Metropolitan Theatres

Last updated
Metropolitan Theatres
Company type Private
IndustryEntertainment
Founded1923
FounderJoseph Corwin
FateFiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024
Headquarters,
Area served
Southern California
Loveland and Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Park City, Utah
Key people
David Corwin (CEO)
Services Movie theater
OwnerCorwin family
Website www.metrotheatres.com

Metropolitan Theatres is Los Angeles's oldest movie theater chain. [1] Opened in 1923, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024, at which point they owned 15 theaters: ten in southern California (including seven out of eight in Santa Barbara), three in Colorado, and two in Utah. [2] [3]

Contents

History

Metropolitan Theatres was founded by Joseph Corwin in 1923. [2] At the time, the Corwin family operated almost every movie theater in downtown Los Angeles's Broadway Theater District, the city's premiere theater venue until Hollywood was built up in the 1920s and 30s. [1] [4] [5]

In the 1950s, Metropolitan Theatres expanded into Santa Barbara. [3] In the 1970s, they shifted to blaxploitation films in their downtown Los Angeles theaters, in the 1980s, those same theaters shifted again, to Spanish language cinema. The company at one point had more than 1000 employees. [1]

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024. Chief Executive Officer David Corwin blamed the bankruptcy on the Covid 19 pandemic, which he said was "devastating to the business," as well as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and increased labor, rent, and utilities expenses. [1]

List of theatres

Notable theaters that have been either owned or operated by Metropolitan Theatres include:

Greater Los Angeles

Broadway Theater District

Los Angeles Theatre, Los Angeles Los Angeles Theatre 2017.jpg
Los Angeles Theatre, Los Angeles

Other

El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood.JPG
El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood

Elsewhere in California

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood and Vine</span> Street intersection in Los Angeles

Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California, became known in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered on the intersection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movie palace</span> Type of movie theater

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LA Film Festival</span> Annual film festival held in Los Angeles, California, U.S.

The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodic television and panel conversations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway (Los Angeles)</span> Department stores list in Los Angeles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington Theatre</span> Theater in Santa Barbara, California

The Arlington Theatre is a historic movie theatre in Santa Barbara, California, United States. Combining the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles of architecture, it the largest movie theater and principal performing arts venue the city. In addition to regular screenings and artists, it is home to many events associated with the annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Million Dollar Theatre</span> Movie palace in Los Angeles, California

The Million Dollar Theatre at 307 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles is one of the first movie palaces built in the United States. It opened in 1917 with the premiere of William S. Hart's The Silent Man. It's the northernmost of the collection of historical movie palaces in the Broadway Theater District and stands directly across from the landmark Bradbury Building. The theater is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alamo Drafthouse Cinema</span> American movie theater chain

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the film, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiquette. Sony Pictures Experiences acquired the chain in June 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramount Theatre (Los Angeles)</span> Former movie theater in downtown Los Angeles, California, United States

Paramount Theatre, formerly Metropolitan Theater or Grauman's Metropolitan Theater, also known as Paramount Downtown, was a movie palace and office building located at 323 W. 6th Street and 536 S. Hill Street, across the street from Pershing Square, in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles. It was the largest movie theater in Los Angeles for many years.

Pacific Theatres was an American chain of movie theaters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of California. Pacific Theatres was owned by The Decurion Corporation which also owned and operated ArcLight Cinemas. In 2008, it sold its store locations in San Diego to Reading Cinemas. In April 2021, Pacific Theatres announced they would not be reopening any of their theater locations after being closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Following the closure, some former Pacific locations were acquired by AMC Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles)</span> Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US

The Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles opened on February 15, 1926, as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. After a $3 million renovation, started in 1989, it is the most restored of the historical movie palaces in the city. Three previous theatres also bore the name Orpheum before the one at 842 Broadway was the final one with that moniker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles)</span> United States historic place

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Pacific Theatre</span> Former movie theater in Hollywood, California

Hollywood Pacific Theatre, also known as Warner Theatre, Warner Bros. Theatre, Warner Hollywood Theatre, Warner Cinerama, Warner Pacific, and Pacific 1-2-3, is a historic office, retail, and entertainment space located at 6433 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It is best known for its movie theater, which was owned by Warner Bros. from 1928 to 1953, Stanley Warner Theatres from 1953 to 1968, and Pacific Theatres from 1968 to 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tower Theatre (Los Angeles)</span> United States historic place

The Tower Theatre is a historic movie theater that opened in 1927 in the Broadway Theater District of Downtown Los Angeles.

The Pussycat Theaters were a chain of adult movie theaters, operating between the 1960s and the 1980s. Pussycat Theaters had 30 locations in California and were known for their cat-girl logo. The last one closed in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace Theater (Los Angeles)</span> Historic theater in Los Angeles (e. 1910)

Palace Theatre, formerly Orpheum Theatre, Orpheum-Palace Theatre, Broadway Palace, Fox Palace, and New Palace Theatre, is a historic five-story theater and office building located at 636 S. Broadway in the Broadway Theater District in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles. It is the oldest theater that remains on Broadway and the oldest remaining original Orpheum theater in the United States.

Live from the Artists Den is a three-time New York Emmy-nominated music television series that features popular recording artists performing in non-traditional settings throughout North America. Live From the Artists Den broadcasts nationally on public television and internationally in the United Kingdom, Latin America, China, Japan, Germany, New Zealand, and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi Lofts and Adler Theatre</span> United States historic place

The Mississippi Lofts and Adler Theatre is an apartment building and theater complex located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places by its original name, the Hotel Mississippi and RKO Orpheum Theater. The Hotel Mississippi was listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 2005. In 2020 the complex was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Nichols, Chris (March 13, 2024). "L.A.'s Oldest Theater Chain Files for Bankruptcy". Los Angeles .
  2. 1 2 TRD staff (March 6, 2024). "Metropolitan Theatres files Chapter 11 to renegotiate cinema leases". The Real Deal .
  3. 1 2 3 4 Welsh, Nick (March 5, 2024). "Metropolitan Theatres Declares Bankruptcy". Santa Barbara Independent .
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form - California SP Broadway Theater and Commercial District". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. May 9, 1979.
  5. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form - Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. April 4, 1985.
  6. 1 2 "Early Los Angeles Historical Buildings (1925 +)". Water and Power Associates. p. 1. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  7. "Early Los Angeles Historical Buildings (1900 - 1925)". Water and Power Associates. p. 4. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Gabel, William. "Movie Theaters Previously Operated by Metropolitan Theatres". Cinema Treasures . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  9. "Early Los Angeles City Views (1925 +)". Water and Power Associates. p. 5. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  10. "Early Views of Santa Monica". Water and Power Associates. p. 5. Retrieved November 10, 2024.