Tower Theatre (Los Angeles)
| Tower Theatre | |
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Exterior of Los Angeles' Tower Theatre, 2008
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| Location | 800 S. Broadway, Los Angeles |
| Architect | S. Charles Lee |
| Architectural style(s) | Baroque Revival |
| Reference no. | 450[1] |
The Tower Theatre, at 802 S. Broadway, is a historic movie theater that opened in 1927[2] in the Broadway Theater District of Downtown Los Angeles.
Contents
History
The Tower Theatre, at S. Broadway and W. 8th Street, was commissioned by H.L. Gumbiner.[3] He would also build the Los Angeles Theatre in 1931.
The Tower was the first theater designed by architect S. Charles Lee.[2] Seating 900 on a tiny site, it was designed in powerful Baroque Revival style with innovative French, Spanish, Moorish, and Italian elements all executed in terra-cotta.[2] Its interior was modeled after the Paris Opera House.[3] Its exterior features a prominent clock tower, the very top of which was removed after an earthquake.
The Tower was the first filmhouse in Los Angeles to be wired for talking pictures, and it was the location of the sneak preview[4] and Los Angeles premiere[3] of Warner Bros.' revolutionary part-talking The Jazz Singer (1927), starring Al Jolson.
The theater was the first in Los Angeles to be air conditioned.[3]
It opened in 1927 with the silent film The Gingham Girl starring Lois Wilson and George K. Arthur.[5]
For a while during the early 1950s, the name was changed to the Newsreel Theater.[6]
Use as a Hollywood filming location
The Tower Theater's exterior and/or interior can be seen in the following films:
- The Omega Man (1971)[2]
- The Mambo Kings (1992)[4]
- Last Action Hero (1993)[2]
- Fight Club (1999)
- Coyote Ugly (2000)[2]
- Mulholland Drive (2001)
- The Prestige (2006)
- Transformers (2007)
Landmark status
The Tower Theatre has been declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, HCM #450, by the Office of Historic Resources, Department of City Planning, City of Los Angeles.[1]
Current use
As with many other historic theaters in Downtown Los Angeles, though largely intact, the theater was abandoned for many years because of migration of cinema attendance to Hollywood Boulevard and other Los Angeles locations. Over the years, its lobby has been leased to various vendors, and the auditorium has been used by the Living Faith Evangelical Church.[2]
See also
References
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- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Photo of Tower Theater, 1951, with "Newsreel" on marquee, USC Digital Library
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tower Theatre (Los Angeles). |
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- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Cinemas and movie theaters in Los Angeles, California
- Movie palaces
- Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
- Historic district contributing properties in California
- National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles, California
- Event venues established in 1927
- Theatres completed in 1927
- 1927 establishments in California
- Baroque Revival architecture in the United States
- Spanish Revival architecture in California
