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L.A.'s Broadway Theater District is bustling, loud,
occasionally squalid, full of rough-hewn charm, and packed with potential. This street was the center of the city's movie theater district from around 1910 to 1930. Nearly all of the buildings the theaters were housed in still exist, although none of them are being used today as a first-run movie theater. We turned out a group of MC101s and guests to tour the district with leaders from the Los Angeles Conservancy. |
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We were told that the Broadway Theater District (about six blocks) is on the National Register of Historic Places. A big part of its appeal (and historical significance) is that there are very few post-WWII buildings on this segment of the street |
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Eric was our enthusiastic and informative tour guide. He showed us that today most of the former theaters are being used for everything except their intended purpose. The building that once housed the Arcade Theater, for example, is now home to an electronics store. It was very weird to be inside what was once a thousand-seat movie theater, looking at the proscenium arch over where the movie screen once was while standing in a storage area full of boom boxes and TVs. |
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The MC101s did a good job of keeping
up and imagining what the Theater District was like in its heyday, and what
is possible for it today. |
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The Los Angeles Theater is one of the most impressive
on the street. Unfortunately, we were unable to get in. However, the Conservancy's
"Last Remaining Seats" vintage film series, held each spring, generally has
at least one evening at the Los Angeles. |
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We were able to go inside the Orpheum, which is
in nice condition and is very grand. Here, we are going through the lobby.
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The theater in the background--once run by Alexander Pantages, and later a Warner Bros. theater--is now a jewelry mart. |