Outside of Clifton's Cafeteria, celebration of the end of the second great war. Photo credit: LAPL
Olympic blvd was formerly 10th st. downtown, so that's an 8 block stretch with 12 theaters. Fun fact, it was renamed after the 1932 Olympics, the 10th rendition of the games.
I've written in the past about Lowe's State Theater (Broadway and 7th) but the Warner, Paramount, and RKO faced Hill St and aren't part of the redevelopment. I also used a photo I took of the Million Dollar Theater (Broadway and 3rd) used in (500) Days of Summer. That leaves ten other theaters I didn't know about : )
Broadway was originally Fort St., part of the original 1849 grid, and was renamed in 1890. The first theaters to crop up on Broadway were vaudeville houses in the early 1900s. The Orpheum and Pantages were part of their owner's respective theater chains. Pantages opened a theater in 1910 (now the Arcade Theater at 5th and Broadway), and then the original Orpheum opened up in 1911 (now the Palace Theater at 6th and Broadway).
Vaudeville wasn't the only game in town, the Cameo would open in 1910 as a nickelodeon seating 775 people. Seven years later the Rialto Theater would open, giving Broadway two vaudeville theaters and two nickelodeons. There was also a traditional theater house in the Globe Theater (originally the Morosco) opened in 1913.
Million Dollar Theater with original marquee and facade. Photo credit: LAPL
By the end of the decade two movie palaces had opened up, the Million Dollar Theater in 1918 and the United Artists in 1919. The Million Dollar Theater was Sid Grauman's first project and the northernmost of the Broadway Theaters.
As the movie industry took of in the 1920s, Lowe's opened the State Theater in 1921 which could handle both movies and live vaudeville. In 1927 the Tower Theater opened. It was the first theater designed by S. Charles Lee, and the first theater in Los Angeles equipped for talkies.
Los Angeles Theater with City Lights on the marquee. Photo credit: LAPL
Lee also designed the Los Angeles Theater which opened in 1931. One of the grandest movie palaces ever built, it opened with Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. It featured an electric monitor of available seats, neon floor lights, a restaurant, playroom, soundproof cry rooms, smoking room with built in cigarette lighters, and a lounge that featured a second screen which showed the film via a series of mirrors and prisms. The toilet stalls were marble!
The Roxie was the final theater to open in 1932. However, theaters weren't the only thing that cropped up on Broadway. As anyone who's been to a mall knows, a theater draws a crowd and where there are crowds department stores will open.
The first born of these department stores took it's name from the street, The Broadway. The Broadway would grow into one of Southern California's dominant department store chains, before most of them were sold off and became Macy's. Bullocks, May Company, and the 5th St. Store also sprung up along Broadway.
The entire Broadway Commercial and Theater district has been declared a National Historic Place, as well as the Bradbury Building and Million Dollar Theater.
Like many of the great things of the Roaring 20s, it was the Great Depression that stopped development on Broadway. After World War II as the freeways sent Angelenos out to the suburbs and suburban malls and theaters opened up, the Broadway district began to decay.
The restoration of Clifton's Cafeteria, which opened in 1916, is a positive sign that the revitalization initiative is making progress. Known for their charitable donations and "pay what you can" policy, keeping this type of place which has meant so much for so many generations alive is key in any community. So huzzah to the Broadway revitalization project. Huzzah.
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