Forum Theatre

4050 W. Pico Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90019

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Showing 26 - 50 of 55 comments

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 15, 2007 at 10:16 am

Here is a May 1957 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/ywywvg

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 14, 2007 at 6:44 pm

From the LA Times, 5/11/24:

Private Auto Stalls Break Out Locally

Individual numbered stalls for automobiles is the innovation to be inaugurated by the new Forum Theater which will have its grand opening coincident with the Los Angeles premiere of the D.W. Griffith film “America” on the evening of May 15. The Forum management believes that this will make the first time a theater ever had maintained its own auto park with numbered stalls reserved for patrons just as seats in the theater are reserved.

When a patron buys tickets he can at the same time purchase for the nominal charge of ten cents a parking space reservation, which will be held exclusively for him just as are his seats. Accommodations are provided for 500 cars and because of ample space there will be no delay on entering or leaving the park. No tipping will be permitted and patrons are assured of being able to time their arrival so that they may park their car and reach their seats in time for the opening of the performance, all within five minutes.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 6, 2007 at 8:41 pm

You can see ad for the Forum in this 1951 photo from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/38wsle

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 28, 2007 at 9:47 am

No, it looked like they were pulling everything from the interior. I don’t get to that neighborhood much, so I don’t know what’s been done since October.

vokoban
vokoban on May 28, 2007 at 7:35 am

What type of construction? On the outside?

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 27, 2007 at 10:49 pm

From the LA Times, 5/16/24:

FORUM’S OPENING BRILLIANT
Carnival Spirit Prevails at New Theater as Stars and Social Leaders See “America”
FORUM MECCA IN FILM DEBUT

Another magnificent climax in bright light history of Los Angeles was attained last night. Far from the usual haunts of the playgoers, the Forum Theater, one of the most unusual of pioneering projects in construction and location, flung open its portals, and Pico and Norton streets, where the house is located, became a dazzling, glittering blazing focal point of interest.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 31, 2006 at 8:34 am

There is some construction or renovation going on at present.

junglero
junglero on August 12, 2006 at 10:25 pm

The Pacific Jazz lable used the Forum Theater to record many classic jazz sessions in the mid to late ‘50’s. West coast jazz stars such as Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Bill Perkins, and even Hoagy Carmichael graced the stage of the theater to lay down some remarkable music for Pacific Jazz records. I think it was the only record lable in LA to take advantage of the theater’s acoustics for recording purposes. So even if the Forum is no longer used to show movies, its unique theater sound is preserved on these recordings.

25cents
25cents on June 22, 2006 at 11:20 am

I spent many Saturday afternoons and just as many quarters watching
the matinee features and serials at the FOURM in the 40’s.

After visiting the URL provided by ken mc of the aerial view of the Forum Theatre,
I found additional image at the same LAPL (LA Public Library) site.
View link
Some are interior shots some are exterior duplicates.

Sorry for the long post, but I thought some might be interested in a bit of local
history, before it is lost entirely. This was my neighborhood as a really young
boy.

On Pico Blvd and across Norton Ave east of the theater stood the Forum Market complete with
iron fold-away front, crank-down awnings and roll-away fruit and vegetable gondolas
which were pushed onto the sidewalk every morning and back inside at closing.

It was a huge market which teamed with customers all day long, it had nearly everything
and every service you could possibly want. Truly a forum.

In addition to the departments ordinarily found in the super-markets of today,
the Forum also had a sit down deli, a dry cleaner, an enormous glassed-in bakery with
a gas fired, continuously revolving baking shelves and a real meat department. There were also
a post office, a jewelry/watch repair booth, and a drug-store.

vokoban
vokoban on February 5, 2006 at 2:04 pm

I bribed my Chinese friend with breakfast and asked her to try to pass for Korean to get into this building today. The exterior is pretty much intact, but the auditorium is destroyed. It looks as though a new building was built inside of the theater, so the original might be above the very strange A-frame ceiling of the auditorium. I cannot imagine why anyone would spend the money to construct an A-frame ceiling underneath the huge original ceiling. The building is massive on the outside and when you see the interior space now, it feels as though you are in a tiny church. Most of the detail in the lobby and stairs going up on the sides is still there, although it has been painted over with white and beige glossy paint. I imagine it would have been gold originally. There is no sign of any murals left unless they are behind walls or above the wierd ceiling.

vokoban
vokoban on January 1, 2006 at 10:58 am

Here’s some pretty good proof that this theater was built for the sole purpose of showing movies:

(Jan. 22, 1922)
Contracts were executed yesterday by financial backers of the Symphony Theater for the erection of the Forum Theater at the corner of Pico street and Norton avenue with a seating capacity of 2000 and estimated to cost $900,000. An orchestral organ, said to be the largest theater organ in the world, will be installed by the W.W. Kimball Company of Chicago. This organ, it is said, is to be more massive than the great organ in the Morman Tabernacle at Salt Lake City and, it is said, will cost $100,000. Dr. H.B. Breckwedel, managing director of the Symphony, states that the Forum will mark a new departure in the future of motion-picture houses for Los Angeles, as he is following the theory that big theaters must be built away from the congested district with ample provision for the parking of automobiles. “Also our policy will be to support the open market, offering nothing but first-run pictures and not to be tied to any one producer,” said Dr. Breckwedel yesterday.

LA Times

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 12, 2005 at 11:24 am

Interior photo, from the California State Library:

View link

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 11, 2005 at 5:37 pm

A photo by William Reagh:

View link

stevebob
stevebob on October 30, 2005 at 8:28 am

I stumbled upon the Forum by accident back in the 1970s. The edifice is so striking that I had to park, get out of my car, and get a closer look.

I recall looking for information about the Forum and seeing drawings of it, inside and out, at the Los Angeles Public Library downtown. (Back then, images that are now available digitally from the LAPL website could seen in hard-copy form.) The auditorium looked interesting, all on one level and circular rather than rectangular. I don’t recall the decor, other than perhaps murals on the walls.

This was so long ago that I’m not sure if my recollection of those drawings is accurate. Has anyone who’s been inside the auditorium describe it? (If I still lived in L.A., I’d definitely attend a church service to find out for myself!)

William
William on October 5, 2005 at 2:03 pm

The Forum was built as a movie theatre. In it’s day 1924, the homes and area around the theatre was very nice. The theatre was built as an large neighborhood house for their soon to be growing chain. Which they only built six only theatres (Hollywood Warner, Warner Beverly Hills, Wiltern [formerly called the Western], Huntinton Park, San Pedro, Forum and took over the lease on the old Pantages Theatre at 7th & Hill Street, Downtown. Fox West Coast Theatres did the same thing in many areas of Los Angeles.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 24, 2005 at 7:45 pm

Here is a picture courtesy of the LA Library. Sometimes you have to know when to say enough…

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015304.jpg

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 20, 2005 at 9:24 pm

I thought that they may have been speaking in tongues…

Ephraim
Ephraim on September 17, 2005 at 10:47 pm

Of course it’s a Korean church. That’s why I needed an interpreter.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 17, 2005 at 5:08 pm

I think this is a Korean church now.

Ephraim
Ephraim on September 14, 2005 at 10:38 pm

I was told by the minister of the church that now occupies the site(through an interpreter) that the Forum was originally an opera house.

Ephraim

Englewood
Englewood on June 18, 2005 at 2:50 pm

Found a real nice 1926 aerial photo of the Forum Theater.

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater3/00015747.jpg

William
William on April 21, 2005 at 3:15 pm

There was a fountain near the north east corner of the building, when the theatre opened. It would be on the left side of the above picture.

Englewood
Englewood on January 14, 2005 at 9:20 pm

Several years ago, the Los Angeles Times did a feature on this theater. I remember the article (just can’t remember when it was). I made it point to catch a glimpse of it anytime I was in the area. It is a beautiful building. It sits at kind of an angle.

William
William on April 12, 2004 at 4:41 pm

When this theatre was used as part of testing Cinerama. It had the three Century Cinerama projectors and a pair of Norelco 70/35mm projectors to run and test the single lens Ultra-Panavision (Cinerama) format.