| wilshire blvd. theatre map | alphabetical theatre listings | wilshire history resources | contact |
on other sites:
| downtown theatres | hollywood theatres | more LA movie palaces | theatres indexed by address |
| east LA theatres | glendale theatres | long beach theatres | pasadena theatres | venice & ocean park | san pedro |
| los angeles theatre history resources | movie links & hollywood history resources | other LA history resources |
see what's new or add your contribution:
| www.facebook.com/losangelestheatres |
Wilshire Boulevard was carved out in Los Angeles'
amazing rush to suburbanize westward in
the 1920's. Prior to that time, Los Angeles was all about downtown. By
the time the twenties arrived, L.A. was the fastest growing city in the
world. From a population of about 300,000 in 1910, Los Angeles
mushroomed to 576,000 in 1920 and 1,250,000 by 1930. As fashionable suburbs blossomed on the westside, Wilshire Boulevard was the way to get there. From downtown to the beach in Santa Monica, the 16 mile drive along Wilshire is an architectural wonderland. Great department stores, churches, retail establishments, apartments and, of course, theatres.
Wilshire
Boulevard was named for newspaper publisher, socialist and land
developer Henry Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927) from Cincinati who started
the boulevard by clearing a roadway through his barley fields. Mr.
Wilshire subdivided his land around what later became MacArthur
(originally Westlake) Park in 1895. The Fox Wilshire Theatre >> By 1920 elegant residences and
apartment houses were appearing. They first clustered around Layayette
and MacArthur Parks but then started spreading up and down the
boulevard. The
linear city that Wilshire would become gathered momentum in the late
20s with Bullocks Wilshire and other upscale merchants opening branches
of their downtown stores for the affluent clientele in the area. By the
50s and 60s it was no longer just branches of downtown stores but
merchants who were leaving downtown and recognized the new suburban
shopping patterns that were developing. As downtown deteriorated,
Wilshire eventually became a magnet for new office towers as well. wilshire corridor theatres by locationsanta monicaAero Theatre Elmiro / Broadway 4 Theatres Criterion Theatre Hitching Post La Petite / Dreamland Mayfair Theatre Monica 4 North Beach Auditorium Nu Wilshire Orpheum Theatre Santa Monica 7 Steere's Santa Monica Opera House See the Venice and Ocean Park Theatres page on our More L.A. Movie Palaces site for theatres in those areas. brentwoodBrentwood Theatre Brentwood Twin Brentwood Theatre - VA Campus Wadsworth Theatre westwoodAvco Cinemas Bruin Theatre Crest Theatre Festival Theatre Geffen Playhouse National Theatre Plaza Theatre Regent Theatre Royce Hall Village Theatre / Fox Westwood Village Mann Westwood 4 Theatres UA Westwood Theatres Billy Wilder Theatre beverly hillsBeverly Theatre Beverly Canon Theatre Carthay Circle Fine Arts Samuel Goldwyn Theatre Music Hall Saban / Fox Wilshire Theatre Warner Beverly Hills Writers Guild Theater miracle mileLeo S. Bing Theatre El Rey Theatre Fox La Brea Theatre Fox Ritz Theatre mid-wilshireAmbassador Theatre CGV Cinemas Embassy Theatre Four Star / Oasis Fox Belmont Fox Parisian Fox Uptown MPark 4 Wilshire Theatre - 1915 Wilshire Ebell Theatre Wiltern Theatre macarthur parkAlvarado / Park Theatre Beaux Arts Theatre Georgia Theatre Hayworth / Vagabond Lake Theatre Playhouse Theatre Theatre De Luxe Westlake Theatre wilshire corridor listings a-v[ for alternate names, some photos and more info see the Alphabetical Listing page ] Aero Theatre Alvarado Theatre Ambassador Theatre Avco Cinemas Beaux Arts Theatre Beverly Theatre Beverly Canon Theatre Leo S. Bing Theatre Brentwood Theatre Brentwood Twin Brentwood Theatre - VA Campus Broadway 4 Theatres Bruin Theatre Carthay Circle Crest Theatre Criterion Theatre CGV Cinemas El Rey Theatre Embassy Theatre Festival Theatre Fine Arts Four Star / Oasis Fox Belmont Fox La Brea Theatre Fox Parisian Fox Ritz Theatre Fox Uptown Geffen Playhouse Georgia Theatre Samuel Goldwyn Theatre Hayworth / Vagabond Hitching Post La Petite / Dreamland Lake Theatre Mayfair Theatre Monica 4 MPark 4 Music Hall National Theatre Nu Wilshire Orpheum Theatre Playhouse Theatre Plaza Theatre Regent Theatre Royce Hall Saban / Fox Wilshire Theatre Santa Monica 7 Steere's Santa Monica Opera House Theatre De Luxe Westwood Village Theatre Warner Beverly Hills Wadsworth Theatre Westlake Theatre Mann Westwood 4 Theatres UA Westwood Theatres Billy Wilder Theatre Wilshire Theatre - 1915 Wilshire Theatre / Embassy Wilshire Theatre, Fox Wilshire Theatre, Santa Monica Wilshire Ebell Theatre Wiltern Theatre Writers Guild Theater | "I
used to like this town. A long time ago, --- Raymond Chandler's Phillip
Marlowe, Miracle Mile, between La Brea and Fairfax, was
promoted in the 1930s as the toniest shopping district anywhere.
Developer A.W. Ross saw the future of the area as an upscale shopping
district with stores that would rival the best of those downtown. The
difference was that the shoppers here would be attracted by the ease of
car access and abundant parking rather than coming on foot. Along
with the stores, Miracle Mile eventually offered professional offices,
theatres and restaurants to feed the hungry shoppers. Ross was a pioneer
in adapting building design, signage and traffic control for the new
age of the automobile. Everything had to look wonderful and inviting at
40 mph.  The Fox Westwood
Village
Theatre >> With the construction of the UCLA campus in the mid 1920's, there was a chance to develop a unique shopping and entertainment district for faculty and students. By the 1970's, Westwood
had the largest concentration of first run screens in the Los Angeles
area. With the decline of the traditional theatre districts downtown and
in Hollywood, having a premiere and exclusive run at a Westwood Village
theatre gave a film a touch of class that couldn't be duplicated elsewhere in the city. Westwood has lost many screens in recent years.
With the advent of multiplexes, the demise of exclusive runs and the
rise of other westside locations things aren't what they once were in
Westwood.
More Along Wilshire Along the Wilshire
corridor we also get lots of little neighborhood theatres and also three
of the most wonderful Los Angeles art deco theatres, the Fox Wilshire
(now known as the Saban Theatre) , the Wiltern and the Warner Bros.
Beverly Hills.
Wilshire Boulevard is a 16 mile long theatre district and we'll explore all the historic theatres along the way. See you at the movies! -- Bill Counter art deco treasures on wilshireSaban / Fox Wilshire Theatre Wiltern Theatre runner up: El Rey Theatre [ nice facade, nothing of interest left inside ] tragic losses along wilshireBeverly Theatre Carthay Circle Theatre Warner Beverly Hills hopes for future restorationWestlake Theatre historic theatres running moviesAero Theatre Bruin Theatre Crest Theatre Fine Arts [ dormant at the moment ] Music Hall Westwood Village Theatre newer theatres running moviesAvco Cinemas Broadway 4 Theatres CGV Cinemas Criterion Theatre MPark 4 Monica 4 Regent Theatre Santa Monica 7 screenings and special eventsAero Theatre Leo S. Bing Theatre Samuel Goldwyn Theatre Billy Wilder Theatre Writers Guild Theater concerts and music programmingEl Rey Theatre Royce Hall Saban / Fox Wilshire Theatre Wilshire Ebell Theatre Wiltern Theatre open as legit venuesBrentwood Theatre Geffen Playhouse Hayworth / Vagabond Saban / Fox Wilshire Theatre Wilshire Ebell Theatre on this site...wilshire theatre map
The Wilshire Theatre Map gives a sense of We point you to theatres of interest along the side streets as well. alphabetical listingsThe Alphabetical Theatre Listings section gives you a list of the current and vanished Wilshire theatres along with a brief description. There are photos of the theatres still existing and historic resources
The Historic Resources section offers links to various photo sources and databases having items of interest concerning Wilshire Boulevard history. more stuffClassic Views Along Wilshire Boulevard Classic Views of Westwood Village on our other sites...downtown L.A. theatres Our Downtown L.A. Theatres section gives you a rundown of the surving
Los Angeles movie Palaces on Broadway and Hill Streets. the Los Angeles theatre >> Other pages deal with the existing and vanished
theatres on Broadway, Main Street, Hill Street and elsewhere. We also have a section of links to sites with interesting information about the history of downtown Los Angeles. hollywood theatres Visit our Hollywood Theatres site for information about historic legit theatres and movie palaces along Hollywood Blvd. and the surrounding area. Grauman's Chinese Theatre >> We've got a map, an alphabetical listings page and lots of information sources for the various theatres. more L.A. movie palaces The Los Angeles Movie Palaces site is our catch-all location for information on historic Los Angeles theatres outside the downtown, Hollywood and Wilshire corridor areas. the Warner Huntington Park >> It's a collection of information that's gradually expanding as we add new listings. There are separate sections for East Los Angeles, Pasadena, Long Beach, Ocean Park / Venice and Glendale theatres. Also on this site is a directory of Los Angeles Theatres by Address and a page of Theatre History Resources. links to other L.A. adventuresOur Links to L.A. Adventures page is a
collection of links to L.A. related historical websites, blogs, postcard collections, Los Angeles architecture and more. a Westwood Village landmark >> We're looking for people whose sites have an interesting angle on exploring this great city. movie links & hollywood history resources
 websites offering interesting information about film production and presentation. the Warner Bros. studio >>
Want to know about TODD-AO orCinemascope? We have some ideas for your browsing adventures. There's also a section on Hollywood history resources, various theatres offering classic films and lots more  See you at the movies! |
