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Burbank Theatre
548 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
548 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 91 of 91 comments
The 1920’s photo is apparently the Burbank Theater in Burbank. My mistake.
Main Street is not what it used to be…
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015257.jpg
Rear wall of the Burbank:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015253.jpg
This is a 1920 picture, allegedly the Burbank Theater at 548 S. Main, but it is hard to recognize when you look at the later building:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015252.jpg
Sign on the Morosco wall, courtesy of the LA Library:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015416.jpg
Great picture! Exactly as I remember it from a passing bus in 1974. The signs atop the Rosslyn Hotel are interesting from that angle.
I didn’t realize, though, that the decorative twin-headed light standards survived at that time on Main Street though it had been Skid Row for decades. Broadway should have been so lucky! Whatever beautiful light standards Broadway might have had over the years had long since been replaced with non-ornamented downward-hanging twin lights that are probably still there today.
Here is a picture from the LA Library:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics17/00008035.jpg
Construction on the Burbank Theatre began in 1887 to the plans of notable 19th century theatre architect James M. Wood. It remained incomplete until 1893 when it was finally finished and opened that year to the plans of Los Angeles architect Robert Brown Young.
The interior was done-over in 1937-38 and featured a rather thin overlay of art-deco over the original 1893 decor. It could be at this time that the exterior, seen in the above photo was also carried out. The building was always a street level and one floored facade.
It was demolished in March 1974.
An article in the L.A. Times of 2/6/1887 announced the plans for the Burbank Theater, on Main Street between Fifth and Sixth.
As for the photograph, that is certainly the Burbank much as I remember it from the early 1960s, though I think this picture must be later- probably the 1970s. I used to pass by the theater frequently in those days. The simple streamiline/art deco front with big louvers shading the upstairs windows must have been put in place in the 1930s or 1940s.
The David Burbank who built the Burbank Theatre in Los Angeles was a dentist and the namesake for the nearby city of Burbank. The Burbank Historical Society at their Gordon Howard Museum on Olive Street in Burbank does have some information on David Burbank and his theater.
Does William Gabel know anything more about the demolishment of the Burbank? The theater has much historical significance, and the photo he provides is great.
The marquee letters do spell out BURBANK. More than likely, B-A-N were changed on the vertical sign to L-E-S to spell BURLESK.
The above photo of what is purportedly the Burbank Theatre, may not be the Burbank Theatre, although its frontage does look very similar. This should be checked. What year was this photo taken?
Most of the information about the above theater is incorrect. The theater was originally known at the Burbank Theatre, built by Dr. David Burbank, and opened in 1893. It was never known as the Morosco Theatre, nor was it owned by producer Oliver Morosco. Oliver Morosco leased the theater beginning in 1899. In January 1913 Morosco opened the Morosco Theater, the same theater that would in the 1980’s be known as the Globe. The Burbank was turned into a newsreel house in the 1930’s, and by the 1950’s was known as the Burbank Follies. Prior to its destruction in 1973, it was an x-rated movie house. The Burbank Theatre in 1912 played the original production of Peg o' My Heart, produced by Oliver Morosco.
The Burbank Theatre seat 1027 people.
When this theatre opened in the very early 1900’s it was called the Morosco Theatre. After the theatre owner Oliver Morosco. Who had another theatre located on Broadway that was later known as the Globe theatre. In the late 20’s the Morosco changed it’s name to the Burbank theatre. It was located at 548 S. Main Street, and lasted till the mid 70’s. During it time as the Burbank it was a Burlesk house like the near by Follies theatre. When the theatre was being demolished by Cleveland Wrecking. They used their famous banner “Bring Down the House”.