Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles)


The Broadway Theater District, referred to as the Broadway Theater and Commercial District in the National Register of Historic Places and the Broadway Theater and Entertainment District by the City of Los Angeles Planning Department, is a historic theater district located on Broadway in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles. The district, the first and largest theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contains twelve movie palaces along an eight-block stretch and is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States.
The district along with an adjacent section of Seventh Street was also Los Angeles's retail hub for the first half of the twentieth century.

Description

Los Angeles's Broadway Theater District stretches for eight blocks from Second Street to Olympic along South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. These blocks contain twelve theaters built between 1910 and 1931 and numerous department store buildings, the latter of which made the area the center of greater Los Angeles for shopping for much of the first half of the twentieth century.
In 1986, Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith called the district "the only large concentration of vintage movie theaters left in America."

History

Golden Age

The district's oldest surviving theater was built in 1910, and by 1931, the district had the highest concentration of cinemas in the world, with seating capacity for more than 15,000 patrons. At the time, Broadway was the hub of L.A.'s entertainment scene – a place where "screen goddesses and guys in fedoras rubbed elbows with Army nurses and aircraft pioneers." In 2006, the Los Angeles Times wrote:
"There was a time, long ago, when the streets of downtown Los Angeles were awash in neon—thanks to a confluence of movie theaters the world had never seen before. Dozens of theaters screened Hollywood's latest fare, played host to star-studded premieres and were filled nightly with thousands of moviegoers. In those days, before World War II, downtown L.A. was the movie capital of the world."

Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith recalled growing up a mile from Broadway around this time and spending his Saturdays in the theaters:
"I remember walking into those opulent interiors, surrounded by the glory of the Renaissance, or the age of Baroque, and spending two or three hours in the dream world of the movies. When I came out again the sky blazed; the heat bounced off the sidewalk, traffic sounds filled the street, I was back in the hard reality of the Depression.

Additionally, from through the 1950s, Broadway's theater district was considered the center for shopping in greater Los Angeles, with more than in department store space.

Decline and revitalization

In the years after World War II, the district began to decline, as first-run movie-goers shifted to the movie palaces in Hollywood, in Westwood Village, and later to suburban multiplexes, while department store shopping moved to shopping malls. After World War II, as Anglo shoppers and moviegoers moved to the suburbs, many of the Broadway department stores closed and its movie palaces became venues for Spanish-language movies and variety shows. In 1988, the Los Angeles Times noted that without the Hispanic community "Broadway would be dead" and that Broadway had been "rescued and revitalized" by "the Latino renaissance."

Preservation and renovation

The district has been the subject of preservation and restoration efforts since the 1980s. In 1987, the Los Angeles Conservancy started a program called "Last Remaining Seats" in which the old movie palaces were opened each summer to show classic Hollywood movies. In 1994, the Conservancy's associate director, Gregg Davidson, noted: "When we started this, the naysayers said no one will go downtown to an old theater to see an old movie in the middle of the summer, but we get a number of people who have never seen a movie in a theater with a balcony. The older people for nostalgia. And the movie people—seeing a classic film on a big screen is a different experience." After attending a Conservancy screening, one writer noted: "The other night I went to the movies and was transported to a world of powdered wigs and hoop skirts, a rococo fantasy of gilded cherubs and crystal chandeliers. And then the film started."
Despite preservation efforts, many of the theaters have been converted to other uses, including flea markets and churches. The Broadway movie palaces fell victim to a number of circumstances, including changing demographics and tastes, a downtown location that was perceived as dangerous at night, and high maintenance costs for aging facilities. With the closure of the State Theater in 1998, the Orpheum and the Palace were the only two still screening films. Additionally, while Broadway's theaters were being renovated or converted, almost all of Broadway's department store buildings were converted to office or residential.
In 2006, the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Of all of L.A.'s many hidden gems, maybe none is as sparkling nor as hidden as the Broadway theater district downtown." Bemoaning the possible loss of such gems, the same writer noted: "L.A. gave birth to the movies. To lose the astonishing nurseries where the medium grew up would be tragic."
In 2008, the City of Los Angeles launched a $40-million campaign to revitalize the Broadway district, known as the "Bringing Back Broadway" campaign. Some Latino merchants in the district expressed concern that the campaign was an effort to spread the largely Anglo gentrification taking hold in other parts of downtown to an area that has become the city's leading Latino shopping district.

Theaters

Surviving theaters

The twelve theaters in the Broadway Theater District from north to south are:
  • Million Dollar – Movie palace – 307 S. Broadway. Designed by Albert C. Martin Sr. and William Lee Woollett for Sid Grauman, opened in 1918, sat 2,345. Spanish Colonial Revival design.
  • Roxie – Movie palace – 518 S. Broadway. Designed by John M. Cooper, opened in 1932, sat 1,600, converted to retail in 1989. Zigzag Moderne design.
  • Cameo – Nickelodeon – 528 S. Broadway. Designed by Alfred Rosenheim for W. H. Clune, opened in 1910, sat 775, converted to retail in 1991. Renaissance Revival design.
  • Arcade – Vaudeville and music hall then burlesque then movies – 534 S. Broadway. Designed by Morgan & Walls for Alexander Pantages, opened in 1910, originally part of the Pantages circuit, renovated by Oscar N. Land in 1927, converted to burlesque in 1932, movies in 1941, and retail in 1992. Beaux Arts design.
  • Los Angeles – Movie palace – 615 S. Broadway. Designed by S. Charles Lee and S. Tilden Norton for H. L. Gumbiner, opened in 1931, sat slightly less than 2,000 at opening, currently seats 1,931. French Baroque design.
  • Palace – Vaudeville theater and movie palace – 630 S. Broadway. Designed by G. Albert Lansburgh and Robert Brown Young, opened in 1911, originally part of the Orpheum circuit, sat 2,200 at opening, converted to movies in 1926, currently seats 1,068. Florentine early Renaissance design.
  • State – Vaudeville theater and movie palace – 703 S. Broadway. Designed by Weeks and Day, opened in 1921, sat 2,450, converted to a church in 1998. Beaux Arts design.
  • Globe – Legitimate theater then movies – 744 S. Broadway. Designed by Morgan, Walls & Morgan and Alfred F. Rosenheim for Oliver Morosco, opened in 1913, sat 782, converted to movies during the Great Depression, retail in 1987, and an event space. Now seats 2,000. Beaux Arts design.
  • Tower – Movie theater – 802 S. Broadway. Designed by S. Charles Lee for H. L. Gumbiner, opened in 1927, sat 1,000, converted to retail in 2021. Baroque Revival design.
  • Rialto – Nickelodeon – 812 S. Broadway. Designed by Oliver Perry Dennis, opened in 1917, bought by Sid Grauman in 1919, remodeled by William Lee Woollett in 1923, bought by Paramount Pictures in 1924, converted to retail. Originally Greek Revival design, remodeled to Georgian Revival, Art Deco marquee added later
  • Orpheum – Vaudeville theater, concert hall, and movie palace – 842 S. Broadway. Designed by G. Albert Lansburgh, opened in 1926, originally part of the Orpheum circuit. Beaux Arts design.
  • United Artists – Concert hall and movie palace – 933 S. Broadway. Designed by C. Howard Crane of Walker & Eisen for United Artists, opened in 1927, sat 2,214, converted to a church in 1990 then back to a theater in 2014, upper floors converted to a hotel in 2013. Gothic design.
Of these theaters, only United Artists was not included in the 1979 NRHP listed Broadway Theater and Commercial District. That theare, however, was added when the district was expanded in 2002.

Nearby surviving theaters

  • Regent – Movie theater then concert venue – 448 S. Main St. Designed by an unknown architect, opened in 1914 as National Theater, sat 600, remodeled early 1940s, closed as a movie theater in 2000, re-opened as a 1,100 seat concert venue in 2014.
  • Warner Bros. Downtown – Vaudeville theater and movie palace – 401 W. 7th St. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca for Alexander Pantages, opened in 1920, originally part of the Pantages Circuit, sat 2,200, bought by Warner Brothers in 1929, converted to a church in 1975 and retail in 1978. Beaux Arts design.
  • Olympic – Movie theater – 313 W. 8th St. Designed by Lewis Arthur Smith for Louis L. Bard, opened in 1927, sat 600, remodeled by Charles Matcham in 1942, converted to retail in 2007.
  • Mayan – Vaudeville theater and movie palace – 1014 S. Hill St. Designed by Stiles O. Clements of Morgan, Walls & Clements for Edward L. Doheny, opened in 1927, converted to a nightclub in 1990, capacity 1,491. Mayan Revival design.
  • Belasco – Legitimate theater then movie palace then concert hall – 1050 S. Hill St. Designed by Stiles O. Clements of Morgan, Walls and Clements for Edward L. Doheny, opened in 1926, converted to movies in 1948, a church in 1950, and a concert hall in 2011. Spanish Colonial Revival design.