Arcade Theatre

Some pictures of the interior:

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I think they were wired the results and then put the scores on an electronic board.

Here is a 1912 ad from the LA Times. I don’t think Mercantile Street is around anymore:
http://tinyurl.com/yv4dwo

Greg, Man do I know about the if onlys!!! This theater does have great potential. Im sooo Jealous you got a “real” tour, no offence to the Conservancy, of the stage etc. But I guess they cant allow us theater nuts to run amuck, though I think a bunch of us so called nuts is just what this theater needs!! Broadway seems to be in position to become the “everything old is new again "destination for Angeleno’s. A mix of theaters(Live and Film) clubs. But I’d love to see NO SHOPS in Theater lobbys, It just seems sacreligious somehow!! But just a thriving mix, revered for its architecture and innovative reuse…If Only!!

I talked my way into the auditorium this week. I’ve been in many times with the Conservancy but this time I was able to do some exploring. It seems that the lower lever boxes are still intact, or at least their outlines…. The stage is a lot larger then people think it to be – I was able to climb over some boxes to find the original dressing rooms staircase leading underneath the stage. It looks like the original light board is in place and some 1920’s era atmospheric lights are above the stage hanging from the grid. The fly loft is a good size and could be easily re-tooled for future usage for live theatre. This Theatre would be the PERFECT mid size venue – between 700 and 900 seats. The rake of the auditorium floor is rather steep, but that makes fantastic sight lines. I wish that the owners knew how much potential this theatre has…. Hell, I with I had unlimited funds and the deed to the building… I’ve been saying this for years! If only………..

Here is the Pantages building in 1910. This must have been close to the opening:
http://tinyurl.com/2s8a2k

ken mc, you posted two shots from around 1928 of the building showing a sign painted on the side of the building saying Dalton’s Theatre.

http://tinyurl.com/gi5iw

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008051.jpg

Here is an article from the LA Times dated 8/1/32:

Struck by an exploding stench bomb which was hurled at the stage of the Arcade Theater, 534 S. Broadway, while she was dancing, Miss Henrietta Peterson, 21, was undergoing treatment at the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital for severe cuts and other injuries. The bomb was thrown by an unidentified man late Saturday night.

The principals of the firm of Morgan, Walls, & Morgan were Octavius Morgan (1850-1922), his son Octavius Morgan Jr. (1886-1951) and John A. Walls (1858-1922). Octavius Morgan Sr. was the firm’s lead architect and one of the most prolific architects of his era in Los Angeles. Prior to 1910, when Octavius Jr. was made a partner, the firm had been called Morgan & Walls. Both the elder Morgan and John Walls had earlier been in partnership with the aging Ezra F. Kysor, architect of the Pico House and of St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, so the company had fairly deep roots in Los Angeles.

As far as I know, Julia Morgan was not related to Octavius Morgan, personally or professionally. Her office was in San Francisco, and the Hearst’s Examiner Building was her first commission in the southern part of the state, as well as her first project for Hearst. On that project she was associated with the Los Angeles firm of Haenke & Dodd. Her office had sole responsibility for designing Hearst’s castle at San Simeon, which project continued from the 1920s through the 1930s.

Correction: The architectural firm should be Morgan, Walls, & Morgan. Mr. Clements joined the firm during the early 1920s.

Here is a January 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yhgxd5

Here is a 1928 photo. You can see the Dalton’s advertisement on the side of the building:
http://tinyurl.com/gl5lw

I took a walking tour with the LA Conservancy yesterday, and the docent took us inside the Arcade, behind the electronics store. The store owner was very nice to let our group go back there.

The space was filled with merchandise, so it was a little hard to see. We were cautioned to keep to the aisle, which was steeply raked; our docent’s flashlight showed clearly that there were hole and pits in the concrete where the seats had been removed, very dangerous to step in. Some of these holes were probably outlets to a ventilation plenum beneath the seats, others were places where seat hardware had been removed.

The space was quite narrow. There was a ramp up to the stage level, and it was obvious by the way the ramp was contoured that there was a footlight trough along the front of the stage – you could kind of see it beyond the ramp beneath the stuff stored there. The proscenium was a gilded frame. Turning to face the auditorium from the stage you could see painted garlands along the front of the balcony. I think the walls were painted red; they were really peeling a lot, and there seemed to be a lot of water damage. The merchandise stored on the stage was protected by plastic sheeting suspended over it, so apparently the stage roof leaks. There was still a red velour valance hung, and a couple of battens, one that was actually fallen down. There was so much stuff stored in the room, piled up so high that it was really difficult to see much more.

Very few of my photos came out, sadly. It was really amazing to see this theatre.

The tour was definately worth taking; I want to take it again. I advise anyone taking the tour to bring a good flashlight with new batteries, and if you can figure out how to take photos in low light, please do so. We also saw the Cameo, the Los Angeles, the Million Dollar, the Warner and the Orpheum. We came tantalizingly close to sneaking into the Palace, too! Will update those theatre pages.