Broadway Theatre
601 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
601 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
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In regard to ken mc’s comment directly above, I believe I’ve seen, in a photo in the L.A. library collection, a rooftop sign for the Broadway Theatre in the 500 block. The photo is a view south on Broadway from north of 5th Street, and the sign is barely visible. You can make out the word “Theatre” but not the theatre’s name. I’ve searched the collection again, but that particular photo hasn’t come up. I’ll keep trying.
A Broadway Theater was advertised in the LA Times on 12/20/03 – vaudeville and moving pictures. Address was 554-556 S. Broadway.
I know this article just says “A Broadway theater”, but the guy’s name was just too funny to keep to myself. Maybe he gave a fake name to the police? From the LA Times, 12/23/21:
ORGANIST ARRESTED
Asserted failure of C. Sharp Minor, an organist, to appear in court after being accused of driving forty three miles an hour on Lankershim Boulevard, resulted in his arrest yesterday. He was taken at a Broadway theater, where he was playing.
If I come across anything definitive on the 601 address, I will let you know. I may have access to the LAT archives soon, as opposed to just the free stuff.
ken mc: The articles you quote must refer to the Clune’s Broadway Theatre which later became the Cameo Theatre. Despite what the L.A. Conservancy’s database says, I don’t think there was ever a theatre on this site at 601 S. Broadway, unless it was a storefront nickelodeon.
Architect was A.F. Rosenhelm (LA Times, 7/17/10)
PLAYHOUSE TO BE ELABORATE.
Large Picture Theater for Broadway Site
Auditorium Will Seat Over Nine Hundred
Ornate Design and Lighting Scheme Features. HANDSOME PICTURE PLAYHOUSE FOR SOUTH BROADWAY
A.F. Rosenhelm, architect of Clune’s new Broadway Theater, has awarded the general contract for the construction of that structure to John F. Jacobs & Son.
From the LA Times, 5/20/14:
The changes announced by W.H. Clune for advancing his popular Broadway theater still further, are now taking place. In the future this splendid theater will give big feature film dramas with much of local interest interspersed. Yesterday, however, the ever popular “Adventures of Kathlyn” entertained capacity crowds the entire day.
Here is a January 2007 photo of the current business:
http://tinyurl.com/vcxpg
Having seen the 1929 picture of the Arcade Building, I’m sure that Tally’s New Broadway is the Garnett. The lot between the Arcade Building and Silverwood’s store on the corner of 6th Street looks to be about the right size for this theatre.
I’ve never seen the Conservancy’s theatres database, but I’m sure they have had access to a lot of information about the city’s buildings. One reason I can think of for an error is that often, permits were issued for planned buildings and then those plans were never carried out, but the records remain in the city’s files, with no indication that the building wasn’t built. It’s possible that a theatre was planned for this site, but not built, and the Conservancy’s researchers didn’t follow through to find the age of the building which now stands on this site.
The address 601 S. Broadway and details come from the Los Angeles Conservancy Theatres Database. I have to agree from the evidence gathering here that it is looking less likely that a theatre ever existed in this building. However we will have to wait and see what further evidence turns up.
Regarding the Tally’s New Broadway Theatre in the 500 block of S. Broadway, could the Garnett Theatre (former Tally’s) be the one? Listed on Cinema Treasures under Garnett it was located at 554 S. Broadway.
I typed “southeast corner” at the beginning of that first comment. I meant southwest corner, of course. The corner location was occupied by Owl Drug Company, beginning at latest in the early 1920s, and it was still there in the 1960s. I was in the store many times.
Addition: The library also has a picture of the building which occupied this site before the Norton Block was built. The corner store of this building, which would have been 601 S. Broadway, was occupied by a saloon. (The library mistakenly identifies the picture as having been taken in 1911, but other information there indicates the likely year to have been 1906.)
There was another Broadway Theatre nearby, however. Another picture at the library shows Tally’s New Broadway Theatre in the 500 block of South Broadway, on the east side, just north of 6th Street. The location is easily identified by the sign on the wall of the building in the background, which was the Hayward Hotel, at the southwest corner of 6th and Spring. The library identifies this picture as having been taken in 1909, and it seems accurate in this case.
This raises some question about the claim that the Broadway Theatre at 428 South Broadway was Tally’s New Broadway. If it was, then it must have taken that name after the Tally’s New Broadway in the 500 block was closed. This Tally’s New Broadway is not yet listed at Cinema Treasures.
The 6 story building at the southeast corner of 6th and Broadway was originally called the Norton Block, and was completed by 1908. I have seen it pictured in old postcards. The L.A. Public Library has photos of it. Here is a full view from the 1920s, before the art deco style remodeling. Here is a view down Broadway with the lower part of the Norton Block at the right. This picture must have been taken in the late ‘20s, as the Los Angeles Theatre down the block does not yet exist. I think it’s unlikely that this building ever contained a theatre. If there ever was a theatre in the building, it must have occupied only a small part of the ground floor, which is filled with the columns supporting the floors of offices above.