Loyola Theatre
8610 S. Sepulveda Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90045
8610 S. Sepulveda Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90045
18 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 71 comments
“I believe it was S. Charles Lee who said, “the show starts on the sidewalk”
Samuel Rothafel (aka “Roxy”) is credited with that quote. However, there was a book by that title about S. Charles Lee.
October 3rd, 1946 grand opening ad in photo section.
We bought candy bars, three for a quarter, at the Savon Drugstore, across Sepulveda Boulevard, and then went to see the movies at the Loyola Theater. On Saturday mornings we could see free children’s matinees. The Paradise, south on Sepulveda, had higher-priced tickets and we didn’t go there as often. I could see the swan from the laundry room in the back of our house on West 85th Place. For us, Sepulveda as just “the Boulevard” and the Loyola was the place to see movies.
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.
Growing up in Westchester through the 1950s, it was always a decision on where the children spent Saturday: At the Loyola or the Paradise. Two great old theaters that were actually first run and premier sites for the studios during the period.
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.
from 1951 to about 1960, this was my second favorite theater. Paradise was the first.
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!)
DB, the Crest in Fresno, the Crest in Sacramento and the Fox Inglewood are more or less triplets.
-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.
I was looking at CinemaTour’s photos of the Crest in Fresno, and was immediately struck by how much both it and the Fox Inglwood look like the Loyola. Were they all built by the same architect? The Loyola had a whole lot more color, peacock-like above the swirly golden things along the wall and painted like a nighttime sky above, and I think the light fixtures were different, but look through the interior photos of the Crest and you’ll get a really good idea what the inside of the Loyola looked like, including the lobby.
http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/12948.html
Here is a February 2010 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y92jg82
I only went to this theatre once, when it was a Mann theatre. And it was to see One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Where’s Poppa? with a friend and his mom and dad. It was cool. Had a walk up balcony.
I also remember driving by and seeing a mural painted on the back of it advertising Dog Day Afternoon with the caption indicating it was playing at Exclusively at the National Westwood. That was during the Fall of 1975.
Cool looking theatre.
I was lucky enough to have my first movie-going experiences in the Loyola; in fact, until I was an adolescent, I assumed all movie theaters were Art Deco palaces with red velvet curtains and swirly designs (which to me looked like giant duck heads) on the walls. My brothers and I loved the free movies, especially the inevitable moment(s) when some kid would sneak in the back door, temporarily flooding the screen with light, at which point the kids in the audience would shout, in unison, “SHUT THE DOOR!”
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.
Which I’m sure was minimal to begin with.
Here is a 1959 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/lydr85
I GREW UP IN WESTCHESTER FROM 1966 TO 1991. THIS WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THEATRE EVER! IT WAS SO FANCY I TOO USED TO GET FREE TICKETS FROM THE BANK AND PURCHASE CANDY (RED VINES) AT SAVONS BEFORE HEADING ACROSS THE STREET TO THE LOYOLA THEATRE. THERE WAS AN AMAZING SWIRL BLACK RED AND WHITE CARPET ALL THROUGHOUT AND WHEN THE CURTAIN CAME DOWN IT WAS THIS GLORIOUS RED VELVET. THE BATHROOM HAD A CASCADE OF STAIRS FLOWING DOWN TO IT AND FANCY SEATS AND VANITIES TO POWDER YOUR NOSE!. IT WAS ALWAYS SUCH A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE TO GO THERE I WILL FOREVER CHERISH THOSE MEMORIES,. I AM SURE IF THEY HAD PRESERVED THE ENTIRE THING IT WOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO BE SUCCESSFUL!
Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c6c9o4
Here are some photos taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/c9569g
http://tinyurl.com/csn9vz
http://tinyurl.com/dck3gp
http://tinyurl.com/c3ukow
http://tinyurl.com/defmwp
http://tinyurl.com/dg3g9w
http://tinyurl.com/d8ogaz
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”.
The Loyola was not open in 2004. It hasn’t shown movies in a long time.
Here is a 1957 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/bccuud
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.
Interestingly enough, the Loyola seems to have made a posthumous appearance on Dawson’s Creek.
Check out just the first image here:
View link
They must have taken some archival stock footage of the Loyola taken in the early 80s or so, back when it was still a working theater, and digitally altered it to give it another name.