Welcome to an exploration of the historic theatres of Los Angeles!
Going to the movies in Los Angeles has always been wonderful. Los Angeles theatres were interesting and opulent not only because because the city was rapidly growing at a time of intense movie theatre construction across the country but also because this was the center of the film industry. All the studios wanted exotic palaces to showcase their product.
click image to enlarge>>
Movie theatre architecture in LA is amazingly diverse stylistically. The important Los Angeles movie palaces downtown and in Hollywood may not have been the largest in the country in terms of seating capacity but they were certainly among the most eclectic in terms of decor.
Even the neighborhoods got great buildings by talented architects. Just look at the Chinese wonders of the Beverly Theatre in Beverly Hills or the Art Deco confections in San Pedro, Huntington Park, and Beverly Hills that B. Marcus Priteca did for Warner Bros.
Our intent is to search through the massive amounts of material available and give it a bit of organization on a theatre-by-theatre basis.
This is still very much a work-in-progress. Please contact us if you have any corrections or suggestions. Or items for our news page.
Thanks for visiting. See you at the movies in Los Angeles!
---Bill Counter
P.S. A note about our spelling: We've intentionally spelled it "theaters" in a number of places on this site (we prefer "theatres") in order to get indexed properly by search engines. They don't seem to treat the two spellings alike.
We've got lots of adventures ahead...
Downtown L.A. Theatres
Our main Downtown page has an overview of the surviving historic movie theatres in downtown Los Angeles. There are then links to additional pages for more detail about the remaining buildings in the South Broadway Theatre District.
The downtown theatres range from some of the most opulent Los Angeles movie palaces to tiny grindhouses. It's a fun tour.
We also have street-by-street tours of theatres both existing and vanished on Broadway, Main Street, Hill Street and more. These pages organize the listings by address. Plus there's an alphabetical directory listing all the various names various downtown Los Angeles theaters have operated under.
Hollywood Movie Theatres
Our Hollywood Theatres page has the rundown on major theatres such as Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian and the Pantages as well as the many smaller theatres and grindhouses that have vanished.
The main page gives you a summary plus there are additional pages on the theatres of major interest on Hollywood Blvd. and adjacent streets. We also have listings for some sources for information on other aspects of Hollywood history.
Westwood Village Theatres
The Westwood page has a listing of all the theatre buildings in Westwood Village, once a major locus of first-run Los Angeles theatres. Some of these theatres are of architectural merit, some only for their past in exhibition history. We've also done separate pages on the three most interesting movie theatres in Westwood Village -- the Bruin, the Fox Westwood Village and the Crest.
More Los Angeles Theatres
This section has a (somewhat arbitrary) listing of other historic Los Angeles theatres -- both existing and vanished. There are photos we've taken as well as lots of links to other photo collections and information sources for further delving.
News About Historic Los Angeles Theaters
We're trying to keep up with what's happening in the remaining Los Angeles Movie Palaces. This section lists the items we've stumbled across as well as those submitted by other correspondents.
Movies in Los Angeles
A collection of links and images leading you to interesting sites about the business of the movies, movie studios, technical aspects of the filmgoing experience and more.
It'll continue to grow. Give us some ideas.
More Los Angeles Adventures
This section has links to other sites of interest for exploration of Los Angeles history, architecture and more.
We've also got links to blogs about life in Los Angeles.
Sources for additional research on historic Los Angeles theatres...
See additional resource listings on our Downtown, Westwood and Hollywood pages for sources specific to those areas.
California State Library
www.lib.state.ca.us The State Library is a great treasure trove of photos for many Los Angeles theatres. Here we have a photo of Clune's Auditorium from the collection. full size image
Cinema Tour
www.cinematour.com Information and photos on historic theatres as well as new multiplexes around the world. Here's a Bob Meza photo of the Highland Theatre. larger image
Cinema Treasures
www.cinematreasures.org Data on thousands of historic U.S. theatres with links, photos and endless fascinating discussions. Here's a great photo from an article on the Raymond Theatre in Pasadena. full size image
Search the Cinema Treasures list for Los Angeles (296 theatres) or Hollywood (55 theatres). For dates and facts on Los Angeles movie theatres, this is by far the most comprehensive resource.
LA Okay
www.laokay.com This site is a treasure trove of material. See the articles on S. Charles Lee, Beaux Arts Architecture , Morgan Walls & Clements, and more. This view of the Westlake is from their Theatres article. full size image
Online Archive of California
www.oac.cdlib.org An incredible treasure trove of great theatre photos. This archive accesses collections from a number of participating institutions. Shown here is a lobby view of the Academy Theatre, Inglewood from UCLA's S. Charles Lee archive. full size image
You Are Here
Great photo collection (theatres and other stuff) representing buildings all over the city.
LA Public Library Photo Collection
www.lapl.org A grand collection of 60,000 photos about all aspects of Los Angeles. Shown here is a photo of Tally's New Broadway Theatre, now demolished. full size image
more photos from lapl.org | search the photo collection
LA Time Machines
The postcard of Grauman's Chinese is from this site's nice Los Angeles Movie Palaces tour. Mostly focused on downtown, but also with a nice array of photos of other historic Los Angeles theatres. full size image
UCLA Calisphere
www.ucla.edu From the UCLA photo collection's S. Charles Lee Archive here's a 1937 view of the Bruin Theatre lobby. They have 844 other theatre pictures. full size image
search the S. Charles Lee archive
www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu
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