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Los Angeles Theatre
Los Angeles
Encouraged by the success of his Tower Theatre (S. Charles Lee, 1927), independent exhibitor H.L. Gumbiner again engaged its architect for his next project. Working with designer W. Marbury Somerville and decorator Anthony B. Heinsbergen, Lee created the most opulent theatre Los Angeles had ever seen, and the one least like the streamlined modern houses for which he is remembered. Financially over extended, Gumbiner lost the theatre within a year. It had a number of operators over the years and in April 1994, the Metropolitan Theatre Corporation closed the Los Angeles. It does, however, open for special presentations and can frequently be seen in movies and commercials. The facade and lobby suggest the San Francisco Fox without copying it verbatim, but the two-balcony auditorium, excepting the dome, is quite different. The lobby and auditorium ceilings are more elaborate than the Fox's, with cast coffering in place of the stencil work employed in the larger house. Beneath the lobby and most of the auditorium is a vast wood paneled oval lounge suite, as large as the lobby itself, and a series of smaller rooms, including a restaurant. The decorations and furnishings throughout the house were the equal of any. Several years into the sound era, the Los Angeles Theatre hardly required an organ. Gumbiner moved the Wurlitzer from the Tower Theatre anyway, but it saw little use after the first year or so. Ann Leaf played a concert and recorded it in the 1960s. The organ later vanished and is presumed to have become part of some larger installation.
Among the amenities of the main floor are eight aisles, making each section no more than six seats across, and neon tubes are recessed into the floor on each side of the aisles. The stage curtains are among the most elaborate ever crafted. The valance features three sets of swags woven around a hand-appliqued panel centered on the seal of the City of Los Angeles. On the tapestry-like front curtain, the figures have velvet and satin costumes and real wigs. The spread of the proscenium opening is 60 feet . Photos courtesy of the Theatre Historical Society of America |
Among the last period-revival movie palaces in an era dominated by Art Deco, the exquisite Los Angeles Theatre bucked another trend as well: it was built downtown rather than in the more fashionable Hollywood district. Although clearly inspired by the San Francisco Fox, the Los Angeles Theatre is not, as is sometimes claimed, a half-sized replica. As small as it is, the house can easily hold its own in comparisons with the Fox or any other movie palace. The opening attraction was another throwback: Chaplin's City Lights, a silent film with recorded music and sound effects.
The Style 216 Wurlitzer was designed by Frank Lanterman for West Coast Theatres. The 216 was a "hot-rod" version of the Style 215, the circuit's standard organ. Frank felt the 215 lacked the "crack" to be satisfactory in the new theatre under construction or in planning. He replaced the Kinura with an English Horn, and added couplers and a crescendo, features rarely found in two-manual Wurlitzers. Hoping to sell West Coast something pricier, Wurlitzer balked at first, but when Robert Morton expressed interest in the order, Wurlitzer gave in and a dozen were built.
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