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LA’s Million Dollar Theatre To Reopen As Live Performance Venue
posted by
btkrefft
on
August 1, 2005 at 4:49 am
LOS ANGELES, CA — The long-vacant Million Dollar Theatre on Broadway, which opened in 1918 for Sid Grauman, could be reopened soon as a concert venue (in the main auditorium) and cafe (in the lobby space).
Robert Voskanian, who manages the Stock Exchange nightclub, has recently signed a lease with the Million Dollar’s owner, the Yellin Company, which would bring the 2000-plus seat former movie palace back to life. Its last use was as a church.
Voskanian predicts that the Million Dollar “is going to bring a lot of people downtown”. Yellin Company vice president Anne Peaks adds, “We hope everything comes together because we think it would be wonderful for Broadway.”
Comments (1)
I always thought City of LA made a big mistake when they put all there money into the Music Center on Bunker Hill and none into Broadway which was both the shopping district and theatre district. Chicago revived and opened the large loop movie palaces for concerts and musicals. Cleveland revived Playhouse Square,Boston has revived its theatre district as many cities accross the United States. The Music Center is like this big fortress which didn’t due much to help downtown for many decades. If the City had invested on Broadway these past decades into restoring the theatre district downtown would have revived much faster than it has. The city should have invested heavely in restoring the buildings along Broadway and giving major tax breaks in attracting new business on Broadway as well as Spring Street. The street needs more invsestments like the Million Dollar and the restored Orpheum. The investment into Bunker Hill these past decades sucked the life out of these historic buildings in the old downtown and turned most of them into retail swap meets.If I was LA I would be ashamed that I let my major downtown street Broadway be so rundown for the last 40 years.brucec