Fox Criterion Theatre
642 S. Grand Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90017
642 S. Grand Avenue,
Los Angeles,
CA
90017
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What follows is the first account of the Kinema Theatre
to appear in the LA Times where the name Kinema is mentioned;
a building permit for it having just been registered.
LA Times; Mar 4, 1917; pg. V1
Fine Drawings on Exhibition
Perspective of New Film House
for Grand Avenue is Included among
hundreds of interesting Plans on View.
One of the interesting drawings now on
view at the Architectural Exhibition on the
sixth floor of the Metropolitan Building is
the perspective of a large motion-picture
theatre planned by Dodd & Richards for
a local syndicate and to be erected on the
east side of Grand avenue just north of
Seventh Street. The project, is is understood,
wil go ahead at once, application for a
building having already been made.
The plan at the exhibition shows a structure
in the style of the French renaiisance and of
onate front. The building will have a height
equivalent to four stories and will be of
steel frame construction, the walls being of
brick and the facing of terra cotta. It will
cover a ground area of 90x155 feet. The
seating capacity of the auditorium will be
2500. The new film house will be known
as the Kinema Theatre and is understood
to have been leased to Oakland theatrical
interests for a term of years.
William J. Dodd, architect of the Criterion (a.k.a. Kinema) was associated with the engineer William Richards after 1916.
The firm Dodd and Richards built many of the important commercial structures of the old downtown LA; for example, Pacific Center.
Dodd also designed many of the glam houses for the wealthy; for example, the original Canfield/Danziger mansion called Bel Air
now the location of the posh town of Bel Air.
See: website URL <http://www.home.earthlink.net/~hdrctw34
Here is a great photo of the Criterion in 1930 with a marquee advertising a Joan Crawford film called “PAID”…. the “greatest amazing role of her career!”…
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028666.jpg
For a while, before the rise of the Wilshire Midtown and Miracle Mile districts, it looked as though the western side of Downtown would become the upscale part of the city. Robinson’s Department Store, many small shops catering to the well-to-do, several of the city’s best clubs, and a number of pricey restaurants opened there in the second and third decades of the century. The Biltmore had an entrance on Grand Avenue, its adjacent theater was right around the corner on Fifth Street, the hotel which became the Mayflower was built across Grand from the Biltmore, the new central library had a side entrance from that street, and the extension of Wilshire Boulevard made Grand Avenue more easily accessible to the auto-driving population of the affluent neighborhoods to the west. Building a new, elite theater on the street probably seemed like a good bet.
I have come across an interesting proposal which was announced in the January 16th, 1925 issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor. It said that architect Thomas Lamb had prepared the preliminary plans for a theater extending from Flower Street to Figueroa Street, (the exact block is not given, but it must have been one of those between Fifth and Eighth Streets) for a Mr. Thomas Phillips who was representing a group of New York and San Francisco Capitalists. The mammoth theater would have been bigger than New York’s Roxy, with 6500 seats projected. The building would have been 333x300 feet, and would have had ten elevators.
Had this massive project (covering more than half of one of Downtown’s large blocks) been carried out, it might have helped pull the downtown theater district westward, but I suppose we’ll never know. It’s equally likely that it would have had a fate similar to that of the San Francisco Fox, which was a bit too big and a bit too far up Market Street to survive for long. It is interesting, though, that the last movie theater built downtown was the Laemmle multiplex on Figueroa Street, and that there have been recent proposals for a multiplex to be built on Figueroa somewhere near the Staples Center. Downtown Los Angeles has finally shifted west, but too late for the Criterion.
WIth Broadway and Main Street to the east and Hill Street to the west, this was the Downtown movie going districts. Anything else located other than in those areas, closed soon or shortly after that.
After the Tower Theatre finished it’s engagement of the “Jazz Singer”, it moved over to the Criterion Theatre. The Criterion Theatre was equipped to handle Vitaphone films. In regards to the Criterion’s final name. Yes, It was renamed the Grand Internationale. The theatre would be damaged by a fire during this time and was closed forever.
Details on this theatre can be found in the journal Marquee Vol 30 #2 published by The Theatre Historical Society of America>>>>I quote;
Kinema
Opened: 15th December 1917
Architect: William J. Dodd
Seating Capacity: 1,856
Organ: Robert Morton 5 Manual/26 Ranks
The first truly “deluxe” movie theatre in Los Angeles, with an attractive classical facade reflecting the movie industry’s new found respectability, the Kinema was improbably sited three blocks west of Broadway on Grand Street, between Seventh and the foot of Wilshire Boulevard, an area which never developed as a theatre district. It was a true movie house, with a stage only seven feet deep.
It was renamed the Criterion after 1922, it was among the early acquisitions of West Coast Theatres, which would soon dominate California exhibition. The theatre came down in 1941 to be replaced by an office building. The organ, exceptionally large for a smallish house, was built up in stages from the original 2 Manual built by the California Organ Co., a predecessor or Robert Morton.'
Regarding the name Grand Internationale, could this be the Criterion’s final name? The Film Daily Yearbook 1941 lists a Grand Internationale located at 7th and Grand with 1,700 seats.
The L.A. Public Library photo collection contains an earlier picture of this theater. Apparently, its name when it opened was the Kinema. This name was actually carved into the wall of the side of the building, as clearly shown in the photograph.
While it’s incredibly fortunate that almost all of downtown Los Angeles' movie palaces have survived to date, wouldn’t it would be great if we could know more about the few that didn’t?
Since the Paramount and the RKO Hillstreet survived into the 1960s, there are pictures and even some personal accounts that describe what they were like. (In particular, the Los Angeles Public Library site www.lapl.org has numerous photos of the interior of the RKO.)
But what about the Majestic and the Criterion? I’ve never seen a single picture of their interiors or even come across a description what they were like. It’s as if they vanished into oblivion.
The earliest reference to this theater that I can find is from an L.A. Times story of March 20th, 1924, that announces the world premier there that night of the Norma Talmadge movie “Secrets.”
A Times article from February 7th, 1929 says “Fox-Criterion name bestowed on playhouse.”
An article in Daily Variety from February 6th, 1935 is headlined “Criterion Reopens,” but no mention of any name change yet. Another Daily Variety article from about that time makes reference to some sort of wage dispute, so I think the closure might have been related to a strike of some sort. But I have found no later refernces to the Criterion,
I’ve been unable to find any references at all to a theater called the Grande Internationale. My own earliest clear memory of the intersection of 7th and Grand (only three blocks west of Broadway, actually, and two blocks west of the Warner Theatre at 7th and Hill) date from about 1960, and there was no trace of a theater there by that time.
The Criterion was located at 642 S. Grand Ave..