Detailed Information

Broadway Theatre District in 2016

The historic district runs along South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Pre-dating it is the Main Street theatre district where many nickelodeons and small theatres existed at the start of the 20th century. Many of these theatres switched to movies in the early 20th century, but the grand movie palaces being built a couple of streets west on Broadway drew the crowds away with their larger screens and opulent surroundings.

By 1931, when Broadway’s last movie palace was built, there was capacity for more than 15,000 patrons nightly. Broadway had the highest concentration of movie theatres in the world, with theatres ranging in capacity from several thousand down to 900. The largest theatre by seating capacity was the State Theatre at 2,404 seats, and the smallest was the Tower Theatre at 906 seats.

Broadway was the hub of LA’s entertainment scene, a place where “screen goddesses and guys in fedoras rubbed elbows with Army nurses and aircraft pioneers”.

Orpheum Theatre Marquee

In the 1950s and 1960s the downtown area entered a general decline as a result of many people moving out to the suburbs and the rise of television. Local neighborhood theatres became much more popular.

Many of the Broadway theatres turned to exhibiting newsreels, Spanish language / Spanish-dubbed films and entertainment, soft porn, or any combination of the above. Had it not been for the activities of the Hispanic community many of the Broadway theatres would probably not have survived.

The area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places  in May 1979 as the Broadway Theater & Commercial District, a six-block stretch of Broadway from 3rd St to 9th St.

Orpheum Theatre, 2015

With the closure of many theatres in the 1980s, alternative tenants and uses were sought. Churches moved into some spaces (notably the State and United Artists theatres), with other theatres such as the Globe Theatre being given over to swap meets, a fate which almost befell the Tower Theatre as well. Some of the theatres also became regular fixtures as locations for Los Angeles movie and television shoots.

Palace Theatre, 2017

In the late 1980s Broadway started to receive some preservation attention. In 1987 the Los Angeles Conservancy  commenced a program called “Last Remaining Seats” , in which the old movie palaces were opened each summer to screen classic Hollywood movies. 31 years later, “Last Remaining Seats” is still going strong and regularly selling-out theatres during its summer run.

In 2002 the listing on the National Register was amended to extend the historic district by approximately half a block in both directions, resulting in the district stretching from approximately 250 Broadway at the north end (between 2nd and 3rd Streets) to 950 Broadway at the south end (between 9th St and Olympic Boulevard). The boundary increase brought the United Artists Theatre, now The Theatre at Ace Hotel, into the historic district.

In 2008, then councilmember Jose Huizar launched a ten-year strategic economic development plan for the revitalization of the historic Broadway corridor in Downtown Los Angeles, called “Bringing Back Broadway” .

Los Angeles Theatre, 2018

One of the key elements of the Bringing Back Broadway initiative was the “Night On Broadway”  event, started in 2015 where several blocks of Broadway were closed to traffic for a free arts and music festival. The event continued annually, with an area of eight by three blocks closed to traffic for the day, and permitted access to over half of the historic Broadway theatres, some of which were not generally accessible to the public.

Attendance at Night On Broadway in 2015 was 35,000, swelling to 60,000 in 2016 and 75,000 in 2017, then ballooning to 250,000 people in 2018. Despite the Bringing Back Broadway initiative ending in 2018, the Night On Broadway event continued. The event went on hiatus for 2019 and promised to return in 2020, however the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in no 2020 or 2021 events.

The following theatres participated in the most recent (2018) Night On Broadway:

• Million Dollar Theatre
• Los Angeles Theatre
• Palace Theatre
• Globe Theatre
• Orpheum Theatre
• The Theatre at Ace Hotel

In early 2019 Langdon Street Capital, who had recently bought the Million Dollar Theatre along with the adjacent Grand Central Market , submitted an application to nominate the Million Dollar Theatre for Historic-Cultural Monument status with the City of Los Angeles.

Million Dollar Theatre, 2017

The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation  helped facilitate the nomination, and in early July 2019 the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously in favor of granting the theatre Historic-Cultural Monument status. As of 2021 and following the Covid-19 pandemic, the theatre is used as both a church and as a regular location for screening movies.

The Tower Theatre was under renovation for several years however reopened in June 2021 as a flagship Apple store: the Apple Tower Theatre . The renovation included a seismic retrofit of the entire building, a faithful recreation of the theatre’s original 1927 marquee on Broadway, a recreated ornamental cap at the top of the clock tower (removed after severe damage caused by the Sylmar / San Fernando Earthquake in February 1971), and an accessible area dedicated to the renovation project highlighting techniques used in the restoration and replication processes.

The Los Angeles, Palace, and State theatres are managed by the Broadway Theatre Group  and are programmed for special events and used for movie/TV location shoots. Since mid-2021 the State Theatre has been re-leased to the church group Cathedral of Faith, who had previously vacated the theatre in early 2018 after a twenty-year lease.

The Orpheum, The Theatre at Ace Hotel and Globe theatres host a healthy variety of events most weeks.

The Roxie, Cameo, and Arcade theatres are currently closed but open to re-use proposals. The Rialto Theatre was adaptively reused as an Urban Outfitters store which opened in December 2013.

Map of the Broadway Theatre District

Broadway Theatre District theatres featured on this website:

Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was built in 1913 as the Morosco Theater, designed for full-scale legitimate dramatic productions at a time when most theatres were being built for vaudeville. The theatre was built as part of a larger office tower called the Garland Building, designed by Morgan, Walls & Morgan.

Los Angeles Theatre

Widely acknowledged as Los Angeles’ most lavish theatre, construction of this 2,000-seat movie palace took only six months and was completed in 1931. Owing to the Great Depression it was the last opulent movie palace to be built in Los Angeles. The stunning French Baroque interior heralds a particularly grand entrance lobby, inspired by the Palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors in France.

Million Dollar Theatre

The Million Dollar was Sid Grauman’s first major movie theatre when it opened in February 1918. It was informally known as the million dollar theatre during construction, given rumors of its opulent interior and price tag. Grauman’s Million Dollar Theatre was hailed as the first movie theatre to break with classic design conventions and use fantasy themes throughout.

Orpheum Theatre

The Orpheum Theatre, named for the Greek mythological figure Orpheus, opened in 1926 as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum circuit, and the second Orpheum Theatre to be built on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. The theatre is home to a 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer organ which is still in service today. Architect G. Albert Lansburgh designed the theatre and it remains one of his most elaborate examples.

Palace Theatre

The Palace theatre was built as a vaudeville house and opened in June 1911 as the Orpheum Theatre. Designed by G. Albert Lansburgh (assisted by Robert Brown Young) in a French Renaissance style, it is the oldest remaining theatre from the original Orpheum vaudeville circuit and played host to stars such as Al Jolson, Harry Houdini, Sarah Bernhardt, and the Marx brothers.

State Theatre

The State Theatre opened as Loew’s State in November 1921 and was their west coast showcase movie theatre, later becoming the downtown Los Angeles home for first-run MGM movies. It is the largest theatre within the Broadway Theatre District by audience capacity (originally reported variously as 2,404 and 2,450; now 2,119).

Tower Theatre

The Tower Theatre was the first theatre designed by architect S. Charles Lee, who would go on to become one of the most prolific theatre architects of his time on the U.S. West Coast. Lee’s design was notable for fitting a 900-seat auditorium plus retail units onto a 150x50ft lot. In mid-2021 the Tower Theatre opened as an Apple Store after a lengthy refurbishment.

Other Broadway Theatre District theatres:

• Arcade Theatre

  Opened September 1910 as the Pantages Theatre and renamed as the Arcade in 1928. Closed 1992, currently used as storage space for the retail unit located in the theatre’s lobby space.

• Cameo Theatre

  Opened October 1910 as Clune’s Broadway and renamed as the Cameo in 1924. Closed 1992, currently used as storage space for the retail unit located in the theatre’s lobby space.

• Rialto Theatre

  Opened May 1917 as Quinn’s Rialto. Closed in 1987 and converted into an Urban Outfitters store in 2013. The theatre’s neon façade has been restored.

• Roxie Theatre

  Opened November 1931 as the last theatre to open on Broadway. Closed in 1989 with the lobby space having been divided into two retail units.

Broadway Theatre District adjacent theatres featured on this website:

The Belasco

The Belasco Theatre opened in late 1926 under the management of Edward Belasco and partners – Edward was the brother of famous New York theatre producer David Belasco. The same management team operated the Mayan Theatre, which was built next door immediately after the Belasco was completed.

The Mayan

The Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles is a stunning example of the 1920s fascination with revival-style theatre architecture, in this case Mayan Revival. The Mayan opened its doors in 1927 as a legitimate theatre; it is now used as a music/nightclub and live events venue. Between times it has showcased movies, blue movies, and has been the scene of many movie location shoots.

Regent Theater

The Regent Theater is a small 600-seat theatre on downtown L.A.’s Main St. Originally opened as the National Theater, the first theatre built on this site around 1910 had a capacity of just 350. It was rebuilt and opened in February 1914, retaining the National name but with a boosted capacity of 600. The theatre was renamed The Regent around 1917.