Central Theatre
314 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
314 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
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The Central Theatre was located along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. It has been demolished and most recently housed a bridal shop on the site.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
OK, there’s some contradiction there between my two comments, but I think the 1973 building is in fact the Central theater location. I can’t explain the 1960 photo.
Ken: The 1973 picture is not the Central’s building. It has arched windows on the top floor, while the Central’s building had square-topped windows. Also, the building to the left of it is too low to be the 5-floor Bradbury Building, and the building to the right has a light well on the side, which the Cozy’s building didn’t have. The State library probably mislabeled this photo.
OK, Joe, I’ll buy that. The theater was around in 1955, but gone by 1960, apparently.
I’m now wondering where that building with the arched windows was (or is) located. It looks familiar, but I can’t quite place it.
Perhaps it was on the other side of Broadway. I know there was a caption originally, but I would have to dig through the site to find it.
The Central Theatre can clearly be seen in the 1933 movie ‘FOOTLIGHT PARADE’, starring James Cagney, Ruby Keeler, & Joan Blondell.
In this film chorus girls change costumes in buses while traveling from theatre to theatre, and pass by the Central and Million Dollar.
The Central Theatre is listed at this address in the 1929 Los Angeles City Directory. I don’t have access to any earlier directories, so that’s the earliest I can confirm that it was open.
That 1973 photo was 354 S. Broadway, not 314. That’s one of the two that burned down in Feb. 2007, exposing their original façades that were hidden behind a late-‘70s remodel.
A thread at the L.A. ModCom preservation board, http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8572, has before and after photos of that building, and the L.A. Times article about the fire.
You can see the Cozy and the empty spot where the Central was in the background of another early ‘70s photo from that thread illustrating where the fire was.
View link
Here’s an image of the Central from one of the recently-uploaded Palmer Conner collection online at the Huntington. March 10, 1955: https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5489/14120931334_3cb5a43c54_b.jpg
Here is a zoomable version of the photo Nathan linked to.