Grand Theater
110 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90012
110 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90012
5 people
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If you have good eyes or a magnifying glass, you can see a Grand Theater in the upper left of this 1914 USC photo. I don’t know if it’s this Grand or not. The photo description points out the Grand or I wouldn’t have seen it. It still took me a while:
http://tinyurl.com/296c9x
Here is an 1889 photo from the USC collection:
http://tinyurl.com/2ac5zd
Here is an 1890 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/22f6le
Go into “browse photo collection” on the LAPL site and put in “Teatro Hidalgo” as the keyword. You will get the photo and the caption.
Thanks for the photo. That is the Teatro Hidalgo I remember. Do you know whether there are any photos available that would show the buildings to the left of the theatre (or the right as we’re facing it)? I recall that the Panaderia Esperanza and the Colon Restaurant were to the right of the theatre (or left as we face it) and the theatre was next to the Plaza Church. But it doesn’t look that way in this photo. I tried logging on to the Library site to find any commentary to go with the picture, but wasn’t able to — could only get the picture through your info. Again, many thanks. I appreciate it very much.
WDL
Here is a photo of Teatro Hidalgo from the 1920s:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067232.jpg
wdl: A Principal Theater at 223 N. Main St. is listed on Cinema Treasures, but so far nobody has added any information about it. That location would have been on the west side of Main north of Temple. Everything on that block was demolished for Civic Center expansion ages ago.
If the Hidalgo was next door to the Plaza Church, then it must be the theater listed on Cinema Treasures as the Estella. That building has also been demolished. There are a few comments on the page, but most of them are about the theater’s location, not about the theater itself.
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but there’s typically very little information available on the Internet (almost the only source I have available now) about these smaller theaters.
Thanks for the info on the Grand. I’m very familiar with it (even recognized someone in the interior shot of players from the L.A. library you linked me to) because my mother was an actress/singer in the Spanish language theatre in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s. I’m looking for pics and info on the Hidalgo Theater on Main St. next to the Plaza Church and the Principal Theater (Teatro Principal)also on Main. Both were very active during that period. Does anyone have any information on either one?
Thanks.
WDL
Duly noted.
No, the first Los Angeles Theatre on the west side of Spring between 2nd and 3rd was the one that became the Lyceum. There was a second Los Angeles Theatre farther down Spring Street, on the east side between 3rd and 4th, and that’s the one that became the Empress. The Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway is the third of that name. The second Los Angeles Theatre is not yet listed at CT under any name.
Not so mysterious, I don’t think. The Los Angeles is the Lyceum, which is listed on CT. I imagine the Empress would also be an aka for the Los Angeles/Orpheum/Lyceum.
Ken: I see there’s a mention of the Main Street Olympic, too, and of the mysterious second Los Angeles Theater on Spring Street which later became the Empress. I wonder if Marcus Loew kept the name Empress for it? That might make it easier to track down.
Here are excerpts from a 1962 article in the Pasadena Independent which discusses early theaters in Los Angeles:
So, without overture, let’s raise the curtain on a period around 1912. The Mason Opera House, Broadway near First, was a favorite for road shows and notable stars. Flashing back to before the turn of the century in Los Angeles, the former Child’s Opera House, Main near First, was housing Orpheum vaudeville. Later known as The Grand, “The Campus” had its long run there. For several seasons Ferris Harlman’s musical comedy company had its home at The Grand. Other Main Street attractions were Lewis Stone at the Belasco and the great productions at the Burbank.
Burlesque wasn’t a bad word in those days and a favored theater was The Olympic, across from the Burbank near 6th Street, where Blossom
Seeley and Frances White gained stardom. Jules Mendel (Pickle Heinz) was top comedian, supported by his wife, Rose. Decorative Vera Hansdale took the spotlight.
Switching to Spring Street, the Orpheum had moved to the Los Angeles Theater near 2nd. Perhaps you read recently that L.E. Behymer staged the opera, “La Boheme,” there just 65 years ago. In this Orpheum
Leo Carrillo got his start as a story teller. Another theater further
south then took the name Los Angeles Theater and presented Kolb and Dill in “Pigs is Pigs.” Later Sullivan and Considine turned the house to 10, 20 and 30 cent vaudeville, changed the name to Empress, and finally sold out to Marcus Loew.
Now, to Broadway where, in 1911 the third Orpheum opened near 6th. The last and finest Orpheum opened about 1925, near 9th, but was shortlived for major vaudeville’s day ended in less than four years.
I posted the photo on the Roosevelt page. You may want to post your theory about the address on that page as the photo caption says Spring and Temple.
The Electric at 212 N. Main is listed at Cinema Treasures after all, under its later name, the Roosevelt. I actually knew that last year, when I posted something about it on the Optic Theatre page, but I’d completely forgotten about it.
The sign just says “Theatre”, which doesn’t help.
OK, I’ve found a reference to Talley’s Electric Theatre of 1902, and it was at 262 South Main, so the Electric Theatre at 212 N. Main was a different place.
Ken: That doesn’t look like Temple and Spring looked in 1936. For one thing, the ground is level, and by 1936 Temple and Spring was a block farther west (on the hillside) than it had been before city hall was built. I’m thinking it’s probably Temple and Main, and the theatre is on Main Street. My guess is that it’s a theatre once called The Electric, at 212 N. Main. I don’t think it’s listed on CT under any name, but it’s in a 1923 list of Main Street theatres running Paramount films which was posted by vokoban on the Optic Theatre page last December.
I wonder if this is Thomas Talley’s famous Electric Theatre, which I believe was indeed in the 200 block of Main Street, but I’d always thought it was the 200 South block?
What theater was at Temple and Spring in 1936? Any ideas?
http://tinyurl.com/zwah2
Here is a photo that I found purely by accident on the Denver Public Library website. The Orpheum Grand is in the middle of the photo, which was taken between 1895 and 1902:
http://tinyurl.com/mcem2
LA Library dates this photo as 1/31/33, but I think it’s from a much earlier date:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics22/00045572.jpg
Here are some additional interior photos from 1936:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics34/00036859.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics34/00036856.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics34/00036861.jpg
The LA Library describes this theater as the first Orpheum, between 2nd and 3rd on Spring. The Lyceum later occupied that spot. The photo is from 1886:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics34/00036867.jpg
That second picture is especially interesting. It shows the “Teatro Mexico” sign on the wall of the fly tower— or is that the back wall of the auditorium? I’ve ever seen a ground plan of the place, so I don’t know how far back from Main Street the auditorium began. Other early theatres, including the Mason, the Hippodrome and the Burbank all had their auditoriums well back from the street- partly occupying lots that actually fronted the next streets over. Everything on the block has been obliterated, so it would take an old ground plan (such as one of the Sanborn Insurance Maps) or an aerial photograph to find out how the theatre was arranged on its site.
This is from the late 1920s. The theater is on the left side of the street:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014195.jpg