RKO Hillstreet Theatre

kencmcintyre on December 26, 2005 at 9:38 am

The LA Library dates this photo as May 5, 1947, but the shot is clearly from the late 20’s or early 30’s:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics34/00036956.jpg

UKuser on November 2, 2005 at 12:47 am

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!

Joe Vogel on December 28, 2004 at 5:11 am

The Hill Street Theatre opened on March 20th, 1922. It was built by the Orpheum Circuit as one of their “Junior Circuit” houses, which featured continuous Vaudeville shows of five acts, with only one headliner, alternating with movies, all day long. (The regular Orpheum Circuit theatres were two-show a day houses, strictly for Vaudeville, with more acts, more headliners, more elaborate staging and costumes and, of course, higher ticket prices.)

It was re-opened as the RKO Theatre on September 11th, 1929, but popular usage of the earlier name led the RKO circuit to begin advertising it as the RKO Hillstreet Theatre.

In its later years, it was operated simply as the Hillstreet Theatre by Metropolitan Theatres, which occasionally used the big stage for live music shows, but mostly ran movies. As downtown movie going declined in the late 1950s, the Hillstreet suffered more, and earlier, than did the somewhat smaller theatres on busier Broadway. I attended movies there several times from 1961-1963, and even on Friday and Saturday evenings, the sparse audiences, sometimes no more than a few dozen patrons, were lost in the cavernous auditorium. The closing of the Hillstreet was announced in a Los Angeles Times article of April 29th, 1963. It was demolished not long after.

The Hillstreet was not the most beautiful of downtown theatres, but I miss it as much as any of them, as it is the first theatre other than my neighborhood house of which I have any clear memory, dating from the late 1940s- early 1950s, when we went to an occasional matinee there. I can still see the shiny aluminum railings of the stairway to the balcony (where we never sat, which made it all the more desirable), and the five big oval reveals in the orchestra floor ceiling under the balcony, each lined with lights concealed in its coved edges and under a pendant fixture in the center of each reveal, so that each was a big, oval doughnut-shape of soft light. At the age of five, I thought it was about the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I’m glad that I had the chance to refresh my memory by seeing it again, a dozen years later, before this theatre was taken away forever.

William on December 17, 2003 at 2:00 pm

In 1947 the RKO Hillstreet Theatre went through a remodeling. The primary aims in remodeling the front and lobby of the RKO Hillstreet Theatre in Los Angeles were two: 1)to eliminate the gothic architecture in the lobby and 2) to open the lobby to the street, so as actually to bring the theatre entrance into the street.
The first part was accomplished by designing a dome containing a spiral indirect-lighting cove starting from the center of the dome to the outer rim and continuing at the center down a structural column. The design looks very simple but required extensive study to make it work. The second part was accomplished by demolishing the two side box offices and stripping the column at the entrance down to a minimum, with the result that there is now 60 feet with clear opening from street to lobby againist 45 feet before modernization. The box office is anchored to the center column and its location is ideal from the standpoint of design and efficient operation.
The wall surfaces are polished terrazzo with display frames and mirrorsso arranged to get maximum efficiency for displays in keeping with good taste. The ceiling is kept at the same level as the marquee to carry out the idea of bringing the lobby into the street. The lighting of the lobby is accomplished with floodlights reccessed into the ceiling showing just sufficient source of light to show an interesting pattern of this lighting.
The floor is non-slip terrazzo designed in a pattern indicating traffic lanes from sidewalk to entrance doors. Entrance pilasters are streamlined, each containing two standard display frames in simple but effective stainless steel frames. All display frames are illuminated indirectly. Large wall frames are exceptionally deep to permit three dimensional displays. All trim was dispensed with leaving terrazzo returns into the display. This arrangement focuses attention to the display proper. On the opposite side of the large wall frame (20 feet long by 6 feet high) is a wall mirror showing the reflection of the large frame. The large frames are equipped with sectional sliding plate-glass doors.
Entrance doors are simulating a glass screen giving maximum vision to the inner lobby. The doors are heavy polished plate glass set in narrow nonferrous frames. This type of door screen is known as the Wanhein screen.
The inner lobby was recently streamlined and contains some interesting features. The new ceiling contains a seriesof coves and domes, cleverly designed to meet all requirements and unusual conditions. One side wall contains a candy stand reminiscent of a candy box with bold modern baroque outlines, Plexglas and catchy display of merchandise. The popcorn machine is built in inconspicuously as part of the design. The opposite wall is all mirrors reflecting the candy stand. Built into the mirror wall are are all glass jewel cases for three dimensional displays. The dated wrought iron railing was replaced with a cast aluminum rail of modern design. The finished work was the result of the combined efforts of the Operating and Construction Departments of RKO Theatres and the Heinbergen Decorating Company of Los Angeles.

The RKO Golden Gate Theatre did not get as large of a remodel as did the Hillstreet Theatre. If you go to the Golden Gate Theatre, you can see how the Hillstreet Theatre once looked like before the remodel in 1947.

DavidT on November 22, 2003 at 8:55 pm

To see a 1945 photo of the RKO Hillstreet marquee click here:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics05/00002109.jpg
To see an interior view of the Hillstreet Theater at the time of its 1922 opening click here:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015344.jpg
To see another 1922 view of the Hillstreet Theater auditorium click here:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015339.jpg

DavidT on July 27, 2002 at 3:02 pm

The RKO Hillstreet gave up the ghost in 1963. One of the last films to show there was Marlon Brando in “The Ugly American”.