Detailed Information

The 1927 Auditorium

The theatre was designed by Arthur Burnett Benton and William J. Dodd and was built by John S. McGroarty, whose bust is still the current centerpiece of the lobby. The theatre’s façade resembles the San Antonio de Padua mission near Monterey, McGroarty’s favorite California mission.

The interior architecture features huge lanterns modeled on those found aboard Spanish galleons. The ceiling is suspended plaster intricately painted to resemble a wooden beam paneled ceiling. Tapestries adorn the auditorium walls and were a gift from the King of Spain for the theatre’s opening in 1927.

In 1932 the long run of “The Mission Play” ended and the theatre started showing movies, necessitating the addition of a projection booth at the rear of the balcony. During the war years some of the dressing rooms were used as makeshift apartments; following the war citizens of San Gabriel concerned for the theatre’s future lobbied the city to purchase it, which ultimately happened in 1945.

Theatre Exterior

The theatre is home to a 3-manual, 18-rank Mighty Wurlitzer organ (Opus 870) which was originally built in 1924 for installation into the RKO Albee Theatre in Brooklyn, NY. The organ was carefully packed and shipped in late 1968, arriving in San Gabriel the day before Thanksgiving. Volunteers from the Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society (LATOS)  spent the following years refurbishing the organ and it was dedicated in February 1972. In 2007, the Peter Lloyd Crotty Family Fund agreed to fund a second restoration of the organ, which included electrification of the console and the installation of an elevator, along with the addition of some digital voices. The organ was rededicated in 2010.