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The Los Angeles Theater
615 South Broadway, CA 90014, Los Angeles
Downtown LA, between 6th & 7th street
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| Los Angeles Theatre |
Lobby |
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Built in 1931, the lavish Los Angeles Theatre recalls the
glories of the French Baroque and France's "Sun King",
Louis XIV. Its majestic six-story main lobby overwhelms audiences
with a three-tiered fountain in a hall of mirrors, crystal
chandeliers, a grand sweeping stairway, and gold-gilt sunbursts.
And that's just the lobby. The Baroque auditorium teems with
golden angels, cherubs, and flowery swags. From the rich restaurant
space to the glass-ceiling ballroom, from the marble-lined
ladies room to the circus-motif playroom, the amenities of
the Los Angeles give theatregoers a full entertainment experience.
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Entrepreneur and film exhibitor, H.L. Gumbiner constructed
the Los Angeles Theatre in the midst of the Depression at
an estimated cost of more than $1 million. Intent on exceeding
existing standards of extravagance, he hired architect S.
Charles Lee, who became the City's most prolific theater architect,
and one of Los Angeles' most gifted technological innovators.
Lee believed that "the show starts on the sidewalk"
and he designed every element of the building to lure the
patron inside.
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Completed in less than six months, the theater opened on
January 30, 1931 with the premiere gala screening of “City
Lights”, the landmark film of Charlie Chaplin, who helped
cover the cost of finishing the building when Gumbiner ran
short of funds. Among celebrities of the era in attendance
that evening was Mr. Albert Einstein.
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| World-premiere of "City
Lights" |
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| Charles Chaplin with
Albert Einstein: 1931 - Los Angeles Theatre. Accompanied
by Prof. Albert Einstein (r) Charlie Chaplin arrives at
premiere of his new picture, „City Lights“,
at the Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway LA. The savant
and the screen star have become great pals. |
Large crowds waited outside
of the theatre. |
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This 1931 movie palace retains its original French Baroque
decor throughout, its opulence reflects the glories of Versailles.
The narrow lobby space is illusionistically widened by the
use of mirrors, flanked by colossal marble columns and gilt
ornament, set off with bronze bannisters and sumptuous crystal
chandeliers.
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The central staircase culminates in a crystal fountain and
Heinsbergen mural. Designed as a grand sequence of spaces
encased in rich ornament, the theater abounds with decorative
extravagances including colorful marble bathrooms, a restaurant,
and a downstairs ballroom paneled in walnut resembling a ship’s
lounge.
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The auditorium ceiling is crowned by a lunette containing
Heinsbergen trompe l'oeil murals. Tall arches along the sidewalls
resemble those in the lobby, while the plaster decorative
is backlit for colorful effects. Seating 1800 in rows originally
no more than five seats across, the Los Angeles was a grand
finale to the movie palace era on Broadway.
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