Roosevelt Theatre
842 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90015
842 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90015
2 people
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Showing 1 - 25 of 32 comments
Appeared to open on November 9th, 1913. 1st newspaper ad posted.
The 1939 photo linked by tkpepper on November 19, 2008 is now at this link. It shows only a sliver of the theater, but ROOSEV can be seen on the marquee. I’m still looking for a photo that would show the house with its earlier aka of Triangle Theatre.
Mary Mallory has used to recent controversy over the movie The Interview as an occasion to recall the hounding of the 1921 German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from the screens of Los Angeles. Her tale of near-riot at Miller’s Theatre, and of the American movie industry’s fear of competition from German films, can be read on this page at Larry Harnisch’s web site, The Daily Mirror.
Miller’s Theatre was expanded in 1916, according to an item in the October 21 issue of Southwest Contractor & Manufacturer. Construction was to begin immediately on an addition 28x60 feet. There would be anew stage, and seating capacity was to be increased by 210. A sprinkler system was to be installed throughout the theater, and the entire house would be redecorated. The project was being carried out by the Milwaukee Building Company.
I have a California/Miller’s Theater combo program at the Silent Film Still Archive.
This is an LA Times item from April 1947:
Two events are announced by three Spanish-language theaters-the California, Mason and Roosevelt, for the next several weeks. Starting tomorrow the first showing in America of the beautiful Adriana Lamar in “Memorias de una Vampiresa” is scheduled.
For Mexico’s Independence Day-Cinco de Mayo-May 5, Mexico’s idol Jorge Negrete has been booked in “El Ahijado de la Muerte” (Death’s Godchild).
You can see the California Theatre also in the picture on the left side behind the cleaners sign.
Here’s a 1939 shot that shows this theatre as being the Roosevelt. Apparently the “Roosevelt” name had migrated down from another theatre located on the 200 block of S Main shortly before this shot was taken… and sometime in the coming decade the “Roosevelt” name would once again return to the 200 block.
View link
The 1929 L.A. City Directory has the Triangle Theatre listed at 842 S. Main. It’s an aka. I suspect that the address of 832 S. Main in that 1931 Times article (cited in the third comment at top) was a reporter’s typo.
If Fred Miller retired after selling this house to Loew’s, he didn’t stay retired for long. He built the Figueroa Theatre in 1925, and was connected in some way with the Carthay Circle between 1926 and 1929 (see my comment of May 28, 2007 on the Alhambra Theatre page.)
With regard to Miller’s 1924 deal with Loew’s, note that the January 10, 1925 Screen News flyer for the California and Miller’s Theatres that silentfilm linked to on June 12, 2008, above, names Fox West Coast Theatres as the operator of the theaters.
The ca.1917 photo (panel two of a three-photo panorama) I linked to in the comment at the top of this page has been moved. For now it’s right here. I’m thinking that, if the theater had more than 500 seats, then there must have been a long lobby under the hotel, and the auditorium was probably at right angles to it, behind the hotel. Look at this photo, which is the third panel in the panorama. There’s no way that 500+ seats could have been squeezed into the ground floor of the hotel itself, what with the need for columns to support the floors above. The back building (with all the mushroom vents on the roof) looks to have been at least 50' by 100' and could have accommodated that many seats.
I had my doubts if there were ever three theaters on S. Main between 8th and 9th, which would have been the case if you had Miller’s at 842, Triangle at 832 and California at 810. Presumably Triangle refers to the intersection where Main, Spring and 9th meet in that geometric arrangement.
Miller’s [1914 LAT, 1915, 1916, 1920, 1925]
Triangle [1930]
From the city directory.
No, I never added it because I only saw one or two references. I also wasn’t sure if it was an earlier incarnation of Miller’s.
The Triangel was listed at 832 S. Main. Many years later, in the 1960s, the Platt Music Store was advertised at that address. I think the Triangle was a separate theater.
The rest of it says “A few at 20 cents, some at 30 cents”, so probably somewhere between 500 and 600.
This June 1918 ad notes that Miller’s is under the direction of Carl Ray’s Amusement Enterprises. That may be where the Ray’s Garden came from.
http://tinyurl.com/67fzs9
During the mid 20’s Loew’s was going to start operating more theatres in the West but that plan never was finished. So the only two Loew’s houses operating in California were the Loew’s State (Downtown Los Angeles) and the Loew’s Warfield (San Francisco). Both theatres were operated under a partnership with Fox West Coast Theatres.
Here is a timeline:
7/27/24: Still Miller's
9/7/24: Still Miller's
December 1924: Miller's
March 1925: Miller's
March 1926: Miller’s
After that Miller’s is not mentioned. A search for Loew’s turns up only references to the State on Broadway. No mention of the Roosevelt on Main between 1924 and 1939.
I don’t know. I will check the LA Times database to see if there any stories about Millers post-sale.
I’m not sure if it was called Loew’s after they bought it. We know it was the Roosevelt by 1939.
The LA Times announced the sale of Miller’s Theater on 7/12/24 to Loew’s and Metro-Goldwyn Distributing. They asked Fred Miller to stay and manage the theater, but he declined and retired.
Here’s a program for Miller’s Theater from January, 1925 here. The same program was also for the California Theatre in Los Angeles, plus on the flip side was a program for the Loew’s State in Eureka, California. All three were owned by the same group.
Here is a 1923 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2kuvzw
Here is a July 1919 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/2y4bsr
Here is an October 1915 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2xf92d
You can move Ray’s Garden up a year or back a year, I guess, to 1918:
Dec. 4, 1918
Ray’s Garden Theater, formerly Miller’s, does not belie its name. It is now as new and nice, as spick and span as the painter, the varnisher and the decorator can make it. Moreover, it is presenting, this week, an expurgated edition of a Theda Bara vamp story.
Good…Is that from the LA Times?