BK: As the “add a photo” feature is still unavailable at Cinema Treasures, the best way to share scans of your photos is to post them at a free hosting site such as Flickr and then link to them from here.
I used to recommend other hosting sites such as Webshots and Photobucket, but Flickr now has the advantage of providing many social networking features so that you can, for example, add your pictures to special interest pools for such things as movie theatres, Los Angeles architecture, and such.
I have a vague memory of having read in a magazine or newspaper article forty or so years ago that the two extra aisles in the Los Angeles Theatre were converted for seating during the boom years of WWII, when many downtown theatres remained open 24 hours and still had full houses for may performances. I know that some movie theatres had their orchestra pits covered over to provide more room for seats during that time.
This photo shows that the aisles were about wide enough for two additional seats per row. I would suspect that, to minimize the cost of the change, the existing seats would have been left in place and the new seats would have simply been bolted into the rows (probably after the removal of the decorative end-pieces on the seats adjacent to the aisles), adding only one additional armrest between them, but I don’t know for sure. Of the 150 or so images of the theatre in the 9 folders in the state library collection (search “Los Angeles Theatre”), all are from the period before the change.
As for the prism device in the basement lounge, I know it wasn’t working in the early 1960s, when I went to the theatre frequently. The restaurant was gone by that time, too, but I remember the aisle-side lighting strips still glowing. They were blue.
As far as I know, nobody has ever come up with a satisfactory descriptive term for the style of the Paramount, or for the many other movie palaces which sported unique combinations of historic styles that were often supplemented with additional stylistic inventions by their architects or decorators. The terms “exotic” and “eclectic” both come to mind on viewing such designs, but neither seems to me fully adequate.
The problem with calling the Paramount’s style either East Indian or Oriental is the same as the problem with calling it Mission (which was how it was originally described on this page); the majority of its elements would be unrecognizable when compared to the elements of buildings actually built in East Indian or other oriental styles. Too much is left out of the conventional terms.
The Paramount’s design did, in fact, share some elements in common with Mission style as it was conceived by the late 19th century followers of the Arts and Crafts movement (rough, somewhat crude finishes, for example, and murals- by Woollett himself- evoking Spanish and Mexican California), but these elements were subsumed in the overall stylistic frenzy.
I’ve always been dissatisfied with the term Art Deco being applied to the Paramount as well, but the more photos I’ve seen of it the more it does appear- both inside and out- to be characteristic of the early 20th century stylistic experimentation with an eclectic mix of exotic styles and modernist, machine-age fantasies which eventually produced what came to be called Art Deco. Still, calling the Paramount “Art Deco” outright further stretches a term that is already used too broadly.
But I do think that the style could be accurately (though incompletely) described as proto-Art Deco, and that the building can certainly be recognized as kin to such acknowledged Art Deco architectural icons as Buffalo City Hall, which was built a decade later.
It would be interesting to know what William Lee Woollett called the style, but I’ve never found any of his published articles- only citations of them in the California Index. I believe that his grandson, Joseph L. Woollett, may still have a practice in Orange County, California, he being the fourth generation of Woolletts to follow the profession of architecture. Perhaps he would know? One thing he would undoubtedly know, by the way, is that Cinema Treasures misspells his family name as Woolett. It’s spelled Woollett, with three double letters.
I see there was a bar conveniently located adjacent to the Lido in 1945. The Ruby Room. I wonder if they sold wine made from tender grapes? Many of the Lido’s patrons probably needed a drink after seeing that sappy movie. The other feature, Wonder Man, might have left many of them already giddy, though.
I can’t find current movie listings for this theatre on the Internet. Is it still open?
California Index contains several references to theatres in Delano, but I don’t think any of them refer to this one. The drive-in which became the Del Mac is mentioned in a citation of a 1950 article from Architect & Engineer, as having been designed for the Valley Drive-in Theatre Company by architect Vincent G. Raney, and having cost $160,000. I wonder if Raney could also have designed the Sierra? He did use the moderne style, as in the 1945 Court Theatre in Livingston.
There are also a few references to the West Theatre, which was sold in 1939. The buyer and seller both had Japanese surnames, and the West was located on Fremont Street, a few blocks out of the main part of town, so I’m wondering if it might not have been a theatre that catered to the fairly large Asian population in Delano, which I believe still has substantial Korean and Filipino communities today.
Another theatre cited in the Index is not named, but is mentioned in a Southwest Builder & Contractor article of February 29, 1924, as being planned as part of the proposed Grower’s Security Bank building, being designed by Bakersfield architect Charles H. Bigger, who was very active around that time. I suspect that this building may have been the Delano Theatre, which stood for many years (and may still stand) at 1008 Main Street.
The Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg is the subject of this Flickr account. There are 17 photos, including several well-lit interior shots.
Gregory Waller’s 2001 book Moviegoing in America contains an extract from a 1948 Fortune Magazine article titled “What’s Playing at the Grove”, which includes the information that the Orpheum and the West, the two largest of the five theatres then in town, were operated by Publix Great States, a downstate circuit run by Balaban & Katz of Chicago, which was controlled by Paramount. The Colonial Theatre (next door to the West, and later incorporated into it as the second screen of a twin cinema) was associated with the big chain.
According to the article, in the 1940s the Orpheum had a seating capacity of 1105.
In 1923, businesses on the opposite side of the 100 block of E. 3rd Street from the future site of the Adler included a small theatre called the Mirror, seen at far left in this photograph.
The architect was Herbert E. Goodpastor. The contemporary report calls the building “a modern version of colonial style” but it looks like ordinary Art Moderne to me.
Opening date was June 7, 1940. Seating capacity was given as 856. The theatre was independently owned.
This house opened sometime around 1920 as the New Lincoln Theatre. According to the “Walking Tour” brochure I picked up at the Downtown Pleasanton website, it was built about 1920 in the Mission Revival style. The brochure says that it became the Roxy in the 1940s, but the California Index has other information.
Issues of Motion Picture Herald from July 25 and August 22 of 1936 reveal that at that time the theatre was sold by Charles Chicazola to James B. Lima, and Lima then changed the name to Roxy (though Cal Index spells it “Roxie”.) The Downtown Pleasanton brochure gives the current address of the building as 641 Main.
The brochure also mentions two other theatres which once existed in downtown Pleasanton, both of which occupied buildings that are still standing:
1) 511 Main Street, built 1910, opened as the Gem Theatre and later became the Lincoln Theatre. No word on what happened at this site after the New Lincoln Theatre opened ca.1920.
2) A mission revival building at 720-722 Main was built as an auto showroom and garage ca.1920, but in 1945 was converted into the Rancho Theatre, “a Spanish movie house.”
California Index says that the Dixon Theatre got mentioned in the Better Theatres Section of Motion Picture Herald, May 1, 1937. A remodeling perhaps? Anyway, the Google Maps satellite view shows the address as being in the middle of a block of buildings in Dixon’s old downtown, so I’d say closed, not demolished.
Though the theatre itself advertises its location as Anaheim Hills, Anaheim Hills is not a separate city but a section of the City of Anaheim, and the location of this theatre will not map correctly on Google Maps unless you change the name from Anaheim Hills to Anaheim.
The chain which opened this multiplex was Sanborn Theatres, operating as SoCal Cinemas. The theatre continues to present special movie events that are provided under the name The Movie Experience by Sanborn Theatres. However, the company which provided the seats for the recent reconstruction into a stadium-seating configuration says on a popup from this page that Cinema City is operated by Starlight Cinemas, and a sidebar includes an encomium from Daniel Akarakian, President of Akarakian Theatres, indicating that he runs the place. Confusion.
Cinemapolis opened with two of its ten auditoriums equipped for 70mm presentations. Since the renovation, it has advertised all-digital projection, so I’m guessing the 70mm equipment is gone. The original seating capacity of the largest theatre in the complex was 500, but the reconfiguration for stadium seating has probably reduced that.
The date given for this photo is April 26, 1964, which is undoubtedly wrong. Not only was the the Center long gone by then, but “The Voice of Firestone” aired on NBC only from September, 1949 until June, 1954.
It says (among other things) that the theatre was designed by Denver architect Charles Strong; was operated by the Fox Intermountain Amusement Company; was opened on October 30, 1946; closed as movie theatre following a fire on November 18, 1981; was renovated for use as an arts center in 1984. It also says that the original auditorium was, like its replacement, a quonset structure.
Quite a few quonset-style theatres were built in the late 1940s. I know of three that were built in the San Gabriel Valley area est of Los Angeles alone: Clarence J. Smale’s Colorado Theatrein Pasadena, and S. Charles Lee’s Star Theatre in La Puente and Garmar Theatre in Montebello. Cinema Treasures currently lists 47 theatres as being in quonsets (the Aurora Fox is not yet on the list, by the way), and is probably missing about as many.
This scan of a 1950s ad from the Ed Dobbins collection at CinemaTour also shows the address of the Grand as having been 511 S. Conkling Street. I notice that Cinema Treasures currently has it as 508 S, so that needs changing. Put the Grand back on the correct side of the street, guys!
As the photos show a building not on a corner, an address of 400 would be very unlikely. Also, the old ad on Kilduffs page shows the address as 511 S. Conkling. Baltimore County Public Library’s page must be the one that got it wrong. It’s nice to know that L.A.’s public library isn’t the only one that attaches the wrong information to its photos.
Joe Vogel
commented about
Kulton
Feb 4, 2008 at 11:09 pm
What’s going up across the street from the new ImagineAsian Center is the Los Angeles Police Department’s motor pool building. It will essentially be just a big garage, but the LAPD grudgingly consented to allowing some retail space on the ground floor along Main Street. The project will contribute few actual users to the street, but plenty of motor traffic. It’s just the latest blob to ooze from the civic center into what used to be downtown, and will probably prove to be one of the more destructive.
BK: As the “add a photo” feature is still unavailable at Cinema Treasures, the best way to share scans of your photos is to post them at a free hosting site such as Flickr and then link to them from here.
I used to recommend other hosting sites such as Webshots and Photobucket, but Flickr now has the advantage of providing many social networking features so that you can, for example, add your pictures to special interest pools for such things as movie theatres, Los Angeles architecture, and such.
I have a vague memory of having read in a magazine or newspaper article forty or so years ago that the two extra aisles in the Los Angeles Theatre were converted for seating during the boom years of WWII, when many downtown theatres remained open 24 hours and still had full houses for may performances. I know that some movie theatres had their orchestra pits covered over to provide more room for seats during that time.
This photo shows that the aisles were about wide enough for two additional seats per row. I would suspect that, to minimize the cost of the change, the existing seats would have been left in place and the new seats would have simply been bolted into the rows (probably after the removal of the decorative end-pieces on the seats adjacent to the aisles), adding only one additional armrest between them, but I don’t know for sure. Of the 150 or so images of the theatre in the 9 folders in the state library collection (search “Los Angeles Theatre”), all are from the period before the change.
As for the prism device in the basement lounge, I know it wasn’t working in the early 1960s, when I went to the theatre frequently. The restaurant was gone by that time, too, but I remember the aisle-side lighting strips still glowing. They were blue.
As far as I know, nobody has ever come up with a satisfactory descriptive term for the style of the Paramount, or for the many other movie palaces which sported unique combinations of historic styles that were often supplemented with additional stylistic inventions by their architects or decorators. The terms “exotic” and “eclectic” both come to mind on viewing such designs, but neither seems to me fully adequate.
The problem with calling the Paramount’s style either East Indian or Oriental is the same as the problem with calling it Mission (which was how it was originally described on this page); the majority of its elements would be unrecognizable when compared to the elements of buildings actually built in East Indian or other oriental styles. Too much is left out of the conventional terms.
The Paramount’s design did, in fact, share some elements in common with Mission style as it was conceived by the late 19th century followers of the Arts and Crafts movement (rough, somewhat crude finishes, for example, and murals- by Woollett himself- evoking Spanish and Mexican California), but these elements were subsumed in the overall stylistic frenzy.
I’ve always been dissatisfied with the term Art Deco being applied to the Paramount as well, but the more photos I’ve seen of it the more it does appear- both inside and out- to be characteristic of the early 20th century stylistic experimentation with an eclectic mix of exotic styles and modernist, machine-age fantasies which eventually produced what came to be called Art Deco. Still, calling the Paramount “Art Deco” outright further stretches a term that is already used too broadly.
But I do think that the style could be accurately (though incompletely) described as proto-Art Deco, and that the building can certainly be recognized as kin to such acknowledged Art Deco architectural icons as Buffalo City Hall, which was built a decade later.
It would be interesting to know what William Lee Woollett called the style, but I’ve never found any of his published articles- only citations of them in the California Index. I believe that his grandson, Joseph L. Woollett, may still have a practice in Orange County, California, he being the fourth generation of Woolletts to follow the profession of architecture. Perhaps he would know? One thing he would undoubtedly know, by the way, is that Cinema Treasures misspells his family name as Woolett. It’s spelled Woollett, with three double letters.
I see there was a bar conveniently located adjacent to the Lido in 1945. The Ruby Room. I wonder if they sold wine made from tender grapes? Many of the Lido’s patrons probably needed a drink after seeing that sappy movie. The other feature, Wonder Man, might have left many of them already giddy, though.
I can’t find current movie listings for this theatre on the Internet. Is it still open?
California Index contains several references to theatres in Delano, but I don’t think any of them refer to this one. The drive-in which became the Del Mac is mentioned in a citation of a 1950 article from Architect & Engineer, as having been designed for the Valley Drive-in Theatre Company by architect Vincent G. Raney, and having cost $160,000. I wonder if Raney could also have designed the Sierra? He did use the moderne style, as in the 1945 Court Theatre in Livingston.
There are also a few references to the West Theatre, which was sold in 1939. The buyer and seller both had Japanese surnames, and the West was located on Fremont Street, a few blocks out of the main part of town, so I’m wondering if it might not have been a theatre that catered to the fairly large Asian population in Delano, which I believe still has substantial Korean and Filipino communities today.
Another theatre cited in the Index is not named, but is mentioned in a Southwest Builder & Contractor article of February 29, 1924, as being planned as part of the proposed Grower’s Security Bank building, being designed by Bakersfield architect Charles H. Bigger, who was very active around that time. I suspect that this building may have been the Delano Theatre, which stood for many years (and may still stand) at 1008 Main Street.
Ken: I think the nearest theatre to the 5400 block other than the El Rey and Ritz was the Four Star in the 5100 block. It’s been churched.
5410 Wilshire is the Dominguez Building, 1930, by Morgan, Walls & Clements (meaning probably just Stiles Clements, at that date.)
The Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg is the subject of this Flickr account. There are 17 photos, including several well-lit interior shots.
Gregory Waller’s 2001 book Moviegoing in America contains an extract from a 1948 Fortune Magazine article titled “What’s Playing at the Grove”, which includes the information that the Orpheum and the West, the two largest of the five theatres then in town, were operated by Publix Great States, a downstate circuit run by Balaban & Katz of Chicago, which was controlled by Paramount. The Colonial Theatre (next door to the West, and later incorporated into it as the second screen of a twin cinema) was associated with the big chain.
According to the article, in the 1940s the Orpheum had a seating capacity of 1105.
In 1923, businesses on the opposite side of the 100 block of E. 3rd Street from the future site of the Adler included a small theatre called the Mirror, seen at far left in this photograph.
Recent photos and 1940 opening information here.
The architect was Herbert E. Goodpastor. The contemporary report calls the building “a modern version of colonial style” but it looks like ordinary Art Moderne to me.
Opening date was June 7, 1940. Seating capacity was given as 856. The theatre was independently owned.
The Odeon Wimbledon is one of many modern cinema projects designed by the architectural firm of NBDA Limited, of Bollington, Cheshire.
This house opened sometime around 1920 as the New Lincoln Theatre. According to the “Walking Tour” brochure I picked up at the Downtown Pleasanton website, it was built about 1920 in the Mission Revival style. The brochure says that it became the Roxy in the 1940s, but the California Index has other information.
Issues of Motion Picture Herald from July 25 and August 22 of 1936 reveal that at that time the theatre was sold by Charles Chicazola to James B. Lima, and Lima then changed the name to Roxy (though Cal Index spells it “Roxie”.) The Downtown Pleasanton brochure gives the current address of the building as 641 Main.
The brochure also mentions two other theatres which once existed in downtown Pleasanton, both of which occupied buildings that are still standing:
1) 511 Main Street, built 1910, opened as the Gem Theatre and later became the Lincoln Theatre. No word on what happened at this site after the New Lincoln Theatre opened ca.1920.
2) A mission revival building at 720-722 Main was built as an auto showroom and garage ca.1920, but in 1945 was converted into the Rancho Theatre, “a Spanish movie house.”
This twin is apparently open again, but the name has been changed to Key Cinemas.
Here’s their website. Their phone numbers & email address are on the “Contact Us” page.
Here’s somebody’s Flickr photo of it from 2006.
California Index says that the Dixon Theatre got mentioned in the Better Theatres Section of Motion Picture Herald, May 1, 1937. A remodeling perhaps? Anyway, the Google Maps satellite view shows the address as being in the middle of a block of buildings in Dixon’s old downtown, so I’d say closed, not demolished.
A demolition permit for the Tinseltown Westchase 25 was issued by the City of Houston in January of 2008. The theatre has now been demolished.
Though the theatre itself advertises its location as Anaheim Hills, Anaheim Hills is not a separate city but a section of the City of Anaheim, and the location of this theatre will not map correctly on Google Maps unless you change the name from Anaheim Hills to Anaheim.
The chain which opened this multiplex was Sanborn Theatres, operating as SoCal Cinemas. The theatre continues to present special movie events that are provided under the name The Movie Experience by Sanborn Theatres. However, the company which provided the seats for the recent reconstruction into a stadium-seating configuration says on a popup from this page that Cinema City is operated by Starlight Cinemas, and a sidebar includes an encomium from Daniel Akarakian, President of Akarakian Theatres, indicating that he runs the place. Confusion.
Cinemapolis opened with two of its ten auditoriums equipped for 70mm presentations. Since the renovation, it has advertised all-digital projection, so I’m guessing the 70mm equipment is gone. The original seating capacity of the largest theatre in the complex was 500, but the reconfiguration for stadium seating has probably reduced that.
This complex was designed by the same architect who was responsible for all the theatres Syufy/Century built from 1964 on, Vincent G. Raney.
The date given for this photo is April 26, 1964, which is undoubtedly wrong. Not only was the the Center long gone by then, but “The Voice of Firestone” aired on NBC only from September, 1949 until June, 1954.
Another from the Library of American Broadcasting shows the Center’s big stage when the house was billed as “America’s only ice theatre.
This photo must date to about 1950, as the marquee announces the imminent arival of NBC television productions in the theatre.
Photo of a crowd waiting to enter the Midway Theatre, January 24, 1932.
Here’s the official website of the Aurora Fox.
It says (among other things) that the theatre was designed by Denver architect Charles Strong; was operated by the Fox Intermountain Amusement Company; was opened on October 30, 1946; closed as movie theatre following a fire on November 18, 1981; was renovated for use as an arts center in 1984. It also says that the original auditorium was, like its replacement, a quonset structure.
Quite a few quonset-style theatres were built in the late 1940s. I know of three that were built in the San Gabriel Valley area est of Los Angeles alone: Clarence J. Smale’s Colorado Theatrein Pasadena, and S. Charles Lee’s Star Theatre in La Puente and Garmar Theatre in Montebello. Cinema Treasures currently lists 47 theatres as being in quonsets (the Aurora Fox is not yet on the list, by the way), and is probably missing about as many.
This scan of a 1950s ad from the Ed Dobbins collection at CinemaTour also shows the address of the Grand as having been 511 S. Conkling Street. I notice that Cinema Treasures currently has it as 508 S, so that needs changing. Put the Grand back on the correct side of the street, guys!
As the photos show a building not on a corner, an address of 400 would be very unlikely. Also, the old ad on Kilduffs page shows the address as 511 S. Conkling. Baltimore County Public Library’s page must be the one that got it wrong. It’s nice to know that L.A.’s public library isn’t the only one that attaches the wrong information to its photos.
According to this page about the Seattle Cinerama Theatre on the City of Seattle website, the original design of the theatre was by local architect Raymond H. Peck. The renovation was handled by the Portland-based firm BOORA Architects.
What’s going up across the street from the new ImagineAsian Center is the Los Angeles Police Department’s motor pool building. It will essentially be just a big garage, but the LAPD grudgingly consented to allowing some retail space on the ground floor along Main Street. The project will contribute few actual users to the street, but plenty of motor traffic. It’s just the latest blob to ooze from the civic center into what used to be downtown, and will probably prove to be one of the more destructive.