Hawaii Theatre
5941 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
5941 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
20 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 59 comments
Now a Salivation Army center.
Link with multiple photos not previously posted.
https://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com/2017/02/hawaii-theatre.html?fbclid=IwAR0-jNQ5G7G36HCzKTax11m8QLDs3Hpzazxo5zKwU2uLTHhc7iEczCfRGPg
1959 photo added, credit Willy Rizzo.
The first movie shown at the Hawaii Theater when it first opened on May 9, 1940 was “ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS”. The theater had a gala Grand Opening event with lots of publicity.
The Salvation Army took possession of the property in 1964 and gutted it and renovated it into a church in 1965 where they have remained to this day. The church was closed in 2010 for repairs and renovations, and reopened in early 2015 as it appears today as Ejercito de Salvacion, a Spanish-language church operated by the Salvation Army.
The last time I went to this site, in 2012, the building was closed up and it appeared as if it were either vacant or being used as a storage facility. A sad end to a formerly beautiful theater – but this is unfortunately very often the case with most picture palaces of the past.
Article from Showmen’s Trade Review about the opening of the Hawaii: http://www.archive.org/stream/showmenstraderev32lewi#page/n499/mode/2up/
1940 premiere of “Rebecca”. Photo added via Susan Milner‎.
Having the salvation army using this location is a good choice.
My father took me to movies there in the 60’s. I remember going to see The Guns of Navaronne there. The parking lot was in the back and you walked down this hallway that ran alongside the building and there were footprints painted on the floor leading to the box office. We thought that was fun to try and walk in the footprints!! I don’t remember the interior though. I think for a while they ran all night movies there in the late 60’s. We went after the clubs closed and saw Wait Until Dark one night. Although that could have been the World Theater nearer to Gower.
I must be confusing it with the World theatre then. Ironically i am living in the same area, about 2 blocks away and walk past these closed theatres pretty much everyday.
You would probably know better than I would about date, Don. I was in Hollywood only two or three times in the 1970s and early 1980s and only knew about the name change from hearsay, and I haven’t been to the Los Angeles area since 1986. I do remember when the Hawaii closed in 1963, though, as I visited Hollywood frequently during that period, and I was very disappointed that the theater closed before I ever got around to seeing a movie there.
Joe, I believe the “Hawaiian Gardens” days of the X 1 & 2 started in the early 90s. That’s when I attended screenings there anyway…
Do any interior shots exist of this theatre?
fieldight: The movie you saw in 1978 was probably at the theater down the block which was called the Hawaiian Gardens for while during the 1970s, but is listed at Cinema Treasures as the X 1 & 2 Theatres. The original Hawaii Theatre was definitely converted into the Salvation Army church after being closed in July, 1963.
I swear I saw a film at this exact theatre in 1978! But is says it was closed long before that. I think that’s inaccurate.
November 13th, 10:30 a.m., the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation will be hosting an “All About” the Music Box Theater at 6126 Hollywood Blvd, followed by a walk through of the nearby Hawaii, which has been a Salvation Army church for decades.
This event is free to LAHTF and Hollywood Heritage members; $7 to the general public.
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD CINEMAS – a JORGE AMEER documentary
Where the movie theatres are the stars!!!!
LOGLINE: Where the movie theatres are the stars!!!! An in depth look at the movie houses that have helped shaped the history and heritage of Hollywood from its golden age to today.
enjoy the trailer/promo to my doc CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD CINEMAS coming soon in theatres. join the fb page – upload (via vimeo) or embed this trailer. If interested in booking this film at your theatres or venue, please let us know
View link
for updates, screening info, festivals etc….
Dowload this trailer from vimeo at
http://www.vimeo.com/15117804
Thanks to all of those who participated and provided footage and photos to make this doc possible.
official website: www.hollywoodindependents.com
This theater was shown in a 1953 theater owners' documentary about the financial devastation wrought by the 20% federal tax, plus other encroachments on the box office, such as television.
The doc is called “The Case Against the 20% Federal Admission Tax on Motion Picture Theaters” and is a treasure trove of theaters operating but in imminent trouble, including long looks at their still-open theaters, marquees, etc., and interviews with the owners.
There are also plenty of shots of already-closed theaters; the writing was really on the wall already.
TCM ran this movie on 11/1/09 at about 6am and I stumbled upon it by accident; I don’t know when it will screen again but it is well worth seeking out.
Here’s the bottom panel of a newspaper ad from 1958 with the Hawaii as the lead house.
View link
Is the theater preserved inside by this church, or was it redone?
Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/4l349g
I used Google Maps to pull up a street view of this address. The Salvation Army conducted a very plain renovation of the exterior, in which the mural and marquee were removed.
The Downtown engagement was at the Music Hall which was the Tower Theatre and the other Hollywood engagement was at Studio or listed here as the Holly Theatre in Hollywood.
Ah, so the actors had won the awards for movies the theatre wasn’t showing. I hadn’t thought of that. So the marquee blurb might have been one of those ploys by a desperate theatre manager trying to find some way to attract audiences to a two-year-old re-release double billed with a newer release so unpromising that it has actually been placed below the older feature on the marquee.