinese was not yet built.
http://tinyurl.com/dg3wre
Here is a 1941 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/cgednr