An all access pass inside the final and most spectacular theatre built in the historic Broadway Theater District in DTLA.

The Los Angeles has always been one of my favorite old theaters within the historic Broadway Theater District.

The Los Angeles has always been one of my favorite old theaters within the historic Broadway Theater District.

I've been inside of it a few times before but never like this.

I’ve been inside of it a few times before but never like this.

On a recent tour of some of Pasadena's historic buildings, I was introduced to the Executive Director of The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, Escott O.Norton. I've always loved old theaters and now have a connection that will allow me access into some of LA's oldest and most threatened movie houses around.

On a recent tour of some of Pasadena’s historic buildings, I was introduced to the Executive Director of The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, Escott O.Norton. I’ve always loved old theaters and now have a connection that will allow me access into some of LA’s oldest and most threatened movie houses around.

In 1930, movie mogul William Fox – banged up from a fatal car crash and nearly $100 million in debt – agreed to allow independent exhibitor H.L. Gumbiner to own and operate a movie theater on a section of his property in downtown L.A.

This Los Angeles Theatre was constructed between 1930 and 1931.

Gumbiner, who owned the Cameo and Tower theaters, would develop part of the section fronting Broadway. Having already worked with him on the Tower Theatre, Gumbiner hired architect S. Charles Lee to create what was to be the final and most spectacular of downtown’s movie palaces.

It was commissioned by H.L. Gumbiner, an independent film exhibitor from Chicago, who also built the nearby Tower Theatre. 

Employing thirty-two draftsmen working in two shifts, Lee had the plans for the height-limit theater wrapped up in a mere ten weeks. With 600 people rushing to complete the theater for its scheduled opening, the Sumner-Sollitt Company, the project’s general contractors, finished the building in five months.

Designed by S. Charles Lee, and Samuel Tilden Norton, the theater features a French Baroque interior.

The opulent fifty-foot-tall lobby, complete with crystal chandeliers and a grand staircase leading up to the mezzanine level.

The opulent fifty-foot-tall lobby, complete with crystal chandeliers and a grand staircase leading up to the mezzanine level. The mezzanine includes a three-tiered marble and crystal fountain.

The cutting-edge theater opened with an $80,000 air-conditioning set-up......and a $34,000 Westinghouse switchboard allowing ushers to keep track of seat counts.

The state of the art theater included a $34,000 Westinghouse switchboard which allowed ushers to keep track of seat counts and $80,000 worth of air-conditioning equipment to help keep it’s customers nice and cool.

The Los Angeles Theatre, “the Theatre Unusual” and “the ultra of ultras in its modernistic appointments and its conveniences”, opened on January 30, 1931, with the premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights. (Two notes: first, the film, not silent but sans dialog, failed to take advantage of the theater’s state-of-the-art sound system. Second, it took nearly three years to produce City Lights – about six times the amount of time to build the landmark theater itself.)

It opened on January 30, 1931, with the premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s, City Lights.

Charlie Chaplin attended opening night, of course (and got royally cheesed when Gumbiner stopped the movie midway to rave about the theater), as was Pasadena resident Albert Einstein.

Charlie Chaplin was there opening night and was annoyed when Gumbiner stopped the movie midway to rave about the theater.

More than 25,000 people thronged Broadway that night, effectively shutting down center city. The L.A. Times reported “the whole traffic on the chief downtown thoroughfares for a mile on either side of the theater was at a complete standstill for more than two hours, store windows were broken, clothes were torn, windshields in cars were smashed and many women fainted in the milling multitudes gathered to make a movie holiday.”

 

The sound system was also the most modern available. Not only was the film sound state-of-the art, the theatre also had an extensive public address system with banks of amplifiers in the projection booth powering speakers and microphones throughout the theatre.

Large speakers were also installed above the proscenium and in the organ chambers for live shows, and the auditorium was one of the first to be ‘tuned’ for amplified sound.

The projection equipment was ultra-modern and the large booth was able to hold extra projectors in case of a breakdown, as well as two large spotlights and a Brenograph, the machine that projected song slides and announcements on the screen.

Another level down is the basement containing the main lounge with its glass ceiling, reminiscent of something you might find in a luxury ocean liner.

Down in the basement was the main lounge with its glass ceiling, reminiscent of something you might find in a luxury ocean liner.

Back in the day, after the night’s films had ended, the theater would move its orchestra to the lounge, roll up the carpets, and hold dances on the parquet floor.

Back in the day, after the night’s films had ended, the theater would move its orchestra to the lounge, roll up the carpets, and hold dances on the parquet floor.

Off the main lounge there's the ladies’ restroom...

Off the main lounge was the ladies’ restroom…

...featuring different-colored marble in each stall.

…which featured different colored marble in each stall.

The circus-themed tent plaster ceiling, is topped off with decorative severed animal heads.

There was also a children’s play room/nursery area, with murals by Anthony Heinsbergen and a circus-themed plaster ceiling topped off with decorative severed animal heads.

Maybe it was less creepy back then.

Maybe it was less creepy back then.  

The Depression wasn’t kind to Gumbiner, his company going bankrupt just three months after the theater opened. By the end of the year, the Los Angeles Theatre had shut its doors. William Fox soon re-opened it as a second-run house, running it until 1939 when Metropolitan Theatres took over the lease. Metropolitan continued the theater as a second-run house until 1944 when they switched it back to first-run pictures.

Fox West Coast operated the theater beginning in 1949 as the major studios were forced to divest their theater holdings. They ran the Los Angeles until 1962.

The Los Angeles Theatre closed in 1994.

Today it is one of four movie palaces in downtown owned by the Delijani family and Delson Investment Co.

Today it is one of four movie palaces in downtown owned by the Delijani family and Delson Investment Co.

Events are still held, and it’s used frequently for film shoots.

In fact you can see it in Batman Forever, Alien Nation, Man on the Moon, Houdini, Escape from LA, Chaplin, Charlie's Angels II, and The Prestige. It also makes appearances in New York, New York and 1941.

Now that "Bringing Back Broadway" is on a roll there's hope that the Los Angeles, along with all the other amazing theaters within the historic corridor, will be restored and appreciated once again.

Now that “Bringing Back Broadway” is on a roll, there’s hope that the Los Angeles, along with all the other amazing theaters within the historic corridor, will be restored and appreciated once again. Break a leg, LAT!

 

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