Arcade Theatre

534 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles, CA 90013

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Showing 1 - 25 of 77 comments

Jake Bottero
Jake Bottero on August 10, 2022 at 1:33 pm

Currently no activity at this location.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on April 6, 2019 at 11:04 am

Opened in 1910 with some vauville acts. Fitst movie on 30/4/1927 was “The red kimono”.

CStefanic
CStefanic on April 5, 2019 at 10:34 pm

Great article, Matt! I especially appreciate the photos taken. Very haunting, and yet serene in the visibility that aside from the removal of the seats, the place hasn’t been touched. Hopefully a restoration and career as a movie palace will ensue.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on April 27, 2018 at 3:21 pm

I visited the Arcade a while back. Check out a short write up and some photos at After the Final Curtain

AndrewBarrett
AndrewBarrett on April 25, 2014 at 1:10 am

Apparently, at some point before Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ opus 1057 was installed in 1927, this organ had a two-manual Smith theatre pipe organ, at least according to Junchen’s “Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ”, pg. 628. No further details are given, but I would assume Wurlitzer took the organ in on trade(?)

spectrum
spectrum on September 11, 2013 at 4:04 am

?? I have a capacity listing of 800 for the Arcade. That was possibly a result of S. Charles Lee’s 1938 remodeling with 1,400 being the original capacity. Looks like from one of the photos that much of the original ornate décor (at least of the proscenium) survived the 1938 remodeling.

nickmatonak
nickmatonak on September 25, 2010 at 1:20 am

This theater celebrates its 100th birthday this Saturday.
it’s opening was September 25, 1910

yuki
yuki on September 12, 2010 at 5:42 am

im wondering whats on the upper floors of the arcade.the floors were probably used as office space when it was still fully in use.would like to see pictures of the upper floors,but there dont seem to be any available in the interwebs.does anyone got pictures of the upper floors?

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on March 3, 2010 at 2:05 am

Great old photos.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 26, 2009 at 5:17 am

Here is a 1938 photo from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/dbqgqf

monika
monika on March 25, 2009 at 10:37 pm

Posting to get this theatre back on my “notifications” list….

monika
monika on February 2, 2009 at 5:32 am

I attended the Conservancy’s tour yesterday and was horrified to see the interior of the Arcade. It hurt to look at it. It was a feeling I felt just for the Arcade; the conditions of the other theatres on Broadway vary quite a bit but none of the others screamed “helpless” as the poor Arcade did.

socal09
socal09 on January 18, 2009 at 7:47 am

Cool to see current interior shots of this theatre. Looks like its too far gone to make it financial viable to restore. In the current economy, the gentrification of Broadway will stall and these old theatres will continue to decay.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 3, 2008 at 12:38 am

OK, the billboard is on the Cameo next door. Same issue, though.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 3, 2008 at 12:37 am

Has anyone noticed that the ad on the billboard is for a show that ended in May 2006? Who are they marketing to? Procrastinating art lovers?
http://tinyurl.com/6jafj2

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 26, 2008 at 3:23 pm

The interior photos were too dark. Here is one of them:
http://tinyurl.com/4t5p64

Outside:
http://tinyurl.com/4cgxre

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 25, 2008 at 11:47 pm

I took a few photos of the auditorium today, but I didn’t actually go down into the space. The owner of the electronics store was kind enough to let me look into the back, so I wasn’t going to start rummaging around. I will post the photos later.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 5, 2008 at 5:31 am

There’s a nice ahot of the Arcade at night about 90 seconds into this video:
http://tinyurl.com/53befw

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 20, 2008 at 4:02 am

I’ve seen that mis-captioned photo before, and notified them of the error, but they’ve never fixed it. At least the USC archive has fewer mis-captioned photos than the L.A. library does.