The interior of the theatre is in a French Renaissance style and the tiny lobby is loosely based on the Paris Opera House. Soaring above the corner of the building is a decorative high tower which has a four-sided clock, while on the main South Broadway facade above the marquee is a huge stained glass arched window depicting a fleur-de-lis pattern, across which is draped a coil of film strip, complete with the purple stripe found on early sound film stock. On each of the window ledges is an Indian head-dress sculpture, and atop each window, two nude figures recline, a discreetly draped masculine director with a camera & megaphone, and a scantily clad starlet with beads and a mirror. There was a row of small shop units which ran along the base of the building on 8th Street, and above them is a highly decorated exterior side-wall which is punctuated with false windows and Classical style surrounds. Gumbier on a plot of land measuring only 150 feet long and 50 feet wide, it had previously been the site of the 1911 built, 900-seat Hyman Theatre, later renamed Garrick Theatre, a single story building, which was demolished. Interior decorations were by Edwards Spout.īuilt by H.L. The theatre was equipped with a Wurlitzer 2 manual 10 rank theatre organ opened by organist ‘Boisclair’. Arthur and Lois Wilson in “The Gingham Girl” (a silent movie with 2-strip Technicolor) and Vitaphone shorts featuring “Waring’s Pennsylvanians” & “Van & Schenck”. The Tower Theatre was the first movie theatre to be built in Los Angeles as a ‘talkie’ theatre and opened on Octowith George K. This was the first of around 288 theatres designed by architect Simeon Charles Lee, who was only 28 years old at the time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |