Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles) - Surviving Theaters On Broadway

Surviving Theaters On Broadway

The twelve theaters in the Broadway Theater and Commercial District from north to south are:

Million Dollar Theater - Movie Palace - Located at 307 S. Broadway, the Million Dollar Theater was built by Sid Grauman and opened in 1918. The theater was designed by architects Albert C. Martin and William Lee Woollett with a fanciful facade in the Churrigueresque style. After more than 30 years as one of the city's most prestigious first-run movie palaces, the Million Dollar Theater presented Spanish-language films and variedades from 1950 until the late 1980s. The theater had a seating capacity of 2,345 when it opened in 1918. In 1925, Ben-Hur played for six months at the Million Dollar Theater.

Roxie Theater - Movie Theater - Located at 518 S. Broadway, the Roxie was built in 1932—the last of the movie palaces built on Broadway.The Roxie had a seating capacity of 1,600 when it opened and was noted for its Art Deco or Zigzag Moderne style, including its stepped roofline, angular grillwork, chevron ornament, and terrazzo sunburst in the sidewalk. The theater's sleek Streamline Moderne ticket booth was removed when the theater was converted to retail use.

Cameo Theater - Nickelodeon - Located at 528 S. Broadway, the Cameo opened in 1910 with a seating capacity of 775. Designed by Alfred Rosenheim in a Renaissance Revival style, the Cameo was originally known as Clune's Broadway. Until it closed in 1991, it was the oldest continuously operating movie theater in California. The Cameo has been converted into a swap meet-type market.

Arcade Theater - English Music Hall style theater - Located at 534 S. Broadway, the Arcade opened in 1910 as a vaudeville house that was part of the Pantages vaudeville circuit. The Arcade was designed by Morgan & Walls in the Beaux Arts style with tripartite vertical division of the facade.

Los Angeles Theater - Movie Palace - Located at 615 S. Broadway, the Los Angeles opened in 1931 for the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. It had a seating capacity just short of 2,000. The theater was designed by S. Charles Lee and S. Tilden Norton in the French Baroque style, and was modeled on San Francisco's Fox Theater. The Los Angeles included the latest technological features when it opened, including an electric monitor of available seats, blue neon floor lights, a restaurant, a children's playroom, soundproof crying rooms, smoking room with built-in cigarette lighters, a walnut-paneled lounge with a secondary screen on which a periscope-like system of prisms relayed the film. The ladies' powder room was lined with mirrors and vanities, and the toilet stalls were each done in a different kind of marble and each toilet bowl of a different pastel shade. In 1988, the Los Angeles Times called it "a movie house for the gods, even in its present dusty state." Columnist Jack Smith wrote that the Los Angeles Theater was "palatial beyond the dreams of a prince" with a lobby that suggested "nothing less than the glory of Versailles." Aerosmith's video for "Jaded" was filmed throughout the theater.

Palace Theater - Vaudeville and Movie Theater - Located at 630 S. Broadway, the Palace opened in 1911 with a seating capacity of 2,200. It was an Orpheum vaudeville theater from 1911–1926 and is the oldest remaining Orpheum theater in the United States. The structure was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh based on a Florentine early Renaissance palazzo. The brick facade includes multi-colored terra-cotta swags and four panels depicting the muses of vaudeville sculpted by Domingo Mora.

Loew's State Theatre - Vaudeville Theater and Movie Palace - Located at 703 S. Broadway, Loew's State opened in 1921 with a seating capacity of 2,450. The theater offered both film and vaudeville when it opened. Judy Garland performed at the theater as part of the Gumm Sisters in 1929. Designed by Charles Weeks and William Day, the 12-story Loew's State is said to be the largest brick-clad structure in Los Angeles. The theater is also noted for the seated Buddha located in a niche above the proscenium arch. The exterior has an elaborate "silver platter" chased ornamentation above the ground story. In 1998, Metropolitan Theaters stopped showing movies at the State and leased the space to the Universal Church. As of 2008, the State was being operated as a Spanish-language church.

Globe Theater - Legitimate Theater - Located at 744 S. Broadway, the Globe opened in 1913 with a seating capacity of 782. Originally known as the Morosco, it was used for full-scale live dramatic theater. It was converted into a movie theater during the Great Depression and later served as a Spanish-language movie theater. The building was converted into a swap meet in 1987.

Tower Theater - Movie Theater - Located at 802 S. Broadway, the Tower opened in 1927 with a seating capacity of 1,000. It was the first of more than 70 theaters designed by S. Charles Lee, who described the Tower as a "modified French Renaissance" design. It was the first movie theater in Downtown Los Angeles equipped to accommodate talking pictures.

Rialto Theater - Movie Theater - Located at 812 S. Broadway, the Rialto opened as Quinn's Rialto, a nickelodeon, in 1917. It was purchased by Sid Grauman in 1919, the year after he opened the Million Dollar Theater. Today the theater's auditorium is unused and its lobby houses several retail shops.

Orpheum Theater - Vaudeville Theater and Movie Palace - Located at 842 S. Broadway, the Orpheum opened in 1926 as the fourth Los Angeles home for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Architect G. Albert Lansburgh designed the François Premier style interior. The Orpheum has hosted performances by Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, Will Rogers, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, the Marx Brothers, and Lena Horne. In the 1990s, Tom Hanks used the Orpheum as a substitute for the Orpheum in Pittsburgh for his film That Thing You Do. The Orpheum has also been featured in the Guns 'N Roses video, "November Rain," and in the Sean Penn-directed video for Jewel's "You Were Meant for Me." In 2006, the film Dreamgirls was shot at the Orpheum. The television series "So You Think You Can Dance" and "American Idol" have used the Orpheum for Los Angeles Auditions, and "Idol" has televised its early elimination rounds from the theater.

United Artists Theater - Movie Palace - Located at 933 S. Broadway, the United Artists opened in 1927 with a seating capacity of 2,214. It was the showcase for movies from the United Artists group created in 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith. The theater was designed by C. Howard Crane, with Walker & Eisen, in a Gothic style inspired by a church in Segovia, Spain. The columns feature terra cotta capitals carved with film and theater themed grotesques. The interior includes a series of frescoes and murals by the firm of Anthony Heinsbergen. In 1990, the United Artists Theater was restored by Gene Scott's L.A. University Church; Scott called on his television flock to come to Los Angeles to help with the restoration. Scott's famous "Jesus Saves" sign was placed on the back side of the building to avoid interfering with the original facade.