Million Dollar Theatre

I recall the Million Dollar showing Wild Wild West (the Will Smith flop) about seven years ago. I was too busy to go and have regretted it since. I have been in most of the Broadway theaters but not the $1,000,000.

When I was growing up in Los Angeles in the 50’s (I was born in Los Angeles in 1947), I went to the Million Dollar Theater almost every week with my grandmother. We would go to dinner on Saturday night at the Biltmore or Statler Hilton, then walk over to the Million Dollar Theater on Broadway. What do I remember the most? The ENORMOUS rest rooms with Gold (colored) fixtures. Magnificent carpets. Wide stairways. And, LODGE seats. My grandmother loved the HORROR movies that were popular in the 50’s. Also near (downtown): the Bradbury Building, Grand Central Market and so many other GREAT and magnificent theaters RKO, Paramount, etc., etc., etc.

The exterior of the Million Dollar Theater can be very briefly glimpsed in the new Keanu Reeves flick ‘Constantine’.

I just did the LA Conservancy’s Broadway Theater tour (again!) and this time we went into the Million Dollar. Unlike Knatcal’s experience noted above, the theater was open to us but the balcony was closed. And the first few rows of seats on the main floor were blocked off by that yellow “caution” tape.

The problem, they explained to us, is the proscenium, a huge arch of block stone. In most theaters of that era, the stones would have simply been made of plaster — but in this case they are real. And unstable. The area of the theater that’s blocked off is the area that the proscenium would hit if it happened to collapse.

Apparently the owner is holding off repairs until a new tenant is found and their needs are taken into account.

I already tried it and it’s now the Paramount Theatre… I think! Unless I am getting the wrong one.. do you have a link or web address? Thanks

It’s sad that a lot of these types of advertising items no longer are around. You might try Metropolitan Theatres in Los Angeles. Its a long shot.

The last chain to operate the Million Dollar Theatre was Metropolitan Theatres. Having worked many of the theatres along Broadway. A lot of those types of trailers and film daters would have been thrown out since that time. And since the theatre was leased to the Universal Church for a time, they may have cleaned up the booth areas. Because the theatre booths that I worked had very little left from the past other then the equipment.

Hi L Linares

It was a pharmacy type store. I remember a small bodega that baked this great Mexican breads nearby. For those who got to see these Great Theatres during those times, they were good memories. During those times those theatres would be operating full on the weekends and alittle less during the week. I remember going to the Million Dollar many times along with the Los Angeles, State, Orpheum, Warner, United Artists. I grewup in Los Angeles and saw all of these theatres up and running for years. And later would run many of them as a projectionists.

The theatre has been for lease for a few years. After the church left the theatre to move down to the State Theatre. The owners tried to bring back movies to the theatre. But the damage was done, movie going on Broadway was dead. The day that I went to the theatre there was only about 10 people watching the new movie. The location of the Million Dollar Theatre is at the north end of Broadway, about 3 blocks away from the next theatre. There was a few theatres in and around the Million Dollar at one time but they are all gone now. Those live shows kept the Million Dollar going for many years. The Million Dollar had the same problem that the United Artists Theatre had for many years. The United Artists is located at the Southern end of Broadway, about a block away from the Orpheum Theatre. For some reason people would not go that extra block, during the last years the United Artist was run as a theatre. During the last few years the theatres on Broadway ran. People seemed to go to the Los Angeles, State, Orphuem, Palace, Tower, Rialto, Cameo and the Olympic. Maybe it was the way Metropolitan Theatres booked them, but the Globe, Roxie, Broadway and the Arcade were the first one of the new batch of theatres to close. During one of the last contracts for projectionists, Metropolitan Theatres had installed platters in a few of the theatres and had the operator walk between them. So you had one projectionist for three theatres. To some that would not be a problem nowadays. But we are talking about three old single screen theatres, that had many problems. The building that the Million Dollar Theatre is located in now has been turned into apartments.

This theatre is currently ‘nameless’. In 2000, the church who were using the building at that time removed the name ‘Million Dollar’ from the marquee over the entrance (a case of money is the root of all evil perhaps?). As can been seen in the Nov 2002 photo above, the marquee is now totally bare, apart from the ‘For Lease’ sign.

my whole family enjoyed watching spanish movies and very famous spanish singers like Vicente Fernandez and Juan Gabriel. We always had a blast but i always remeber The Million Dollar because of its beautiful architecture!

In the 1950s the Million Dollar was operated by Francisco Fouce, who also operated the Mason Theatre and the Mayan Theatre in LA, and I worked as relief projectionist in all three.

The booth of the Million Dollar was apparently an afterthought, as it was located at the front center of the balcony. Thus the ceiling sloped down toard the front affording barely 6' of headroom at the front wall. When I worked there, new Century projectors and sound heads had been installed, but connected to the original WE sound fader and amplifier.

When the Million Dollar hosted stage shows along with a first run Mexican film, the projectionist was the followspot operator. I recall one night the legendary Argentina La Marca was appearing, and the angry stage manager called me on the house phone to demand that I use a straw gel in the spotlight as the naked arc was making her face an ashen color. I warmed up the color and Ms. La Marca appeared years younger.

During the early 30’s the Million Dollar Theatre was part of the Circle Theatres chain. By the late 30’s, The Million Dollar would become part of the Metropolitan Theatres chain till the 1990’s.