Los Angeles Theatres

Navigating Your Tour of Historic Los Angeles Theatres

On a Mobile Device: If you're missing the right column navigation bar or links at the top you can go to the bottom of any page and click on "View Web Version." Still can't find what you're looking for? Send me an email at counterb@gmail.com. See you at the movies! -- Bill Counter

Downtown L.A. Historic Theatres

The survey page gives a rundown on the 20 major surviving theatre buildings in the Downtown Theatre District. There are links to pages about each of them for more detail. You might also want to consult alphabetical rundowns on pages for Hill St. and farther west, the Broadway Theatres, Spring St. Theatres and Main St. and farther east. Those pages give you more detail, including discussions about all the theatres that have vanished. In addition, there's a downtown alphabetical theatre list with alternate names and a theatre list by address.

Historic Hollywood Theatres

Hollywood wasn't just about the movies. Starting in the mid 20s it was also a center for legitimate theatre and musical revues at four newly built playhouses. You'll find an alphabetical list of the theatres in the district on the Hollywood Theatres overview page that includes a bit of data on each and links to pages for more details. Down below this list there's also an alternate name directory. Also of possible interest is a separate page with a list of theatres by street address.

Westside Theatres

The Westside started booming with retail and housing in the mid 20s and the theatres followed. Many theatres along Wilshire Blvd., in Beverly Hills, and in other neighborhoods became prime venues for everything from small foreign films to major roadshows. It's a huge territory. The Westside Theatres overview page gives you both a list by neighborhood as well as a survey arranged alphabetically. Also see the list of Westside Theatres: by street address and the Westside Theatres: alphabetical list page which includes alternate names.

Westwood and Brentwood

Westwood Village was the third significant theatre district to evolve in Los Angeles, after Downtown and Hollywood. With the construction of the UCLA campus beginning in the late 20s there was a chance to develop a unique shopping and entertainment district for faculty and students. By the 1970's the area had evolved so that Westwood had the largest concentration of first run screens of any neighborhood in Los Angeles. The Westwood and Brentwood Theatres overview page will give you a tour of the area.

Theatres Along the Coast

Santa Monica had a vibrant theatrical life even in the days when it was a small town isolated from the rest of Los Angeles. And that's just the beginning. The Along the Coast section will give you links to discussion of theatres in Ocean Park, Venice, Hermosa Beach, San Pedro, Long Beach and other communities.

[more] L.A. Movie Palaces

This section fills in all the other areas of Los Angeles County. Hundreds of terrific theatres were being built by the studios and independents all over the L.A. area in the 20s and into the 30s. You'll find coverage of theatres north and east of Downtown as well as in Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley, Pomona, Whittier, Long Beach and many other far flung locations. Some of those listings have been upgraded and appear on this site, many other links will take you to pages on an older site hosted on Google. The index page has links to all these theatres organized by area.

Searching by theatre name

If you don't find it in the right hand column, head for the Main Alphabetical List, which also includes the various alternate names each venue has used. This list includes those pages recently updated for this site (in bold face) as well as the write ups on an older website. For a narrower focus you'll also find separate lists for Westside and Downtown. As well, there are lists by name on the 10 survey pages for more limited areas like Pasadena, North of Downtown, Long Beach, etc. that are listed on the [more] Los Angeles Movie Palaces page.

Searching by address

If you know an address or street head to either the Main Theatre List by Address, the San Fernando Valley List by Address, the San Gabriel Valley, Pomona and Whittier List by Address or the Long Beach List. If what you're looking for isn't there, you should find a link to take you to a more localized list by address for Downtown, Westside, Hollywood, etc. Also see the survey pages for more limited areas that are listed on the [more] Los Angeles Movie Palaces page.

1927 - Exotic destinations: Grauman's Chinese | Mayan Theatre |

1948 - 1951 - Skouras-ized older theatres: California - Huntington Park | El Portal | Fox Westwood Village | Mesa Theatre |

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

3900 S. Vermont Ave. / One Lucas Plaza Los Angeles, CA 90037 | map |

Opening: 2026. It's in Exposition Park just south of Exposition Blvd. Vermont Ave. is on the west side of the museum, Bill Robertson Lane is on the east. This view north on Vermont is a rendering appearing on the museum's website.

Website: https://lucasmuseum.org | on Facebook | on Instagram |

The Museum's theatres: There are two, each seating 299. They're on the ground floor on the north side of the building's center plaza. Bernardo Rondeau is the museum's film programmer and curator. See "Academy Museum’s Director of Film Programs Bernardo Rondeau Exits for Lucas Museum Job," Pat Saperstein's March 2023 article for Variety.

Architect: Ma Yansong of MAD Architects. Michael Siegel of the local firm Stantec is the architect-of-record. Mia Lehrer of Studio MLA designed the green spaces including the roof garden. LERA was the structural engineer. Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction is the general contractor. Construction began in 2018.

It's a five-story building that reaches 115' in height with about 300,000 s.f. of space. The main floor has a 10,000 s.f. archive, 82,000 s.f. of gallery space is on the 4th floor and nearly 8,000 s.f. of gallery area is on the 5th floor.

In addition to the galleries and theatres, there are various learning spaces, a large library with windows overlooking a garden south of the building, a main floor cafe, a larger restaurant on the fifth floor, various event spaces and a rooftop terrace. There are two levels of parking below the museum and a separate three-story underground parking structure south of the museum. Sandra Jackson-Dumont is the museum's director.

A rendering of the north lobby from MAD Architects. The three glass elevators seen here take visitors to the fourth floor galleries. The rendering appeared with a 2018 story about the groundbreaking on the site designboom.

A site plan submitted to the LA Planning commission in 2017. This drawing as well as the floorplans below appeared on "New images unveiled for MAD’s $1-Billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in LA," a post on the site World Architecture. Also see the 2017 Urbanize article "New design..." as well as a Skyscraper City thread about the project.

The 1st floor plan. North is at the right on these plans. Click on any of them for somewhat larger views. The two theatres are on the north side of the central plaza. The big space with all the columns on the left in the south half of this floor is the museum's archive.

A closer look at the north lobby and the theatres. On the left it's the oculus in the building's central plaza. The three glass elevators are in that pod in the middle of the north lobby. The cafe is in the lower center, alongside theatre #2. There's a larger restaurant up on 5.

The 2nd floor plan.

The 3rd floor. Note the library over on the far left. Its windows look out over the south garden.

The 4th floor plan. 82,000 s.f. of gallery space on this level.

The 5th floor. There's an exhibition space on the left on the building's south end. The restaurant and an event are over on the north side.

A longitudinal section. North is over on the right. Click on it for a larger view

A cross section of the south half of the building.

Interior construction views:

2022 - Construction in one of the two lobbies. It's a photo by Eric Furie/Sand Hill Media taken for the Lucas Museum. It's one of nineteen images appearing with Paul Cano's September article "MAD Architects' Lucas Museum Reveals Latest Construction Details" on the site Arch Daily. It also appears with a story on the site Metalocus that has a gallery of fourteen images plus a video.

2022 - A construction view of the library that's on the third floor. Photo: Eric Furie/Sand Hill Media for the Lucas Museum

2022 - Up near the oculus that's above the center plaza. Photo: Eric Furie/Sand Hill Media for the Lucas Museum

2023 - Some of the lobby framing. It's a January 31 photo by Adam Amengual taken for the New York Times that appears in a gallery of seven photos with "Futuristic home of the $1 billion Lucas Museum rises in LA," Adam Nagourney's NYT story that appeared in the Marin Independent Journal. Museum director Sandra Jackson-Dumont says "There isn’t a straight line in the whole place."

2023 - The library in June. It's a photo by Roberto Gomez for the USC School of Cinematic Arts that appears with "Step inside MAD architects' Lucas Museum as it takes shape in Los Angeles," a March 2024 article by Kat Barandy on the site designboom. Also see the site's coverage from March 2018 and February 2020.

2023 - In the north lobby in December. Head through the arches on either side of that elevator pod to get to the theatres. Photo: Roberto Gomez/USC School of Cinematic Arts -designboom

Exterior views:

2018 - The site cleared and ready to go. That bottom segment of the construction crane in the middle of the lot is positioned where the oculus above the center plaza would later be. The site had been city-owned surface parking lots. We're looking north with Vermont Ave. on the left. There's a bit of downtown over on the right edge. Thanks to Sterling Davis Photo for the image. It appears on Flickr.

2020 - The north end of the building starting to rise. This Vermont Ave. view is from "Construction Update: The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art," a March gallery of nine photos appearing on the site Field Condition.

2020 - The south end of the building. Thanks to Field Condition for the March photo.

2022 - Looking west. Note the crane sticking up through the center plaza's oculus. It's a photo by Eric Furie/Sand Hill Media for the Lucas Museum appearing with Paul Cano's September article "MAD Architects' Lucas Museum Reveals Latest Construction Details" on the site Arch Daily.

2022 - A view north on Bill Robertson Lane. Photo: Eric Furie/Sand Hill Media for the Lucas Museum

2022 - On the roof. Photo: Eric Furie/Sand Hill Media for the Lucas Museum

2022 - The center plaza and its oculus. The arch spans 185'. It's a photo by Eric Furie/Sand Hill Media taken for the Lucas Museum.

2023 - A view north by Allen J. Schaben, part of a gallery of his still and video images with "In a galaxy not so far away, Lucas Museum is taking off," his January photo essay for the L.A. Times.

2023 - Ready for its closeup in January. Photo: Allen J. Schaben for the L.A. Times

2023 - A side view in January. Photo: Allen J. Schaben for the L.A. Times

2023 - Fiberglass panels going up in the central plaza in December. It's a photo by Roberto Gomez for the USC School of Cinematic Arts that appears with "Step inside MAD architects' Lucas Museum as it takes shape in Los Angeles," a March 2024 article by Kat Barandy on the site designboom. Also see the site's coverage from March 2018 and February 2020.

2023 - Looking toward the north lobby in December. Photo: Roberto Gomez/USC School of Cinematic Arts - designboom

2024 - A Hunter Kerhart photo. It's one of 14 appearing with "Here's the latest progress on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art," an August story by Steven Sharp for Urbanize. That's Vermont Ave. in the lower right. The Natural History Museum and California Science Center are over to the left.

2024 - Looking south in August with Bill Robertson on the left, Vermont on the right. Photo: Hunter Kerhart for Urbanize

2024 - The view toward downtown in August. Photo: Hunter Kerhart for Urbanize

2024 - A December view north on Bill Robertson Lane. Thanks to Tony L. Delicia for sharing this shot in a post for the DTLA Photo Group on Facebook. It was one of three in his post.

2024 - One of the construction entrances. Photo: Tony L. Delecia

2024 - The landscaping continuing to develop. It's a Hunter Kerhart photo, one of four included in a December 24 Urbanize Facebook post.

2024 - The grounds on the south end of the museum. Photo: Hunter Kerhart for Urbanize. Also see the December story on their website: "The Lucas Museum's green roof and gardens start to fill in."

Troupers Club - N. Highland Ave.

1723 N. Highland Ave. Hollywood (Los Angeles) 90028 | map |

Opened: This location for the Troupers Club debuted in 1943.

The Troupers Club was formed in November 1926. Or was it 1925? Stories differ. In 1929 they took over the Hollywood Community Theatre at 1742 N. Ivar. In the 1930 city directory it was listed as Troupers Green Room. Originally they required 30 years experience on stage or screen to join. By 1930 that had been reduced to 20 years. That year they had 700 members.

By 1931 they were in a Troupers Club House at 1634 N. El Centro. In 1934, to recruit new members, they dropped the experience requirement to five years. By 1940 they had taken over the Las Palmas Theatre and had renamed it the Troupers Theatre. The 1942 city directory still lists that Las Palmas location as "Troupers Inc."

In 1943 members of the Troupers Club and their guests attended a dinner and ribbon cutting for an upstairs club room at the new Highland Ave. home of the organization. Thanks to Lisa Kouza Braddock for locating this grand opening shot that appeared in the in the May 17 issue of the Hollywood Citizen-News. It was part of a post Lisa did about the Troupers for the Lost Angeles Facebook group. The paper's caption:

"RIBBON CUT - While 200 Troupers and guests cheered from banquet tables last night, Judge Benjamin Scheinman, center front, cut ribbons to give access to an upstairs clubroom at 1723 N. Highland Ave., new Troupers home. At his right arm was the Rev, George Fox, and at his left hand, Tom Regan, president of Troupers. Holding the ribbon, at right, was Adabelle Driver, secretary, standing with other officers. At left, in light dress, stood Louise De Vatney, 'emcee' for the entertainment which followed dinner. -- Citizen-News photo"

In the 1942 city directory 1723 had been listed as Shikani's Restaurant. 1725 was an optometrist. On the second floor a couple buildings up the block was the Movie Parade Theatre, a revival house at 1737 N. Highland. It was later known as the Comoedia Theatre and Highland Playhouse.

An early single-story building on the 1723-25 site is indicated in green in this detail from page 10 of the 1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's in the Library of Congress collection. At that time the tenant was a grocer. Also see page 5 of the 1907 Sanborn Map in the LOC collection where the address is shown as 123-125. There's also a 1921 Baist map of the block on the David Rumsey Map Collection site.

A c.1920 look at the territory from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. That's Highland going up the right side. The photo makes an appearance on "A Charming Hostelry: The Hollywood Hotel Story," a KCET page by Hadley Meares.

A detail with the location indicated of the earlier single-story 1723-25 building on the site. It was later replaced with a longer two-story building before the Troupers arrived in the 40s.

A 1939 view east toward the back of the building the Troupers occupied. "Stanley and Livingstone" was at the Chinese and the El Capitan was running a production of "The Mikado - In Swing." Thanks to the Historic Los Angeles Facebook page for sharing this version of the photo.

A detail with the newer two-story 1723-25 building indicated.

The building that the Troupers were in at 1723-25 N. Highland is indicated in this detail from page 1018 of volume 10 of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from the Library of Congress collection. The LOC has this page as image 21 of the volume as reproduced on their site.

The map was originally drawn in 1919 and updated as late as 1950. If you look at the full page on the LOC site you also get Grauman's Chinese farther to the left. The Movie Parade revival house was up the block at 1737 N. Highland, the building seen at the top of this detail.

Moving on: In 1948 the club moved to a new Troupers Clubhouse and Auditorium at 1625-27 N. La Brea, just south of Hollywood Blvd.

Status: The building the club was in on Highland has been demolished. The Hollywood Hotel and several buildings north of it on Highland came down in 1956. A building for First Federal Savings later went up on the corner. That was demolished for the 1999 construction of the Hollywood and Highland Mall, now rebranded as Ovation.

| back to top | Earlier Troupers locations: 1929 - Hollywood Community Theatre - 1742 N. Ivar. | 1931 - Troupers Club House - 1634 N. El Centro | 1940 - Las Palmas Theatre - 1642 N. Las Palmas |

Troupers Clubhouse and Auditorium - La Brea Ave.

1625-27 N. La Brea Ave. Hollywood (Los Angeles), CA 90028 | map |

Opened: In 1948 this became the home for Troupers Club and Auditorium. This 1983 photo appeared on eBay. On the left is the auditorium at 1625 N. La Brea. The clubhouse was at 1627. The buildings were on the west side of the street just south of Hollywood Blvd.

A clubhouse detail from the photo.

An auditorium entrance detail taken from the 1983 photo. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for spotting the photo on eBay and sharing it, along with these two details, on his Noirish post #59662.

The Troupers Auditorium and the house in front are indicated in green. It's a detail from sheet 1045 of a Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's on the Library of Congress website. It's their image 48 out of 94. Note the El Patio/Music Box Theatre in the upper right on Hollywood Blvd. The LOC's copy of the map had been updated as late as 1950. Looking for something in Hollywood? See the index page for this version of the map which gives a list of the drawings by street address.

Seating: 300. It said so right on the clubhouse front porch.

Earlier locations: The Troupers Club was formed in November 1926. Or was it 1925? Stories differ. In 1929 they took over the Hollywood Community Theatre at 1742 N. Ivar. In the 1930 city directory it was listed as Troupers Green Room. Originally they required 30 years experience on stage or screen to join. By 1930 that had been reduced to 20 years. That year they had 700 members. By 1931 they were in a Troupers Club House at 1634 N. El Centro. By 1940 they had taken over the Las Palmas Theatre and had renamed it the Troupers Theatre. In 1943 the group had moved into a new Troupers Club House at 1723 N. Highland Ave. That building has been demolished.

The grand opening was announced in this item that appeared in the May 3, 1948 issue of the L.A. Times. Thanks to Brent C. Dickerson, aka Odinthor, for locating this and several other Troupers items for his Noirish Los Angeles post #59665. Visit his extensive historical site "A Visit To Old Los Angeles."

A November 1950 dance and buffet featuring Mae Murray.

An October 1960 ad in the Times for "The Boy Friend."

"The Drunkard" with Joe Adair "and a cast of 25" at the Troupers in 1961. The flyer appears on the USC Digital Library website. The show's L.A. run had begin in July 1933 at the Theatre Mart on Clinton St. It closed there in October 1959.

A flyer for the March 25, 1966 show with the Grateful Dead and Tiny Tim. Del Close did the light show. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for locating this and the photo below for his Noirish post #59667.

The Dead onstage at the Troupers in March 1966. Ethereal Reality notes: "At the last minute they had someone run out and buy bolts of fabric to decorate the stage." The photo and the poster appear on pages about the engagement on the dead.net/archives and Truckin' With the Dead websites.

A photo of the Dead onstage that was taken by Rose McGee. She has published two books of her photos: "My Grateful Dead Photos – 1966-1991" and "Dancing with the Dead – A Photographic Memoir." Her website: rosiemcgee.com. Thanks to Gregornot for sharing this on a Grateful Dead subReddit.

The entrance for the SPREE Awards in the auditorium in 1972. The shot by an unknown photographer is in the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives and appears on the USC Digital Library website. They note: "Spotlights, banners, and the full red-carpet treatment greet the sold-out crowd that attended the SPREE Awards at Trouper's Hall. SPREE (The Society of Pat Rocco Enlightened Enthusiasts) was a primarily gay male theatrical company and social organization."

Photos taken by Michael J. Varegas during a "Zero to Success" benefit in October 1975. It's from the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives and appears on the USC Digital Library website.

A "Free the Slaves" show and dance in 1976. It was to raise funds for those arrested in a police raid on a health club. The Pat Rocco photo from the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives is on the USC Digital Library website.

The L.A. police chief was hung in effigy at the 1976 "Free the Slaves" event. This story appeared in the April 24 issue of the L.A. Times. Thanks to Brent Dickerson for locating it.

Michael Snider notes that there were also punk shows in the Troupers Auditorium in the late 1970s. Donna Edwards adds: "Omg I remember that place used to be a dance club in the 70s then in the 80s bands would play there like X and Dwight Yoakam, etc. Always a rowdy place many fights, etc."

Brenda Weathers, Carol-Lynn Fillet and Carolyn Weathers hanging a banner for a bingo event in 1982 in an attempt to raise funds for a Women's Arts and Services Foundation. This scrapbook page is on the USC Digital Library website.

The San Andreas Motorcycle Club invites you to their stage show and initiation of officers in March 1984. The flyer appears on the USC Digital Library website. Also from the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives on the USC site: Griff's 1st Anniversary party - 1973 | Kingmasters 6th Anniversary Party flyer - 1977 | Gay and Lesbian Rap Halloween Party flyer | Golden Buns flyer - 1979 | Real Man flyer - 1983 | Wrestling Meet flyer - 1984 |

Closing: It's unknown when the Troupers Club stopped using the properties. Or what happened to the organization.

Status: The buildings have been demolished. The house was gone by 1992. The auditorium survived until around 2005. There's now a big apartment complex on the site that went up in 2007 and 2008.

A 2024 Google view showing the two buildings of the complex now on the site. That's La Brea slicing up through the middle.

The site is on the left in this 2024 view north toward Hollywood Blvd. Image: Google Maps

More information: See Lisa Kouza Braddock's post about the Troupers for the Lost Angeles Facebook group.

| back to top | Other Troupers locations: 1929 - Hollywood Community Theatre - 1742 N. Ivar. | 1931 - Troupers Club House - 1634 N. El Centro | 1940 - Las Palmas Theatre - 1642 N. Las Palmas | 1943 - Troupers Club House - 1723 N. Highland Ave. |