Los Angeles Theater
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Los Angeles Theatre
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Los Angeles Theatre, 2008
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| Location | 615 S. Broadway Los Angeles, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°2′47″N 118°15′9″W / 34.04639°N 118.25250°WCoordinates: 34°2′47″N 118°15′9″W / 34.04639°N 118.25250°W |
| Architect |
S. Charles Lee S. Tilden Norton |
| Architectural style | French Baroque |
| Part of | Broadway Theater and Commercial District (#79000484) |
| LAHCM # | 225 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 9, 1979 |
| Designated LAHCM | August 15, 1979 |
The Los Angeles Theatre is a 2,000 seat movie palace located at 615 S. Broadway in the historic Broadway Theater District in Downtown Los Angeles.
This Los Angeles Theatre was constructed in late 1930 and early 1931. It was commissioned by H.L. Gumbiner, an independent film exhibitor from Chicago, who also built the nearby Tower Theatre. Designed by S. Charles Lee, and Samuel Tilden Norton, the theater features a French Baroque interior. With its grand central staircase, and gold brocade drapes it has for many years been considered to be among the city's most lavish landmarks. The opulent interior is said to have been modeled after the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. A crystal fountain stood at the head of the grand staircase, and a restaurant and a ballroom were on the lower level.
Construction was completed in less than six months and cost $1.5 million.Charlie Chaplin helped fund the completion so that it would be ready to open with the premiere of his film City Lights in January 1931. With only thirty days to go before the scheduled premiere, the entire theater was constructed off-site and swung in, slotted between the existing buildings. It was the last such movie palace built on Broadway, as the area began to feel the effects of the Depression and faced competition from Hollywood Blvd. as the "Great White Way of the West". Attendance was strong through World War II, when many factory workers would see shows before and after their shifts. With the postwar suburbanization of Los Angeles, attendance declined throughout the later decades of the 20th century.
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