Downtown: The 2004 aerial photo of that block you can fetch at TerraServer (the red pin icon for 448 S. Main is actually in front of the next building north) shows a building without a stage house, so I’m guessing the Regent was built as a movie house during the silent era.
Seymour: My visit to the Regent was around 1963. As a grind house it served as a flop for winos and homeless people (who were far fewer in number in those days than now), and it may have been more the unwashed and wine-sodden audience than the theatre which smelled bad. But then I’m sure that the seats weren’t turquoise in 1963, so the seats had probably been either reupholstered or replaced (maybe with used seats from another theatre, thus accounting for the shopworn condition) before your visit there. The old seats probably had acquired an odor from their years of use.
There were probably no homeless people using the Regent as a flop during its porno days, as porn theatres had much higher admission prices than grind houses did. By 1983, the homeless were probably sleeping in the all-night triple feature houses on Broadway.
I have a question for you; In your 1983 visits to the downtown theatres, did you go to a Main Street theatre called the Admiral? It was on the east side of the street, and not too far from the Regent. My last visits to downtown L.A. were in the mid-1980’s, but I only got to Main Street a couple of times in those days and I don’t recall seeing (or not seeing) the Admiral at that time. I know for sure it was there in the late 1960’s. My vague memory places the Admiral south of the Regent, but it may have been an earlier name for the Main Theatre, a bit north of the Regent, which was operating as a porn house in the early 1980’s.
The turquoise treatment Seymour describes must have been an artifact of the Regent’s porn period. When I went there during the theatre’s triple feature grind house days, there was no bright color in any part of the auditorium. Everything was dark and dingy and worn. The paint looked as though someone had bought a few cans of various shades and mixed them all together and it turned out a a brownish gray. I don’t recall there being any carpeting on the aisles at all. I don’t recall the Gothic walls and ceiling. Their impression had probably been overwhelmed by the uniform dinginess of the place.
No, the first Los Angeles Theatre on the west side of Spring between 2nd and 3rd was the one that became the Lyceum. There was a second Los Angeles Theatre farther down Spring Street, on the east side between 3rd and 4th, and that’s the one that became the Empress. The Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway is the third of that name. The second Los Angeles Theatre is not yet listed at CT under any name.
Ken: I see there’s a mention of the Main Street Olympic, too, and of the mysterious second Los Angeles Theater on Spring Street which later became the Empress. I wonder if Marcus Loew kept the name Empress for it? That might make it easier to track down.
Southwest Builder & Contractor issue of January 4, 1924 announced the plans for the Cameo theatre. The architect was J.T. Payne. The project was expected to cost $35,000.
Here is an extensive essay on the Pantages/Warnor’s, at the Historic Fresno web site. The theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
erin: I can’t find any references to a Howard Sheehan in connection with Fox-West Coast Theatres, but there was a producer of that name working at 20th Century-Fox studios in 1947. There was also a Howard Sheehan mentioned in connection with the Vogue theatre in Hollywood in 1935. See comments by CT user vokoban on October 6, 2006 on the Vogue Theatre page.
The web site’s history section reveals that the El Rey was built in 1941, was owned by Luigi Puccini, who was a cousin of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, and the theatre was designed by architect Joseph B. Burwinkle.
My first visit to the Rialto was in 1972, when it was still being operated by Mann’s as a first run house. I don’t recall if this was before or after the fire which destroyed the left organ chamber. I do remember the building being a bit down at the heels, though. It must have been only shortly after this that the Rialto was taken over by Landmark, because I remember that on my next visit to the theatre it had become a revival house with an admission price of one dollar.
Over the next several years I went to the Rialto more often than to any other theatre. Though by 1986, the last time I was there, the price had been upped to three dollars, it remained one of the best entertainment bargains around. The program would change twice a week, and there were often triple features, with the fare running from classic American and foreign movies all the way to “X” rated films such as the science fiction parody “Flesh Gordon”. I also attended one of the midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with its lively audience participation.
In all that time I don’t think the theatre received any more maintenance than was absolutely necessary to keep it from collapsing into a pile of rubble or being shut down as hazardous by either the city or the board of health. The balcony was always closed, as that was where they had moved all the big, leather-upholstered loges from the main floor, because the place almost had been shut down by the fire department due to the loge seats not being fire resistant. It was cheaper for the theatre’s operators to change them out for the balcony’s regular seats than to have them rebuilt with modern, fire-resistant stuffing.
Somewhere in a box in my garage I still have a couple of the monthly calendars published by the Rialto during the Landmark years, listing all the programs to be presented for the month. If I ever get a decent scanner, I’ll scan one of them, post it somewhere and link to it from this page.
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.
ken mc: When I compare thesephotos from the 1970s with the 1913 pictures I linked to on October 13th, the Optic looks much the same size in all of them to me. In the 1970’s pictures you can even still make out the outline of the old entrance arch, which has been partly enclosed above the added marquee. The theatre’s cornice line looks as though it’s in the same place relative to the taller building next door in all these pictures.
I just checked the pictures you linked to on October 4th, and the Optic building doesn’t show at all in the second of them. All we can see is the first three letters of its blade sign, which was attached to the building next door to the theatre. The low building in the first of those photos is probably not the Optic building at all, but a lower building demolished to make way for the theatre. The cornice line of the Optic was always about mid-level of the second floor windows of its next door neighbor to the north.
The Library of Congress web site has 18 photos of the Beach theater from about the time of its opening. Use the theater and city name in the search box on this page.
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.
Adam: it’s quite possible that the 1927 version of the Norwalk Theatre was destroyed in the 1933 earthquake, and the building rebuilt in 1935. Damage in the area was severe.
Bway: The particular Tally’s Broadway across from the Orpheum and near the Majestic is listed at Cinema Treasures. Its location is now occupied by a 1929 addition to the former May Company department store.
Ken: not only the Majestic but, a couple of doors farther up, Tally’s Broadway Theatre was still in operation as can be seen by the blade signs above either side of its entrance.
Ken: not only the Majestic but, a couple of doors farther up, Tally’s Broadway Theatre was still in operation as can be seen by the blade signs above either side of its entrance.
It’s almost certain that this was the first theatre to be called a Nickelodeon, but even more certain is that it was not the first theatre in the world devoted exclusively to the exhibition of motion pictures. It’s even possible that there were such theatres operating earlier than 1902 when Thomas Tally opened his Electric Theatre on Main Street in Los Angeles, widely believed to have been the first permanent theatre built specifically for the exhibition of movies.
The California Index quotes Southwest Builder & Contractor issue of 4/15/1927 announcing plans for the Norwalk Theatre. It was to cost $30,000, to seat about 600, and was to be built for a company called Principal Theaters. The name of the architect is not mentioned.
Ace: I can’t recall for certain, and I don’t have access to my books right now so I can’t check, but I think there was a period photo of Manhattan’s Bunny Theatre in David Naylor’s “American Picture Palaces.” Maybe somebody reading this who has the book at hand can check it and respond. I do know I’ve seen a photo of this theatre in one book or another, and Naylor’s book is the most likely.
The Alpha Theatre was featured in the Better Theatres section of Motion Picture Herald, 5/28/1938. The architect is named there as S. Charles Lee.
Interestingly, Southwest Builder and Contractor of 10/15/1937 carried the announcement that S. Charles Lee was preparing the plans for a complete remodeling of the Maybell Theatre in Bell for Fox West Coast Theatres. I wonder if the Alpha could have been the remodeled Maybell?
A 1957 photo of the El Rey from the Oakland Public Library.
Downtown: The 2004 aerial photo of that block you can fetch at TerraServer (the red pin icon for 448 S. Main is actually in front of the next building north) shows a building without a stage house, so I’m guessing the Regent was built as a movie house during the silent era.
Seymour: My visit to the Regent was around 1963. As a grind house it served as a flop for winos and homeless people (who were far fewer in number in those days than now), and it may have been more the unwashed and wine-sodden audience than the theatre which smelled bad. But then I’m sure that the seats weren’t turquoise in 1963, so the seats had probably been either reupholstered or replaced (maybe with used seats from another theatre, thus accounting for the shopworn condition) before your visit there. The old seats probably had acquired an odor from their years of use.
There were probably no homeless people using the Regent as a flop during its porno days, as porn theatres had much higher admission prices than grind houses did. By 1983, the homeless were probably sleeping in the all-night triple feature houses on Broadway.
I have a question for you; In your 1983 visits to the downtown theatres, did you go to a Main Street theatre called the Admiral? It was on the east side of the street, and not too far from the Regent. My last visits to downtown L.A. were in the mid-1980’s, but I only got to Main Street a couple of times in those days and I don’t recall seeing (or not seeing) the Admiral at that time. I know for sure it was there in the late 1960’s. My vague memory places the Admiral south of the Regent, but it may have been an earlier name for the Main Theatre, a bit north of the Regent, which was operating as a porn house in the early 1980’s.
The turquoise treatment Seymour describes must have been an artifact of the Regent’s porn period. When I went there during the theatre’s triple feature grind house days, there was no bright color in any part of the auditorium. Everything was dark and dingy and worn. The paint looked as though someone had bought a few cans of various shades and mixed them all together and it turned out a a brownish gray. I don’t recall there being any carpeting on the aisles at all. I don’t recall the Gothic walls and ceiling. Their impression had probably been overwhelmed by the uniform dinginess of the place.
No, the first Los Angeles Theatre on the west side of Spring between 2nd and 3rd was the one that became the Lyceum. There was a second Los Angeles Theatre farther down Spring Street, on the east side between 3rd and 4th, and that’s the one that became the Empress. The Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway is the third of that name. The second Los Angeles Theatre is not yet listed at CT under any name.
Ken: I see there’s a mention of the Main Street Olympic, too, and of the mysterious second Los Angeles Theater on Spring Street which later became the Empress. I wonder if Marcus Loew kept the name Empress for it? That might make it easier to track down.
Southwest Builder & Contractor issue of January 4, 1924 announced the plans for the Cameo theatre. The architect was J.T. Payne. The project was expected to cost $35,000.
Here is an extensive essay on the Pantages/Warnor’s, at the Historic Fresno web site. The theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
erin: I can’t find any references to a Howard Sheehan in connection with Fox-West Coast Theatres, but there was a producer of that name working at 20th Century-Fox studios in 1947. There was also a Howard Sheehan mentioned in connection with the Vogue theatre in Hollywood in 1935. See comments by CT user vokoban on October 6, 2006 on the Vogue Theatre page.
The El Rey has a web site:
http://elreytheater.com/
The web site’s history section reveals that the El Rey was built in 1941, was owned by Luigi Puccini, who was a cousin of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, and the theatre was designed by architect Joseph B. Burwinkle.
My first visit to the Rialto was in 1972, when it was still being operated by Mann’s as a first run house. I don’t recall if this was before or after the fire which destroyed the left organ chamber. I do remember the building being a bit down at the heels, though. It must have been only shortly after this that the Rialto was taken over by Landmark, because I remember that on my next visit to the theatre it had become a revival house with an admission price of one dollar.
Over the next several years I went to the Rialto more often than to any other theatre. Though by 1986, the last time I was there, the price had been upped to three dollars, it remained one of the best entertainment bargains around. The program would change twice a week, and there were often triple features, with the fare running from classic American and foreign movies all the way to “X” rated films such as the science fiction parody “Flesh Gordon”. I also attended one of the midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with its lively audience participation.
In all that time I don’t think the theatre received any more maintenance than was absolutely necessary to keep it from collapsing into a pile of rubble or being shut down as hazardous by either the city or the board of health. The balcony was always closed, as that was where they had moved all the big, leather-upholstered loges from the main floor, because the place almost had been shut down by the fire department due to the loge seats not being fire resistant. It was cheaper for the theatre’s operators to change them out for the balcony’s regular seats than to have them rebuilt with modern, fire-resistant stuffing.
Somewhere in a box in my garage I still have a couple of the monthly calendars published by the Rialto during the Landmark years, listing all the programs to be presented for the month. If I ever get a decent scanner, I’ll scan one of them, post it somewhere and link to it from this page.
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.
ken mc: When I compare these photos from the 1970s with the 1913 pictures I linked to on October 13th, the Optic looks much the same size in all of them to me. In the 1970’s pictures you can even still make out the outline of the old entrance arch, which has been partly enclosed above the added marquee. The theatre’s cornice line looks as though it’s in the same place relative to the taller building next door in all these pictures.
I just checked the pictures you linked to on October 4th, and the Optic building doesn’t show at all in the second of them. All we can see is the first three letters of its blade sign, which was attached to the building next door to the theatre. The low building in the first of those photos is probably not the Optic building at all, but a lower building demolished to make way for the theatre. The cornice line of the Optic was always about mid-level of the second floor windows of its next door neighbor to the north.
The Library of Congress web site has 18 photos of the Beach theater from about the time of its opening. Use the theater and city name in the search box on this page.
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.
Adam: it’s quite possible that the 1927 version of the Norwalk Theatre was destroyed in the 1933 earthquake, and the building rebuilt in 1935. Damage in the area was severe.
Bway: The particular Tally’s Broadway across from the Orpheum and near the Majestic is listed at Cinema Treasures. Its location is now occupied by a 1929 addition to the former May Company department store.
And, from the L.A. Public Library, a dramatic night shot taken when it was still called the Vine Street Theater.
TYPO ABOVE: of course I meant; Do a Google search on “Valuskis Theater” to find the cached page.
Ken: not only the Majestic but, a couple of doors farther up, Tally’s Broadway Theatre was still in operation as can be seen by the blade signs above either side of its entrance.
Ken: not only the Majestic but, a couple of doors farther up, Tally’s Broadway Theatre was still in operation as can be seen by the blade signs above either side of its entrance.
It’s almost certain that this was the first theatre to be called a Nickelodeon, but even more certain is that it was not the first theatre in the world devoted exclusively to the exhibition of motion pictures. It’s even possible that there were such theatres operating earlier than 1902 when Thomas Tally opened his Electric Theatre on Main Street in Los Angeles, widely believed to have been the first permanent theatre built specifically for the exhibition of movies.
The California Index quotes Southwest Builder & Contractor issue of 4/15/1927 announcing plans for the Norwalk Theatre. It was to cost $30,000, to seat about 600, and was to be built for a company called Principal Theaters. The name of the architect is not mentioned.
Ace: I can’t recall for certain, and I don’t have access to my books right now so I can’t check, but I think there was a period photo of Manhattan’s Bunny Theatre in David Naylor’s “American Picture Palaces.” Maybe somebody reading this who has the book at hand can check it and respond. I do know I’ve seen a photo of this theatre in one book or another, and Naylor’s book is the most likely.
The Alpha Theatre was featured in the Better Theatres section of Motion Picture Herald, 5/28/1938. The architect is named there as S. Charles Lee.
Interestingly, Southwest Builder and Contractor of 10/15/1937 carried the announcement that S. Charles Lee was preparing the plans for a complete remodeling of the Maybell Theatre in Bell for Fox West Coast Theatres. I wonder if the Alpha could have been the remodeled Maybell?