Loyola Theatre

rivest266 on August 5, 2016 at 10:47 pm

October 3rd, 1946 grand opening ad in photo section.

LarryFarma on March 7, 2013 at 12:31 am

Yes, the Loyola Theater, which opened in 1946, was one of the first buildings in Westchester’s main business district along Sepulveda Blvd. A historical marker on the Citibank building down the street says that the business district started with a supermarket and a drugstore in 1944. The fact that an Art Deco movie palace was one of the first buildings in the business district reflects the great importance that public movie theaters had in the era before television and home theaters. Here is an early aerial view of the district:

http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt9489r90h/

It is interesting that this Cinema Treasures website gives Clarence J. Smale as the sole architect. The Pacific Coast Architecture Database in addition lists Simeon Charles Lee and Carl Gerhardt Moeller:

https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/structures/15131/

The UCLA library housing S.Charles Lee’s papers calls him “the most prolific architect of art deco movie palaces in Los Angeles”:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf3000050c/

I believe it was S. Charles Lee who said, “the show starts on the sidewalk.” I disagree — I go to movie theaters just to see movies, not to admire the architecture.

IMO the exterior is flamboyant even for an Art Deco movie palace.

The theater was declared Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) #259 of the City of Los Angeles in 1982, the same year that it closed. This status as an HCM might have helped save the facade.

LarryFarma on December 17, 2012 at 3:59 am

I grew up in Westchester from 1956 to 1964 and of course I remember the Loyola Theater. I remember the free matinees. The “stadium seating” was called “loges.” What aroused my interest in this theater now is that I discovered that the Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources lists this theater as Historic Cultural Monument(HCM) #259. This office must have detailed information about the theater’s history. Sadly, though, I saw no bronze HCM plaque at the theater, and I think that needs to be corrected. An official plaque costs $443 plus shipping. There is an installation service for an additional charge.

staniel on June 5, 2010 at 1:08 pm

I spent so many hours in this theatre when I was a kid! I loved the grandness of it all, the steps down into the lounge, the loge (which, BTW, was where smoking was allowed), the big velvet curtains. We would go to Sav-On across the street (next to the See’s Candy store) where you could buy three 5¢ candy bars for a dime, then we’d go to the movie. I remember the theatre full of screaming kids at the Wednesday summer matinees sponsored by Marina Federal Savings. We would stand outside the bank and ask adults to pick us up a couple of tickets. I remember our whole family sitting in the loge for “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” and occasionally kids would knock on the exit doors from outside to get let in for free. The theatre sold advance tickets for “Help!” and my brother got two for a Christmas present. The Fox Inglewood also had a loge, as a I recall. I attended a few of the revival programs before the theatre shut down. It kills me to know the inside is entirely gutted. It was a great place to go to the movies! (And personally, I like seeing the ads, it reminds me of what I saw there!)

Joe Vogel on April 9, 2010 at 5:09 pm

-DB: Carl G. Moeller, who collaborated on the Inglewood Fox with architect S. Charles Lee, and who also worked on the Crest in Fresno, was almost certainly part of the design team for the Loyola, though Clarence Smale is the architect of record.

Moeller was the Fox circuit’s chief designer during the period when these theaters were built and, though he is listed on the Pacific Coast Architectural Database as an interior designer, he apparently also had a major influence on the exterior appearances of the many theater projects he worked on.

kencmcintyre on February 12, 2010 at 4:23 pm

Here is a February 2010 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y92jg82

TLSLOEWS on February 9, 2010 at 1:47 pm

Cool looking theatre.

William on August 26, 2009 at 9:59 am

Select ads ken mc has posted do help with some of the history of the theatre in the thread or in Los Angeles bookings from 1959. This one works because of the film was presented in “Percepto”. We can see which theatres opened this film and presented in “Percepto”. It was a small buzzer device fixed to select seats in the auditorium. And when a part of the movie where the Tinger is loose in the theatre the projectionist pushes the button and the seat buzzes. Things like this 3D and smell-o-rama things. added to the movie going in that era.
But not all ads posted work.

kencmcintyre on August 25, 2009 at 10:24 pm

Here is a 1959 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/lydr85

kencmcintyre on April 21, 2009 at 6:53 pm

Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c6c9o4

William on February 13, 2009 at 12:55 pm

The Loyola hasn’t shown a film since around the early 80’s. They showed a few special showing of classic films like “Gone With The Wind” and “Ben Hur”.

DavidZornig on December 30, 2008 at 7:06 pm

The Loyola Theater facade was again used in a different episode of a 2004 “King Of Queens” rerun called “Frigid Heirs”.

Normally that show was more true to it’s New York surroundings with it’s establishing shots of theaters and everything else.
But this time it was clearly again the Los Angeles Loyola Theater whose exterior was used. Possibly to aid the storyline’s use of “Silent Film Festival” on the marquee. A choice made by Carrie’s father and reluctantly agreed to. Plus a classis style theater would be a better suited visual for that type of festival, than the generic NY multi-plexes they’d used in some previous episodes.

I’m not sure if it was still open in 2004, but the front was certainly not of the current medical center look.
They could have used old footage of computer generated the marquee of course.