The Los Angeles Theater

Los Angeles Theater Lobby, 2017 courtesy of Margaret Burton

Slow my geeky history heart because not only are we being blessed with a new album and tour from Florence and the Machine, but the first US show of the era will be held at my favorite theater in the world (pause for dramatic effect) ~ The Los Angeles Theater. ~

To paint a scene for you, I had a night paramount of Claire Beachum Fraser of Outlander laying her hand on a stone circle and being transported to 18th century Scotland, except I was setting foot on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles and being transported to roaring 20’s (I admit, not as extraordinary as Claire’s journey, but spectacular nonetheless).

On a Friday evening in early 2017, my then boyfriend and I went to see a free concert happening in downtown LA that Airbnb was hosting. The concert was okay, but there seemed to be a whole lot more happening that wasn’t lining up with the coolness factor of what one would think an Airbnb conference would look like. Julian and I began walking down the blocks of Broadway and stepping into theaters where you could sense decade old dust particles holding onto the magic of the past, reminding us that these buildings were once the capillaries feeding into the arteries of the city.

As we stepped across the threshold of the last theater of the night, we were met with a staircase as grand as Anastasia singing “Once Upon a December” in Catherine Palace outside of St. Petersburg. I stood just past the doorway with my eyes wide and whispered to Julian, “Holy shit. Where ARE we?” I’m sure this was the exact reaction Herman Louis Gumbiner wanted to elicit when he put plans forth to build the Los Angeles Theater in 1929.


Herman Louis Gumbiner wasn’t a newbie when it came to building theaters. Gumbiner moved to LA from Chicago after running a string of theaters in Illinois and soon began to make a name for himself in the Broadway District. By 1921, Garbiner had taken over the Garrick theater and soon also helped operate the Cameo Theater (1). In 1927 Gumbiner hired architect S. Charles Lee to replace the 650 seat Garrick Theater with a larger 906 seat theater that still stands today as the Tower Theater.

San Francisco, Fox Theater 

A few short years later, Gumbiner was ready to build another theater. He went back to his architect Charles Lee and asked him to plan a tour of great movie palaces. Their first stop was San Francisco’s Fox theater and that was all Gumbiner needed to see. Unfortunately the Fox Theater was demolished in 1963 but you can see from the pictures how the Los Angeles Theater is quite similar to this once grand theater.

Premiere of City Lights at the Los Angeles Theater
January 1931 (3)

After finding the template for the theater, construction began in 1930 with a budget of $1.5 million and a final cost of two million (an additional $500,000 for furnishings, decor, and equipment). Construction was planned for a wildly quick time frame of six months. They were able to build this quickly by pouring concrete and plaster casts offsite, and bringing them back to the construction site to piece together. Charlie Chaplin even contributed funds to ensure construction was completed in time for the premiere of his movie, City Lights, in January of 1931. (2) One of the first things you might notice after taking in the dazzling sites of the grand staircase and lobby is a picture of the premiere with Charlie Chaplin and his recent friend and guest of honor, Albert Einstein, just to the right of the entrance.

This was the last great theater to be built in Los Angeles’ legendary Broadway District, an area which has the highest concentration of movie palaces in the world comprising 12 theaters and over 15,000 seats in a six block stretch. Gumbiner and Lee finished the last great theater with a bang and ensured it featured all the latest technology including:

• A panel of indicators were installed in the lobby for the head usher to know where seats were available so they could easily guide guests to empty seats (I mean.. This was 1931, I am still filled with glee when a parking garage has this feature).
• Blue neon lights along the walkways that lit up when lights dimmed to help guide guests safely to and from their seats.
• A lighting system as flexible as those in use today. They could preset 5 levels of illumination and cross fade between one preset to another. (4) The same dimmers are still being used today!
• The sound system had an extensive PA system where announcements could be made throughout the various lobbies and rooms throughout the theater. They even wired it up to be able to announce outside to entice people in. The theater was built with amplified sound in mind, so they didn’t need to reconstruct anything which many of the theaters build in the 20’s needed to to catered to amplified messages.
• One of the coolest technologies they installed was a unique periscope system that projected the film currently being shown in the theater down into the basement lounge.

The state of the art technology is attention grabbing, but the rest of the theater is what leaves your mouth open as you turn the corner and meet another part of this fantasy world.

Ladies mirror room at LAT.
Masquerade party for Labyrinth showing put on by Cinespia 

“Lee designed the theatre with many special features for the comfort and delight of patrons, including a children’s playroom; a refreshment room with a soda fountain; two ‘crying rooms’ on the mezzanine level: where mothers and their infants could watch the show in a glassed-in booth with its own speaker, air conditioning controls and a rest room; a large cosmetics room next to the ladies toilet with individual vanities and a three-sided full length mirror; a three-chair shoeshine stand in the men’s room; eight aisles on the main floor so that there were no more than six seats in each row; and separate loge sections on the main floor separated and elevated above the other seats.” (4)

The original “act drop” that still stands on the stage today was hand made by B. F. Shearer Company and is said to be one of the most expensive drapes ever made for a movie palace. The drop depicts Louis XIV, his wife, his mistress, all surrounded by the French Army and Navy. The creation of the drop uses a 3d stuffing technique to give it depth, creating a more realistic feeling. One article I came across mentioned that the wigs were created from real hair so I am looking forward to stealing a close glance to attempt to confirm this. It will be fascinating to see this curtain in person at F+TMs intimate gig and to be able to pick apart the artistry of this amazing piece!

The one and only Hilary Duff in A Cinderella Story

Once you have visited this grand movie palace, or get to know it from pictures, you will begin to see it in MANY movie. Most notably as the prom scene from 2004’s A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff. Lols, joking, it is in SO many famous movies and TV shows. You can find a list here, but some notable mentions outside of A Cinderella Story are: Fight Club, The Prestige, Gattaca, Coyote Ugly, The Muppets, Funny Lady, BTS Black Swan music video, HAIM’s Hallelujah music video just to name a few!

The magic of the Broadway District might have dimmed after the Great Depression and over the decades the area fell into a state close to disrepair, but it is slowly being revived. In 2008, Los Angeles councilman, José Huizar, initiated a 10 year plan called Bringing Back Broadway.

“The initiative began with goals to provide economic development and business assistance; encourage historic preservation; stimulate reactivation of Broadway’s historic theaters and long-underutilized commercial buildings; and increase transit and development options by bringing a streetcar back to downtown Los Angeles with Broadway as the spine for the route. City policies aimed at spurring this revitalization through Bringing Back Broadway include the City’s Historic Commercial Reuse Guidelines, Broadway Entertainment Zone policies, a facade lighting grant program, the Historic Broadway Sign District, and the Broadway Streetscape plan, which prioritizes people over vehicles and creates a safer and more vibrant pedestrian experience along Broadway.” (5)

This 1 billion dollar investment has brought life back into the district. To celebrate the initiative, José Huizar produced the annual, Night on Broadway, the event that led me to the Los Angeles Theater for the first time. I HIGHLY recommend everyone to attend. It’s rare to be able to go to an event in one of these historic venues, let alone be able to visit a majority of them in one night with shows happening on ten stages for FREE. 

Cinespia screening of Roman Holiday
They always have amazing photo sets like this!

Another amazing way you can enjoy the Broadway District is through Cinespia movie showings. I have seen a few showings at the Los Angeles Theater where the attire is always formal and usually in theme with the movie. They often schedule these around holidays (halloween, winter holidays, and Valentines) so follow them on socials and keep an eye out for the next showing! 

If you find yourself in Downtown LA looking at the facades of these grand movie palaces, I also recommend seeing some other sights!

• Grand Central Market - best place to try some of the amazing food in LA. Ramen Hood is my favorite ramen I have ever had
• Bradbury Building - right across from Grand Central Market. Very famous building that has been most notable featured in Blade Runner but also many other things. Most recently, Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake filmed their famous one take music video, Say Something at the Bradbury Building!
• Last Bookstore - Ya’ll. This is the most instagrammable bookstore ever. It’s absolutely fabulous and will fill your heart with joy. Please go take a picture in the book tunnel or in the horror vault and tag Between Two Books.

For those of you who will be attending the show on Friday, see you there!! I can’t wait to spend most of my time wandering around the theater documenting the history and beauty on a night where we finally get to be together again and dance our way to moments of freedom.

Works Cited

1. Counter, B. (n.d.). Los Angeles Theatre: History. Los Angeles Theatre: history. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com/2018/04/los-angeles-theatre.html
   
   

2. Hume, Mike. “Los Angeles Theatre.” Historic Theatre Photography,
   https://www.historictheatrephotos.com/Theatre/Los-Angeles-Theatre.aspx.
   
   

3. Taylor, A. (2015, February 2). On this day: Einstein and Chaplin attend a premiere in 1931. The
   Atlantic. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/02/on-this-day-einstein-and-chaplin-attend-a-premiere-in-1931/385096/
   
   

4. History of the Los Angeles Theater. Los Angeles Theatre. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://losangelestheatre.com/history
   
   

5. Bringing Back Broadway is a 10-year strategic economic development plan launched in 2008 for the revitalization of the historic Broadway corridor in Downtown Los Angeles. Bringing Back Broadway. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2022, from https://bringingbackbroadway.com/info

***apologies for the layout of these pictures, blogspot is a very lowtech platform and I don't have time to figure out coding like the Myspace days to make this pretty***

Jesus in the creepy ass kids playroom. Very Florence. 

Ballroom reminiscent of Titanic

The Mens bathroom looking like the entrance
to the Ministry of Magic

The most PHENOMENAL vanity room to ever exist. So ready for the
pictures that are going to come from this show. #GirlsAgainstGod

Just like... wow. 

Cinespia Labyrinth Screening!

The iconic sign advertising
Cinespia's Godfather Part II Screening