Broadway Theatre
428 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
428 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
16 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 59 comments
Here is a photo from you-are-here.com. My monitor is worthless on this antique I´m using, so you can let me know if the theater is actually shown in the photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2hrbjx
The interior is being renovated. I tried to get in for a look around, but one of the construction workers evicted me. I did see a good sized auditorium towards the back of the building.
Here is a photo from 1906. The building exists, but the theater has not yet opened:
http://tinyurl.com/2nbhb8
Here is a January 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y39aq3
Here is the 1928 photo again as the link has expired:
http://tinyurl.com/r5a6v
The herbal store has moved. The windows on the second floor are boarded up, and the building looks pretty shabby.
This is an LA Library photo which appears to be from the seventies:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics16/00007875.jpg
ken: You’re right, the view has to be southward. The tall, white building on the left a couple of blocks down is the Story Building on the southwest corner of Sixth and Broadway. The picture must have been taken with a telephoto lens, as all the building facades appear squashed, and you can see all the way to that old hotel on Eleventh Street between Main and Broadway which blocked the view south of downtown because of the bend in the streets.
The caption from the USC Archive says this 1928 photo is looking north from 4th Street. As the Broadway is on the east side of the street, the view would have to be looking south from 4th to 5th:
http://tinyurl.com/rutsj
This photo shows the Broadway at the north end of the street. It’s a little hard to make out, but it shows you the location relative to the other businesses. The photo of Chicken Boy is a bonus:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008061.jpg
Here is a map, circa 1950, which shows the Broadway between 4th and 5th:
http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/subwayarea.htm
I realize that this theater only had 400 seats, but it must have been quite a makeover to turn a shoe store into a theater. Although, the article from 1908 describes the space as a ‘fine large storeroom’.
So, the theatre must have opened in very late 1924 or early 1925 as the New Broadway Theater, and then dropped the “New” from its name before March of 1926 (assuming that the Times' reporters got the names right.) The building’s owners were lucky to get such a reliable tenant as the Broadway. That endless parade of arriving and departing retail tenants prior to the theatre’s 60-some year occupancy must have been annoying.
To fill in a gap in the my posting above, Hollander & Funke Shoes moved into 428 S. Broadway for a third time in 1918. From 1919 until 1922 the space seems to have been occupied by Young’s Shoes For Men.
This is the first mention of a theater, so the opening date should be sometime not too long after this advertisement for the Wurlitzer Company. There are a few of these ads for December.
(Dec. 9, 1924)
Listen to the new Wurlitzer Organ in the New Broadway Theater, which will open soon at 428 S. Broadway.
(March 15, 1926)
As scores of pedestrians and motorists passed in front, three armed bandits held up the Broadway Theater, 428 South Broadway, and obtained $400 in cash from the cashier and manager, according to police reports yesterday. The hold-up occurred late Saturday night shortly after theater crowds began pouring into the streets.
I’ve been doing a little searching and I’ve found a close time to the opening, but not the actual date. Here’s a little about what was at this address:
(Nov. 3, 1906)
Trustee Property No. 2
Located at 424-428 South Broadway. Ground Area 59x155 Feet.
(March 5, 1907)
One of the properties in which these Unit-Interests are offered is the new ten-story steel-frame, fire-proof, office building under construction at 426-428-430 South Broadway. This property is valued at $525,000 and is divided into 525 Units, which are being sold at the price of $1000 per Unit.
(July 19, 1908)
The fine large storeroom, 428 South Broadway, in the Trustee building, has been rented by a party of New York importers of oriental rugs,…..
(Dec. 28, 1908)
Wiley B. Allen Co. Formerly at 416-418 South Broadway Re-Opens at 428 So. Broadway Temporarily {Piano Store}
There are consistent ads for Hollander & Funke The Family Shoe Store at 428 S. Broadway from May 1908-October 1910.
General Agency New Home Sewing Machine Store occupied this address from 1913-1914.
Apparently, Hollander & Funke Shoe Store returned to this address for another year in 1915.
(Feb. 17, 1916)
When in a Hurry for Breakfast eat at Boos Bros.
BOOS BROS. Where Quality Never Varies
428 South Broadway
(May 24, 1921)
BUYS BROADWAY BUILDING.
….in the sale of the Broadway Central Building, a ten-story and basement class A structure at 424-428 South Broadway, by the Trustee Company to Oscar Gumbinsky, prominent paper pulp manufacturer of Chicago, for a consideration of $500,000…The building, erected in 1906, is one of the best constructed in the city, being of steel frame with concrete filler walls……
I notice that Rivest’s latest list only shows “? 1930-1988” for this theatre. I wonder what his source for the original 1919 date was? Both Tally’s New Broadway at 554 S. and the Tally’s Broadway at 833 S. are documented in the L.A. library photo collection, but this theatre isn’t, and it isn’t mentioned in the library’s California Index, either.
Apparently, Tally gave up the original New Broadway when he opened the Broadway next to Hamburger’s (later the May Company), and that’s when it became the Garnett. As the Broadway remained open until 1929, when it was demolished to make way for an expansion to the May Company, it would have made sense for Tally to revive the New Broadway name for this theatre at 428 S. Broadway. Even at that, the question remains of exactly when this theatre opened, though.
The vertical “Teatro Broadway” sign has been removed. The entire building is being renovated, possibly to become loft space as is currently the fashion downtown. Couldn’t be a better time than now to see if photographs of the inside can be taken. Joe, I got those Tally’s New Broadway dates from Mike Rivest’s old list.
Strangely enough, it was Tally’s New Broadway Theater at 554 S. Broadway which opened first, a few years before Tally’s Broadway Theater next door to Hamberger’s Department Store. The New Broadway is listed at cinema Treasures under its later name, the Garnett Theatre. The theatre next to Hamberger’s is listed here as Tally’s Broadway Theatre. There are extant photos of both theatres, with the locations identifiable by surrounding landmarks, so the names are confirmed.
Perhaps Tally called his first Broadway theatre the New Broadway in order to differentiate it from an even earlier Broadway Theatre owned either by him or by someone else. There was also a Clune’s Broadway Theatre (later called the Cameo), but it didn’t open until 1910. There have been at least four theatres bearing the name of the street, and at least two of them were operating simultaneously (Clune’s and Tally’s.)
As for this theatre at 428 S Broadway, I’ve never seen anything about its history anywhere but here. William says in his first comment that in 1924 it became the first theatre in what became the Metropolitan Theatre Circuit, but his second comment says that the theatre dates back only to the 1930’s. Magic Lantern says in comment five that it was Tally’s New Broadway from 1919 to 1925. I have no idea which of those conflicting dates is accurate, and don’t know the original sources for them.
I think the original Tally’s Broadway was at 6th & Broadway and then there were two subsequent theaters called Tally’s New Broadway. Does this sound correct? Here’s a few newspaper quotes:
(Nov. 28, 1909)abridged
…the property which now faces Broadway for sixty feet adjoining the Hamburger store immediately to the south….Yesterday Judge Hutton acted as attorney for the Lang Estate in the drawing of a lease to T.L. Tally for the term of fifty years for the same property….Through its terms T.L. Tally acquires for half a century the use of the valuable ground area specified, the depth of which is 165 feet. It is Mr. Tally’s intention to at once begin the erection of a theater building on the site. This structure will be of a height not yet determined, although both two-story and eight-story buildings are being considered. The ground floor of the building will be given over entirely to the Tally Broadway Theater, which is at present located on the east side of South Broadway, just off Sixth street.
I find this part pretty amazing:
(May 1, 1910)
TALLEY ERECTS $45,000 THEATER IN THIRTY DAYS-WILL OPEN TOMORROW NIGHT
The opening of Tally’s New Broadway Theater tomorrow night at No. 833 South Broadway will celebrate a record-breaking incident in the history of rapid building in Los Angeles. Mr. Tally has constructed in thirty days a two-story brick building, costing between $40,000 and $45,000. For a part of the last month he has had 150 men working night and day to complete the structure. The theater seats nearly 900 persons.
T.L. Tally was the first man to bring moving pictures to Los Angeles, and has been in the front rank of the business for fifteen years. He will make music a prominent feature of entertainment in his new theater. He has engaged several fine musicians for his orchestra, and will make a specialty of illustrated songs.
CALLING ALL THEATRE / MOVIE ENTHUSIASTS!!!
T'he Los Angeles Theatre' on South Broadway, LA is playing host to the UK television show ‘Dead Famous LIVE’. We are currently looking for people who would like to come along as part of the studio audience.
‘Dead Famous LIVE’ is a studio entertainment show all about Hollywood History and the paranormal. We will be welcoming celebrity guests on to the show and investigating famous locations around Hollywood which are rumoured to be haunted including the Los Angeles Theatre itself.
This is an invaluable chance to get access to the Los Angeles Theatre, the place where Charlie Chaplin’s ‘City Lights’ premiered in 1931 and to have a thoroughly great day out! (And its free!!)
We’re transmitting ‘Live’ back to the United Kingdom so expect it to be exciting and fun!
We will be filming on three days from 11th – 13th November between 11.30am – 4pm. If you are interested in coming on one or all of these days then email me for tickets!
.uk
I look forward to your responses!
I had completely forgotten about that Broadway entrance to the Metropolitan! There was originally an entrance on Hill Street, as well, but only the Sixth Street entrance remained when I first saw the theatre. The L.A. Library has a photo of the interior of the Broadway entrance to the Metropolitan.
ken mc; the photo link above is a very rare view of the Broadway entrance to the Grauman’s/Metropolitan/Paramount Theatre which was located on the N.E. corner of 6th Street and Hill Street. This entrance was only in use from 1923 until 1929, the Grauman name was removed from the building in 1926.
This picture from 1925 shows Grauman’s Theater at Sixth and Broadway. Can anyone tell me what listing this theater is under? I assume that it was renamed later. Thanks.
View link
If that address is immediately south of the Broadway Arcade Building, then it probably is the Garnett. I think the Arcade Building was completed in 1927, and the theatre would have been its next door neighbor, assuming it was still there by then. Here is a photo of the Broadway end of the Arcade Building dated 1929, showing the commercial building which replaced the theatre next door.