![]() The former marquee in 2014 | |
Former names | Pantages Theatre (1910–1922) Dalton's Broadway Theatre (1922–1924) |
---|---|
Address | 534 S. Broadway Los Angeles, California United States |
Construction | |
Opened | September 26, 1910 |
Closed | 1992 |
Architect | Morgan and Walls |
Official name | Arcade Theater |
Designated | March 20, 1991 |
Reference no. | 525 |
The Arcade Theatre is a historic former vaudeville and movie theater in the Broadway district of Los Angeles, California. Commissioned by real estate developer William May Garland in 1910, it originally operated under the direction of Alexander Pantages. In 1920, the Pantages operation moved to a new auditorium on 7th Street; thereafter, the theater became known as Dalton's Broadway for two years before ultimately taking the Arcade name in 1924 in association with the adjacent Spring Arcade building. Metropolitan Theatres later operated the facility as a grindhouse until its closure in 1992.
Los Angeles architectural firm Morgan and Walls designed the building in the Beaux-Arts style. The seven-story building includes office space on its upper floors. The Arcade neighbors the former Cameo and Roxie movie theaters. The city of Los Angeles designated the Arcade Theatre a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1991.
Los Angeles real estate developer William May Garland commissioned a new office building and theater in 1909; although most theaters at the time were located on Main Street, he chose a site on Broadway, making it an early part of the eventual theater district there. Local architects Morgan and Walls drafted plans for the structure in November 1909. [1]
On New Year's Day 1910, the Los Angeles Times reported that construction was ready to commence with an expected $150,000 cost and a 15-year, $400,000 lease agreement signed by vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. [2] Work began on the building in March. [3]
The Pantages Theatre opened on September 26, 1910, the 33rd facility to be added to the Pantages vaudeville circuit. Two full-capacity audiences gave positive reviews for a composite show that featured "The Yalto duo, whirlwind dancers; Maurice Burkhart, singing comedian and impersonator; Lelliott Brothers, woh [ sic ] present an interesting instrumental act; MacLean and Bryant in a clever little dramatic sketch called '17-20 in the Black;' Sophie Tucker, coon shouter, and Barnold's dog and monkey actors, one of the most interesting animal acts seen in Los Angeles in many days." A. J. Louis purchased the first ticket and later presented it to Pantages as a memento. Pantages circuit veteran J. O. Chaney served as the inaugural stage manager. [4]
In 1915, the theater installed an electric scoreboard to provide updates on the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies during matinee hours. [5]
In August 1920, Alexander Pantages opened a new Pantages Theatre on 7th Street (later distinguished as the Warner Downtown Theatre), keeping the original Broadway venue open until December 1921 when it temporarily closed for a photoplayer installation. Afterwards, the facility opened under new management as Dalton's Broadway Theatre. In 1924, officials renamed the building the Arcade Theatre following the newly-constructed Spring Arcade next door. [6]
Following a $100,000 renovation designed by architect Oscar N. Land that featured "every new feature of theater construction available", the Arcade Theatre reopened on April 30, 1927, with a showing of the Dorothy Davenport film The Red Kimono . [7] [8] The theater reopened under the management of Principal Theaters Corporation. [6]
On July 30, 1932, the Dalton brothers reopened the Arcade Theatre as a burlesque house advertised as having "youth and beauty, massive scenic settings, elaborate costuming, a cycle of spectacular chorus song and dance numbers". [9]
With the rise in popularity of news cinemas at the time, the Arcade Theatre operated as the Telenews Theatre from August to November 1941. It later operated as the Teleview Theatre, another operation that ceased in favor of regular movie programming. [6]
The Arcade's final operator, Metropolitan Theatres, ran it as a grindhouse. On March 20, 1991, the city of Los Angeles designated the building a Historic-Cultural Monument, along with the neighboring Cameo and Roxie theaters. In 1992, Metropolitan closed the Arcade Theatre. It has since been converted to retail use in the lobby space; the auditorium remains intact and unused. [6]
Morgan and Walls designed the Arcade Theatre in the Beaux-Arts style, specifically designed to imitate the look and feel of an English music hall. The stonework on the facade still bears the original venue name, Pantages. The inaugural auditorium configuration sat 1,400 people between the orchestra, balcony, gallery, and box sections. The original setting featured a mural above the proscenium arch until it was painted over. [6]
S. Charles Lee designed renovations that took place between 1937 and 1938 that included a new marquee, modernized lobby, and the removal of the box seating. At this time, theater officials decided to close the upper gallery section due to poor sightlines, reducing capacity to 800. [6]
Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal".
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre is a historic movie theater located on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Opened in 1922, it is an early example of a lavish movie palace and is noted as having been the site of the first-ever Hollywood film premiere. From 1998 until 2020, it was owned and operated by the American Cinematheque, a member-based cultural organization.
A movie palace is a large, elaborately decorated movie theater built from the 1910s to the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. With the advent of television, movie attendance dropped, while the rising popularity of large multiplex chains in the 1980s and 1990s signaled the obsolescence of single-screen theaters. Many movie palaces were razed or converted into multiple-screen venues or performing arts centers, though some have undergone restoration and reopened to the public as historic buildings.
Pantages Theatre may refer to:
The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theater at 1564 Broadway, facing Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Milwaukee architects Kirchhoff & Rose, the theater was funded by Martin Beck and opened in 1913. From its opening to about 1929, the Palace was considered among vaudeville performers as the flagship venue of Benjamin Franklin Keith and Edward Franklin Albee II's organization. The theater had 1,743 seats across three levels as of 2018.
Broadway, until 1890 Fort Street, is a thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The portion of Broadway from 3rd to 9th streets, in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles, was the city's main commercial street from the 1910s until World War II, and is the location of the Broadway Theater and Commercial District, the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States.
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Alexander Pantages was a Greek American vaudeville impresario and early motion picture producer. He created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the Western United States and Canada.
Benjamin Marcus Priteca was a Scottish architect. He is best known for designing theatres for Alexander Pantages.
The Hollywood Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre, is located at Hollywood and Vine in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, it was the last theater built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. The palatial Art Deco theater opened on June 4, 1930, as part of the Pantages Theatre Circuit.
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The Broadway Theater District in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States. The same six-block stretch of Broadway, and an adjacent section of Seventh Street, was also the city's retail hub for the first half of the twentieth century, lined with large and small department stores and specialty stores.
Tacoma Arts Live is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in the historic Theater District of downtown Tacoma, Washington. Encompassing the Pantages, Rialto, and Theatre on the Square, Tacoma Arts Live manages the largest complex of theaters between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Additionally, Tacoma Arts Live Conservatory and Education Department provide one of the largest performing arts education programs in Washington state.
Arcade Theater may refer to:
The Orpheum Circuit was a chain of vaudeville and movie theaters. It was founded in 1886, and operated through 1927 when it was merged into the Keith-Albee-Orpheum corporation, ultimately becoming part of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) corporation.
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The Roxie Theatre is a historic former movie theater in the Broadway Theater District of Los Angeles, California. The venue opened in 1931 as the last theater to be built on Broadway. Architect John M. Cooper's Art Deco design of the Roxie remained the only theater of that style in the downtown neighborhood. In 1978, Metropolitan Theatres converted the space into a Spanish-language filmhouse. Following the Roxie's closure in 1989, the lobby was converted into retail space whereas the auditorium was left intact.
The Cameo Theatre is a historic former movie theater on Broadway in Los Angeles, California. Opened by film mogul W. H. Clune as Clune's Broadway Theatre in 1910, it was one of the first purpose-built movie theaters in the United States. It remained the oldest continually operating movie theater in Los Angeles until its closure in 1991. Alfred Rosenheim designed the building in the Neoclassical style.
The Regent Theatre is a live music venue and historic former movie theater in the Downtown section of Los Angeles, California. Opened as the National Theatre in 1914, it is the oldest remaining theater building on South Main Street. Following its initial status as a first-run filmhouse, it began screening second-run programming in the 1920s amidst a widespread decline of the vicinity's entertainment scene in favor of the newer Broadway Theater District. After serving as a grindhouse, the Regent was later converted to an adult movie theater before shuttering in 2000. Upon the completion of renovations, the facility was reopened as a concert venue in 2014; Live Nation became the operator in 2019.
The Miramar Theatre is a historic former movie theater and bowling alley in San Clemente, California. Clifford A. Balch designed the building in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and it opened in 1938 as the San Clemente Theatre. The theater closed in 1992 and since has been the subject of various redevelopment and restoration initiatives.
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