Paramount Theatre
323 W. 6th Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
323 W. 6th Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 127 comments
Here is a July 1925 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/ywu9h8
Here is a July 1948 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2mgnxv
Here are some photos from one of the Theater Historical Society’s annuals. The graininess is due to the LA library’s cheap photocopiers:
http://tinyurl.com/3cg4el
http://tinyurl.com/2onepe
http://tinyurl.com/2rbwdh
http://tinyurl.com/2utmul
http://tinyurl.com/2j62pg
http://tinyurl.com/2mnq9k
http://tinyurl.com/3239ky
http://tinyurl.com/3y73ox
Here is a July 2007 photo of the annex:
http://tinyurl.com/yogbb7
The beginning of the end, from the LA Times dated 12/12/58:
Paramount Theater Building Purchased
Sale of the Paramount Theater building, 323 W. 6th Street, to David Shusett, Beverly Hills real estate developer, by Cal Par Theaters, Inc, of New York, was announced yesterday. The transaction, said to be one of the largest property transfers in downtown Los Angeles in recent years, reportedly involved more than $2,000,000.
Shusett declared that the building would operate under current methods for the present. Rumors have circulated in recent months that the building was to be torn down to make way for a modern skyscraper. The building, which has 240 square feet of frontage in the Pershing Square area, houses the 3300-seat Paramount Theater and contains more than 100 offices and suites.
The Cal Par group, which also includes American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters, Inc, was represented in negotations by its vice-president, Paul Levin of New York.
Here is a recap of the sale by Grauman in March 1923, from the LA Times:
DOWNTOWN PLAYHOUSE NOW SOLD
Grauman and Lasky Turn Over Metropolitan Theater to New Owners
Grauman’s Metropolitan Theater, Sixth and Hill Streets, with the property on which it stands, was sold yesterday by Sid Grauman and the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation to a syndicate of local and San Francisco business men headed by A.C. Blumenthal of A.C. Blumenthal and Company, for $4,000,000, according to announcement last night of Mr. Grauman.
I stand corrected.
Ken: That picture you linked to today shows the Hill Street side of the building. That fancy decoration around the second floor windows was continuous only on the Hill Street side. On the 6th Street side, only the end window got that ornate frame. See the 1944 photo you linked to on March 9.
That photo is from around July of 1950, the film playing is “My Friend Irma Goes West”.
This would be the Sixth Street side of the building:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics37/00068268.jpg
Here’s an article about this theater. I guess the plans for the office building went from 12 stories down to 6 at some point.
View link
That undated color photo is after 1958, since we see buses with the color scheme of MTA Mark I, which started in March 1958. Also, before the theatre was torn down in 1961, so photo is 1958 to 1960.
No, the Paramount Downtown was not one of the Special 8 perf VistaVision theatres. The Stanley-Warner Theatre (aka Warner Beverly Hills) was so equipped to play the 8 perf VistaVision engagements. Most theatres played standard flat (4 perf) prints of the films. The quality of the Technicolor reduction prints was so good that they appeared sharp and grain free on large screens. The Paramount Hollywood Theatre played “The Man Who Knew Too Much”.
Here is a good shot of the two marquees in 1944:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics21/00045491.jpg
Was the Paramount equiped to show 8 perf vistaVision? I think
the 1956 version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” played there.
Here is a photo dated 1940 from the LAPL:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067422.jpg
Here is a recent photo of the sign on 6th and Broadway:
http://tinyurl.com/ygnpsn
Here an interesting suit involving the Paramount from the anti-trust days:
http://tinyurl.com/sbrzx
Here is a view of the Metropolitan marquee from the other end of Broadway in 1926:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics49/00059101.jpg
Booo:
http://tinyurl.com/yaxv3n
ken mc: I’ve only just found it out myself, when I ran across that picture. I’ve been up and down that block at least a hundred times and never had a clue. Its hard to believe they were able to cram all this into that space though.
I didn’t know that was part of the theater. I’ve walked by that building enough times.
From You-are-here.com, a recent photo of 551 S. Broadway, the Metropolitan Annex which was the location of the Broadway entrance to Grauman’s Metropolitan in the 1920s. This is the last remaining part of a once great theatre.
It was in such decent shape. What a shame.
Here is a photo taken during demolition in 1961:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater3/00015541.jpg