scottfavareille’s 2004 link to the interesting (if somewhat lurid) OC Weekly article about the 1951 kidnapping and murder related to this theatre no longer works, but if you want to read it it’s available from Google’s cache. Do a Google search on “Velaskis Theater” and the link to the cached article “Live Noir” will be among the handful of results.
The proposed office tower at 6th and Hill, designed by Chuck Luckman, (this might have been his very first solo project after dissolving his partnership with Bill Periera) would have been the tallest building in Los Angeles at that time, had it been built. The Paramount was razed specifically to make way for the office development, but the deal did indeed fall through and the site was used as a parking lot for years, until the Jewelry Center was finally built there. It’s possible that one of the reasons the deal fell through was because of the unforeseen delays in the demolition of William Woolett’s rock-solid building. I’d like to think that it was.
The L.A. Library photo cited in the first comment above is here.
The USC archive picture cited in the second comment above is here.
New: a photograph of Hill Street south from 7th Street about 1931. The blade sign of the RKO Theatre can be seen in the distance, but a bit nearer, just below the rooftop sign for Birch and Smith Furniture Co. can be seen the marquee of the Alhambra Theatre.
I’m wondering if perhaps the ornate, arched entrance on the far end of the building at the lower right in this c1913 photo might be the door of the Shamrock Theatre?
ML & Ken: no, the Tracy is a different theatre from the Ritz on 7th Street, which was a small neighborhood house. The Tracy wasn’t called the Ritz for very long.
Ken: The first three pictures to which you linked depict the interior of the Tracy Theatre on Seaside Avenue, which opened under the name Ritz in 1925. The 7th Street Ritz was a much smaller neighborhood theatre. I believe that the fourth picture to which you linked does show 7th Street Ritz, though.
No relation as far as I know, though the extended family was quite large, so there were a lot of Vogels around L.A. by the late 19th century who were fairly close relatives of my great grandfather. But then it’s also a fairly common surname, so there were also quite a few Vogels to whom I’d probably not be related. I don’t know if I’m related to the owners of the Vogel Block which stood at the southwest corner of 7th and Broadway until it was demolished to make way for Loew’s State Theatre, either.
Ken: The undated photo is a bit blurry, making the marquee difficult to read, but I think one of the movies being shown is “Confidential Agent”, with Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall. That dates the photo at no earlier than 1945— and its probably no later either, given the wartime crowds jamming the streetcar stop and the presence of only pre-war cars on the street.
In 1923, the Roosevelt was operating under the name Electric Theatre.
The theatre in the picture to which ken mc linked above is definitely the Roosevelt. Another photograph from the USC archive shows the intersection of Main and Market Streets in 1935. The marquee of the theatre can be recognized at the far left. The address of the U.S. Hotel at the corner of Main and Market is given as 170 N.Main, so the address of the theatre in the next block can be reasonably assumed to be 212 N Main.
Eventually, all the buildings in these photos were demolished as part of the expansion of the civic center. The site of the Roosevelt Theatre is now the location of the eastward extension of Temple Street which was built in 1960.
The Electric at 212 N. Main is listed at Cinema Treasures after all, under its later name, the Roosevelt. I actually knew that last year, when I posted something about it on the Optic Theatre page, but I’d completely forgotten about it.
LM- The entrance to the Hotchkiss Theatre shown in the photo of the Hellman Building is too close to the south end of the block to have an address as low as 334. It’s possible that the L.A. Library made a mistake and the three names did not belong to one theatre at different times but to two different but nearby or adjacent theatres.
The Library’s photo collection contains a picture (undated) of the interior of the Casino Theatre, and the auditorium looks too wide to fit behind the narrow facade of the Hotchkiss. (The building could have widened out at the back, of course.)
I guess the whole question is up in the air until somebody finds more detailed information from other sources.
OK, I’ve found a reference to Talley’s Electric Theatre of 1902, and it was at 262 South Main, so the Electric Theatre at 212 N. Main was a different place.
LM- You must be right, but there’s a surprise. The L.A. Library’s California Index contains a couple of cards which refer to a Hotchkiss Theatre, which was also called the Casino Theatre and the (second) Los Angeles Theatre. I know that the first Los Angeles Theatre was the Spring Street house which later became the Lyceum, but I’d thought the second Los Angeles Theatre was the big one still standing on Broadway. Apparently, that’s at least the third of the name.
The theatre next to the Hellman Building was apparently built 1903, opened as the Casino, and was designed by architect Abraham Edelman (announcement in the L.A. Times of 7/19/1903.) I don’t know if it ever ran movies under any of its names, or how long it survived.
Ken: That doesn’t look like Temple and Spring looked in 1936. For one thing, the ground is level, and by 1936 Temple and Spring was a block farther west (on the hillside) than it had been before city hall was built. I’m thinking it’s probably Temple and Main, and the theatre is on Main Street. My guess is that it’s a theatre once called The Electric, at 212 N. Main. I don’t think it’s listed on CT under any name, but it’s in a 1923 list of Main Street theatres running Paramount films which was posted by vokoban on the Optic Theatre page last December.
I wonder if this is Thomas Talley’s famous Electric Theatre, which I believe was indeed in the 200 block of Main Street, but I’d always thought it was the 200 South block?
Ken: Did you notice the theatre’s ad just above the Owl Cigar ad on the wall of the building a few doors north? It gives the address as 344 S. Spring. The other thing I can tell from the picture is that the theatre’s name ends in “ss”, which is clear on both the wall ad and on the sign above the theatre entrance, and partly visible in the rooftop sign. I can’t make out the rest of the name though.
Having seen this photo from the L.A. library collection, I’m now wondering if the Paris Theatre is not simply the old Hitching Post Theatre remodeled and renamed.
The Los Angeles Public Library says that this photograph is of an “unidentified theatre”, but the five aisles, the enclosed space where the balcony would normally be and the Egyptian decor clearly identify this as a rare early photo of the interior of Grauman’s Egyptian seen from behind the orchestra pit.
Here is a 1950 photograph showing the marquee of the Paris Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. It is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It was taken at the time of the Academy Awards event hosted that year at the Pantages Theatre.
What I’d really like to see are some animated .GIF pictures of the neon marquee going through its routine. In fact, I’d like to see such pictures of a lot of theatres with neon marquees.
Not demolished, but functioning as a church.
From the USC digital archives, a 1951 photograph of the Valuskis Theatre.
scottfavareille’s 2004 link to the interesting (if somewhat lurid) OC Weekly article about the 1951 kidnapping and murder related to this theatre no longer works, but if you want to read it it’s available from Google’s cache. Do a Google search on “Velaskis Theater” and the link to the cached article “Live Noir” will be among the handful of results.
The proposed office tower at 6th and Hill, designed by Chuck Luckman, (this might have been his very first solo project after dissolving his partnership with Bill Periera) would have been the tallest building in Los Angeles at that time, had it been built. The Paramount was razed specifically to make way for the office development, but the deal did indeed fall through and the site was used as a parking lot for years, until the Jewelry Center was finally built there. It’s possible that one of the reasons the deal fell through was because of the unforeseen delays in the demolition of William Woolett’s rock-solid building. I’d like to think that it was.
Repairing dead photo links and adding a new one:
The L.A. Library photo cited in the first comment above is here.
The USC archive picture cited in the second comment above is here.
New: a photograph of Hill Street south from 7th Street about 1931. The blade sign of the RKO Theatre can be seen in the distance, but a bit nearer, just below the rooftop sign for Birch and Smith Furniture Co. can be seen the marquee of the Alhambra Theatre.
Here is photographic evidence of an earlier theatre in the Tujunga area.
I’m wondering if perhaps the ornate, arched entrance on the far end of the building at the lower right in this c1913 photo might be the door of the Shamrock Theatre?
ML & Ken: no, the Tracy is a different theatre from the Ritz on 7th Street, which was a small neighborhood house. The Tracy wasn’t called the Ritz for very long.
Ken: The first three pictures to which you linked depict the interior of the Tracy Theatre on Seaside Avenue, which opened under the name Ritz in 1925. The 7th Street Ritz was a much smaller neighborhood theatre. I believe that the fourth picture to which you linked does show 7th Street Ritz, though.
No relation as far as I know, though the extended family was quite large, so there were a lot of Vogels around L.A. by the late 19th century who were fairly close relatives of my great grandfather. But then it’s also a fairly common surname, so there were also quite a few Vogels to whom I’d probably not be related. I don’t know if I’m related to the owners of the Vogel Block which stood at the southwest corner of 7th and Broadway until it was demolished to make way for Loew’s State Theatre, either.
Ken: The undated photo is a bit blurry, making the marquee difficult to read, but I think one of the movies being shown is “Confidential Agent”, with Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall. That dates the photo at no earlier than 1945— and its probably no later either, given the wartime crowds jamming the streetcar stop and the presence of only pre-war cars on the street.
The street address of 649 Broadway needs to be added above.
In 1923, the Roosevelt was operating under the name Electric Theatre.
The theatre in the picture to which ken mc linked above is definitely the Roosevelt. Another photograph from the USC archive shows the intersection of Main and Market Streets in 1935. The marquee of the theatre can be recognized at the far left. The address of the U.S. Hotel at the corner of Main and Market is given as 170 N.Main, so the address of the theatre in the next block can be reasonably assumed to be 212 N Main.
Eventually, all the buildings in these photos were demolished as part of the expansion of the civic center. The site of the Roosevelt Theatre is now the location of the eastward extension of Temple Street which was built in 1960.
The Electric at 212 N. Main is listed at Cinema Treasures after all, under its later name, the Roosevelt. I actually knew that last year, when I posted something about it on the Optic Theatre page, but I’d completely forgotten about it.
LM- The entrance to the Hotchkiss Theatre shown in the photo of the Hellman Building is too close to the south end of the block to have an address as low as 334. It’s possible that the L.A. Library made a mistake and the three names did not belong to one theatre at different times but to two different but nearby or adjacent theatres.
The Library’s photo collection contains a picture (undated) of the interior of the Casino Theatre, and the auditorium looks too wide to fit behind the narrow facade of the Hotchkiss. (The building could have widened out at the back, of course.)
I guess the whole question is up in the air until somebody finds more detailed information from other sources.
OK, I’ve found a reference to Talley’s Electric Theatre of 1902, and it was at 262 South Main, so the Electric Theatre at 212 N. Main was a different place.
Ken: The second of those two pictures also shows the big, blank wall of the then brand-new West Coast Theatre in the middle distance.
LM- You must be right, but there’s a surprise. The L.A. Library’s California Index contains a couple of cards which refer to a Hotchkiss Theatre, which was also called the Casino Theatre and the (second) Los Angeles Theatre. I know that the first Los Angeles Theatre was the Spring Street house which later became the Lyceum, but I’d thought the second Los Angeles Theatre was the big one still standing on Broadway. Apparently, that’s at least the third of the name.
The theatre next to the Hellman Building was apparently built 1903, opened as the Casino, and was designed by architect Abraham Edelman (announcement in the L.A. Times of 7/19/1903.) I don’t know if it ever ran movies under any of its names, or how long it survived.
Ken: That doesn’t look like Temple and Spring looked in 1936. For one thing, the ground is level, and by 1936 Temple and Spring was a block farther west (on the hillside) than it had been before city hall was built. I’m thinking it’s probably Temple and Main, and the theatre is on Main Street. My guess is that it’s a theatre once called The Electric, at 212 N. Main. I don’t think it’s listed on CT under any name, but it’s in a 1923 list of Main Street theatres running Paramount films which was posted by vokoban on the Optic Theatre page last December.
I wonder if this is Thomas Talley’s famous Electric Theatre, which I believe was indeed in the 200 block of Main Street, but I’d always thought it was the 200 South block?
Ken: Did you notice the theatre’s ad just above the Owl Cigar ad on the wall of the building a few doors north? It gives the address as 344 S. Spring. The other thing I can tell from the picture is that the theatre’s name ends in “ss”, which is clear on both the wall ad and on the sign above the theatre entrance, and partly visible in the rooftop sign. I can’t make out the rest of the name though.
Having seen this photo from the L.A. library collection, I’m now wondering if the Paris Theatre is not simply the old Hitching Post Theatre remodeled and renamed.
An early 1920’s photo of the interior of the Rialto, as it looked following William Woollett’s 1921 remodeling for Sid Grauman.
The Los Angeles Public Library says that this photograph is of an “unidentified theatre”, but the five aisles, the enclosed space where the balcony would normally be and the Egyptian decor clearly identify this as a rare early photo of the interior of Grauman’s Egyptian seen from behind the orchestra pit.
Here is a 1950 photograph showing the marquee of the Paris Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. It is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It was taken at the time of the Academy Awards event hosted that year at the Pantages Theatre.
Here is a contemporary picture of the Theatre Jewelry Center.
What I’d really like to see are some animated .GIF pictures of the neon marquee going through its routine. In fact, I’d like to see such pictures of a lot of theatres with neon marquees.