California Theatre
810 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
810 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
14 people
favorited this theater
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The California Theater was also once home to radio station KNX which moved there in 1922 from the home of Fred Christian who founded the station in 1920 as 6ADZ, later KGC. The KNX call letters were assigned the station when it moved to the theater. The Los Angeles Times reported on June 24, 1922…
“Those who listened in between 9:15 and 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday nights on 510 meters may have been surprised to have heard KNX, the California Theater station, on the air. Two splendid programs were given at this time by special permission wherein music from the California Theater fifty-piece orchestra was sent out very successfully.
“Heretofore the transmission of orchestra music has not been done to advantage in Los Angeles, but apparently the new microphones used by KNX are adequate for the purpose. Reports state the orchestra went our almost perfectly.
“Even Wally Reid, who recently installed a receiving set at his home in Belvedere, phoned in to express his appreciation. The microphones used were of special design and placed in the center of the balcony in such a position as to be in the center of sounds coming from the stage which was fifty feet away.”
I was in this house a couple of times for projection equipment service calls for my employer, Walnut Properties/Pussycat Theatres. If I remember correctly, the projection booth was on the main floor. Does anyone know if that was the original location of the projection booth? or was it moved there in the latter days of the house? I’m very sorry I never got the chance to explore this wonderful old house as I did so many of the other old houses that the company ran.
Still…you should have been there.
What is being referred to as the Los Angeles Theatre Conservancy is actually the Los Angeles Conservancy. At the time of the demolition of the California Theatre, there was another organization, the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, which had been formed a few years before and which desparately tried to prevent the demolition, but lacked the clout of the LAC. Also, the less than sterling performance of the LAC in this instance (essentially by it’s executive director at that time) was not well received by the membership and board of that organization. For that, and a number of other reasons, the responsible individuals were sacked and the organization has since gotten back on track as a highly effective advocate for preservation in the L.A. area. It’s annual film series, Last Remaining Seats, has continued to bring public attention to the remaining theatres on Broadway and has, I believe, had much to do with their continuing preservation and even, in several cases, their restoration as viable performance spaces.
Here’s another interesting story, concerning the California. You know how everyone thinks the Theatre Conservancy is such an altruistic bunch of folks….well…think again!! When it was announced that it would be sold and razed, the Theatre Conservancy filed an injunction to stop the demolition. Back and forth the owners, the city, and Conservancy haggled over its fate. It was costing the owners a pretty penny to have their construction/demolition/business plans delayed by the injunction.One day, the owners received a call from the top people at the Conservancy. It seem that the Conservancy folks would let the owners demolish the building under one condition…..that the Conservancy would be given dibs at taking out any architecturaly significant fixtures, lights, seats, curtains, equpiment….objects’d'art, etc, even the ticket booth. The owners, needless to say were enraged that the only reason for the injuction had been to allow the L.A. Theatre Conservancy the rights to plunder, and not to save the theatre….but they agreed, in order to proceed with their business. Of course the double-cross took place when the owners gave me the keys a full week before the Conservancy was to receive them. This was the owners way of getting a bit of revenge, and it was a good one. When the Conservancy guys walked in a week later, almost everything had been stripped by me and my crew. We watched the amusing scene from across the street at Joey’s Coffee Shop….the Conservancy guys had brought a bunch of west-side yuppies in TWO U-HAUL trucks!!!! HAHA!! You should have been there!!!!
You know, Ken, if the owners were only able to hold out for a few years more, it could have been saved. There were certain political and finacial situations involving the owners , which seemed intractable at the time …but which later proved to be of no consequence. But of course, to what purpose? It wasnt the big beautiful type of palace found on Broadway. It had a semi-interesting facade, and a mostly plain interior. Still, I would have much preferred it taken over as a Mexican Bazaar or Korean church than be demolished.
That’s an interesting story. I think sometimes we have romantic ideas about some of these old theaters, but the reality is that some can be saved and others have to be demolished for practical, safety and financial reasons.
Before they razed it I was able to take out about twenty seats from the interior. Me and my crew were let in by the owners, and were given permission to take anything we could remove. We almost took some of the curtains, but on closer inspection, they were pretty much decayed and moldy from severe leaks. The leaking roof also destroyed the Grand piano in the orchestra pit.We removed all of the spots, and parts of the projector and about 50 35MM film reels.Sometime during its shutdown and being boarded up before it was demolished, homeless bums snuk in and completely trashed the place…starting fires inside the Grand Piano….defecating/urinating everywhere….trash and food and needles all over….it was a real mess.We walked the catwalk over the stage(three stories high, verry scarry), and thats where we saw how messed up the 5 or 6 curtains were. One of the curtains had a magnificent painting on it, a pastoral scene, most likely from its days as a vaudeville house, but the lousy water had ruined it. Each of those curtains weighed about 1000 lbs., very heavy! Another looked like the curtains in the stage from the original King Kong. We did manage to prepare the beautiful ticket booth for removal. It was aluminum trimmed, curved glass, with Batchelder Tiles with a Palm/Parrott motif.During the night, someone swiped it. My sources in Cleveland Wrecking dont know what happened to it, and the L.A. Thetatre Conservancy, who also had the hots for it, denied taking it. I tell ya something, theatre fans, I’m getting closer to finding it now that I found a “little birdie”…and you know, it will feel great when I finally set it up in my backyard, but it will be nothing like the satisfaction I’ll get when I rip the guy’s head off who took it…..
Here are some additional photos, apparently from 1918 to 1928:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015259.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015261.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015265.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics07/00013128.jpg
And yet another one from the prolific LAPL database. Complete with trolley.
Spanish movie premiere:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028668.jpg
I thought they saved the building’s exterior when it was demolished. Not the case?
This interior photo from 1919 is labeled only “Interior stage of Miller’s Theater”. I don’t know to which Miller’s Theater the LA Library is referring.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015414.jpg
Before Miller’s California Theatre was built, there was a Miller’s Theatre a few doors farther south on Main Street. It can be glimpsed in this ca1917 photograph from the USC digital archive. The theatre’s rooftop sign is just below right center of the picture, and the top of the marquee just below that. A building on the left side of the street features a large, painted ad for the theatre on its wall.
I watched the 1983 version of “Breathless” last night. One scene takes place in the projection room and then in the audience. The seats were green, and the interior looked worn down. The film playing during the scene was “Gun Crazy”, a noir classic from 1949. Later on, Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky (a babe) leave the theater, and there is a shot of the neon marquee, but not of the exterior of the theater. That’s about it.
I walked by 810 S. Main the other day. There is a small nondescript building occupying the site, with a few retail businesses on the ground floor. No comparison.
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!
Here is a photo from 1918, courtesy of the LA Library:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015260.jpg
A low rise retail unit named ‘8th & Main’ (with parking on the roof) has now been built on the land previously occupied by the California Theatre.
Does anyone know what happened to the ticket box? It was completely covered with Batchelder tiles, with two tile parrots on either side and aluminum frames and detailing for the windows and molding.
I had hired two fellows to help me take it when they were demolishing the building, but someone swiped it during the night/early morning. Cleveland Wrecking and the L.A. theatre Conservancy , who were also after it , also dont know what happened to it. I have a feeling it wound up in some west-side backyard.
Hello from Colorado!
My God Father owned the Pussycat Chain. I am collecting ANY memrobilia to save befor all is lost. I would really like to find a old Pussycat Marquee..you know, the oval w/ the Ms. Pussycat and “It’s a Pussycat Theatre”. If you have any information, please let me know.
Thanks!
970.309.3991
The actual opening date of the California Theater was 24th December 1918. It closed as a Pussycat Theater in January 1988.
The California Theatre opened in 1918 as Miller’s California Theater, the architect was A.B. Rosenthal and it had a seating capaicty of 1,650. It was at this theatre, leased at the time (1919) to Sam Goldwyn, that the famous showman ‘Roxy’ Rothaphel was brought in to manage the stage shows, prior to him moving to New York>>>but that’s another story.
To answer the previous user’s question in general: The California was on Main St., a block or so Southeast of the Broadway theatre district.
Main Street was the original theatre district for Downtown LA, and when it was eclipsed by the bigger palaces on Broadway, became a burlesque and cut-rate movie district, though the California maintained a degree of class longer than its neighbors.
Razing of the theatre began in 1989. The facade and marquee looked just like the above photo right until the end.