Earl Carroll Theatre: history + exterior views

6230 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028 | map |

More pages on the Earl Carroll: lobby areas | auditorium | stage | stage basement | sceneshop | ephemera |

News: The building is for sale, although a lease is still a possibility. It had been offered privately but there's now a listing on Loopnet from JLL. Brokers Nicole Mihalka, Andrew Harper and Will Poulson can be reached at 213-239-6076. There's a PDF of the listing flyer for details.

The owners, Essex Property Trust, had been looking for a new tenant after their deal with a group of proposed operators fell apart during the pandemic. Thanks to Escott O. Norton for sharing the news in an August 2023 Facebook post. 

The current owners will NOT be doing the exterior restoration they had agreed to. They have delayed repeatedly and finally in 2024 asserted that they'll be passing along that commitment to whoever buys the building. It was to have included re-installation of the 1938 neon design and paint scheme. 

Opened: December 26, 1938 for lavish Earl Carroll musical comedy revues. The first show was titled "Broadway to Hollywood." The 1938 photo from the Federal Writers Project is in the Works Progress Administration collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. Mr. Carroll's backer for the project was Ms. Jetta Schuyler. Carroll once described himself as the guy "for whom the belles toil." British Pathé has a short clip of stars arriving for the opening. Thanks to Chris Nichols for spotting it on YouTube. 

 

The exterior featured a 24-foot high neon silhouette of Beryl Wallace designed by artist/architect Don Riha. Beryl was one of the Earl Carroll girls and Mr. Carroll's long-time companion. This installation was the first major use of neon tubing with an inside coating of different phosphors, producing white for the vertical bands along the facade and "flesh-colored" light for Beryl's face. The aluminum lettering around the top of the silhouette, back-lit with blue neon, said: "Thru these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world."  

 

The neon installation as well the historic look of the facade were investigated by Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein as part of the restoration project funded by Essex Properties. They note that the exterior was several tones of green, an appropriate color to honor Beryl, a name Beatrice Wallace adopted that refers to a green colored stone. The pillars at the porte cochère were faced with blue Vitrolite. Dydia and Paul are the authors of "Neon: A Light History."

 

The entrance was decorated with an amazing 50' long swirl of 25mm warm-white neon tubing held aloft by the Goddess of Neon at the top of the stairs. Glass columns at the bar areas were lit with various colors of neon inside. For house lights there were 1,200 three-foot-long pieces of warm-white neon tubing suspended from the ceiling that were arranged in undulating waves across the auditorium. The neon, using the trade name "Zeon" for the new phosphor coated tubing, was an installation by the Electrical Products Corporation, a Claude Neon licensee, in association with General Electric. They used 6,200 feet of tubing powered by 90 transformers.   

 

The new range of neon colors had been noted in "Neon Given New Tube Rights," a May 13, 1938 L.A. Times article. Also see their May 27 article. "New 'Zeon' Light Exploitation Due." Thanks to Dydia and Paul for locating "Fluorescent Tubing Illuminates the New Earl Carroll Theatre," an article about the installation in the February 1939 issue of the trade magazine "Signs of the Times."

 

 

A detail of the face and its blue halo from a 1950s postcard that appeared on eBay. To the left is one of the vertical bands of white tubing that ran the height of the facade. 

 

 

 

An image from Brian Michael McCray's collection of the fanciful re-creation of this installation that was done by Glendale's Museum of Neon Art for display at the Universal CityWalk. Also see a 2024 daytime photo.

 

Architect: Gordon B. Kaufmann, with interior and exterior design work by Count Alexis de Sakhnovsky, Frank Don Riha and Kaufmann. Kaufmann also did the Palladium across the street. The cost of the building was estimated at $500,000. Ford J. Twaits was the contractor. The construction time was 90 days. 

The house left wall of the asymmetrical auditorium was covered with a faux wood grain wallpaper, house right draped with green satin. The shiny black ceiling was referred to as being of "patent leather."

 

A rendering from the Herald Examiner collection at the Los Angeles Public Library. It was published October 28, 1938. The caption: 

"With interiors being designed by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky and Gordon B. Kaufman, creator of the building, the Earl Carroll Theatre, located at Sunset Blvd. just off Vine Street will be ready Xmas nite. The theater-restaurant will seat 1000 people, and the patrons will be treated to a lavish Carroll musical comedy show plus other restaurant features. The cost of the building is estimated at $500,000." 

Seating: 1,000, originally in a dinner-show arrangement with tables and chairs on six terraces. Later as the Moulin Rouge the capacity was up to 1,250. During the Hullabaloo area there was some seating at the rear and a dance floor near the stage. During the one-year Kaleidoscope era the seating was removed to make room for larger dance floor areas. The floor was redone in 1968 for installation of conventional theatre seating when the theatre was the Aquarius. Also at that time a wall was installed, creating a separate lobby out of the bar area at the back of the house. 

 

 

A detail from a 40s Sanborn fire insurance map showing the asymmetrical layout of the auditorium and lobby spaces. The kitchen was in the basement. A scene shop was later added on the back.

 

 

A main floor plan from the 2023 sale flyer for the building from JLL, the brokers for the listing. They note that there's 21,863 s.f. shown on the plan at this level plus 3,270 s.f. in the sceneshop building to the south. See a PDF of the flyer via Loopnet. That's the porte cochère in the upper left. The wall between the lobby area and the auditorium was added in the 1960s. The doors at the bottom lead into the sceneshop building behind the theatre.

 

 

A second floor plan. Offices are in the upper left, restrooms and lounges in the upper right. In the lower right it's wardrobe storage in the triangular area and two chorus dressing rooms at the bottom of the plan. On this level there's 3,767 s.f. of space. Image: JLL - 2023 

 

 

A third floor plan. That's the spot booth out on the peninsula at the top. It's a floor of dressing rooms seen in the lower right. There's 3,202 s.f. of space at this level. Image: JLL - 2023

 

A plan of the basement under the Sunset Blvd. end of the building. Much of this area used to be the kitchen. Space here totals 5,690 s.f. There's also a basement under the stage. Image: JLL - 2023

 
The great stage: It featured a 70' revolve with separately operated inner and outer sections. There was also a water curtain, a two-section orchestra pit lift, a small circular lift downstage for a soloist (called a "girl lift" in 1938) and a revolving three-level tower stage right. The tower, with four ladies each at a piano, showed up in a demonstration of the stage's wondrous features in the 1940 film "A Night at Earl Carroll's." See the stage and stage basement pages for lots of details.

Earl Carroll with some of his performers. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo.

Carroll planning a show. Photo: Los Angeles Public Library. They have over a hundred photos in their collection including exterior views as well as rehearsal shots and photos of various performances.

A view of Earl Carroll showgirls from a program page posted by Tam Tim O'Connor Fraser on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. Tam's mother, La Gay Guistina, is in the upper right. She was with the theatre for a year or so around 1945. Also from Mr. Fraser on Vintage Los Angeles see program photos of Earl Carroll and Harry Revel and a promo photo of two Earl Carroll beauties.

Many, many pages of various programs beginning with the Earl Carroll presentations and running into the 1980s ("Hair," "Purlie") are included in the 2016 Cultural Heritage Commission Final Report. It's a 498 page pdf from the L.A. Department of City Planning. You'll probably want to skip the beginning. There are some vintage postcards beginning on page 125 and the program collection starts on page 129.  

An ad for a New Year's Eve celebration added to the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page by show business historian Kliph Nesteroff.  

Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler on Flickr for this image of an Earl Carroll matchbook. Head to our Earl Carroll Ephemera page for images of many more items.

A flyer promoting the second show "World of Pleasure," which opened in June 1939. The third revue, "The World's Fairest," opened in December 1939. Thanks to Joshua Weisel for adding a photo of the flyer as a comment to a post on the SoCal Historic Architecture private Facebook group. 

 

"It's Not Expensive." Four ads for the theatre appearing together in September 1943.

Earl Carroll and Beryl Wallace died in a plane crash in June 1948. The theatre continued to operate but wasn't a viable venture without the leadership of Carroll and his star. It closed in October 1949.

A Times announcement of the 1949 sale to Warwick Industries. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding it for a post on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles. 

Later operators: The theatre had a difficult time finding an operator in the early 50s. CBS was using it in 1951. On Christmas Day 1953 it was re-opened by Frank Sennes as the Moulin Rouge nightclub. 

 

"Showplace of the World." A December 1953 ad announcing the reopening as the Moulin Rouge. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a post on Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

A 1955 ad announcing the September 28 opening of the third show under Frank Sennes' management, the Donn Arden extravaganza "Paris Toujours." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this one for another Photos of Los Angeles post.

The theatre was also used for periods as a TV studio in the 50s and early 60s including for the "Queen for a Day" program. That program had earlier done radio broadcasts from the theatre in the late 40s.

 

An image of a 1959 program cover from the GS Jansen collection. 

 

 

The cover for the 1960 show "Oriental Fantasy." It appeared on eBay.

 

Louis Prima and Keely Smith on a Sunset Blvd. billboard for the Moulin Rouge. It's a March 1960 Gary Leonard photo from Corbis. Thanks to Torbjörn Eriksson for locating the shot.  

A July 1961 ad for the David Merrick and Joseph Kipness production "La Plume de la Tante." 

 

From December 1965 until 1967 it was Dave Hull's Hullabaloo. Thanks to J.J. Englander for adding this December 11, 1965 ad from The Beat as a comment to a post about the theatre by Pam Petronio on the Lost Angeles Facebook group. It's from the Adsausage archives. Also see a flyer from later in December 1965.

By April 1967 it had become the Kaleidoscope, a project of Gary Essert along with Skip Taylor and the William Morris agent John Hartmann. See the ephemera page for some posters from this era. 

 

Essert had intended to open at the Filmarte Theatre but the landlord, National General, put a stop to that. After a quick detour for a show at the Ambassador, the venture settled in at the Earl Carroll. Marc Wanamaker has commented about scraping paint off the glass columns in the lobby get ready for the theatre's reopening.

 

An ad for movies at the Kaleidoscope. Thanks to J.J. Englander for locating it in the Ad Sausage archives. Lori Landrin comments: "Felt like 100 bellbottomed kids showed up to paint the entire building purple. Canned Heat was one of the house bands. Around 2am, they’d show movies, & street kids came in & slept on the terraced floors. I think hot dogs were .25, & drinks .10.... Rumors abounded about the ghosts of Earl Carrol’s beautiful dancers being in the building. It was an amazing time!" 

 

In late 1968 it was renamed the Aquarius Theatre for almost a two year run of "Hair." The floor was re-terraced and conventional theatre seating installed. Evidently the rear of the house got partitioned off at this point to make it a separate lobby. Mike Hume found a November 1968 building permit for 110' of non-load bearing wall.

 

The Who's "Tommy" played the theatre from February 15 until March 26, 1972. Thanks to Lisa Kaplan for sharing the flyer.  

 

 

 

A 1972 ad for a "Film Feast" at the Aquarius. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding it for the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

Later shows at the Aquarius included "Lenny" and "Purlie." In 1977 it was briefly known as the Longhorn Theatre. In 1979 the theatre saw runs of "Oliver!" and "Ain't Misbehavin.'" Center Theatre Group was using it in the early 80s for "Zoot Suit" and other shows. In 1981 CTG was issued a building permit for construction of a $25,000 "sound wall." Filmex used the theatre for their 1981 festival.

In 1982 producer Martin Tahse had it with big plans for two restaurants and a separate theatre space at the back of the stage. He pulled out the theatre seating and went back to tables on the original terraces. One production of his was "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road." Frank Sennes had continued to own the building until 1983 when it then became a TV production facility under the management of Sunset Gower Studios.

It went through periods of being called the Sunset Blvd. Theatre, the Star Search Theatre and (in 1993) the Chevy Chase Theatre. Other uses have included being a venue for Jerry Lewis Telethons and Filmex. It was used from 1997 until 2016 by Nickelodeon as their west coast production hub and known as the Nickelodeon on Sunset. 

New plans for the site: The Palo Alto-based equity fund Essex Property Trust has owned the property since 2004. Essex had meetings about their designs over a period of two years with a coalition consisting of Hollywood Heritage, the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, the L.A. Conservancy, the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles and councilman Mitch O'Farrell. The initial proposal from Essex had contained no assurances that the theatre would again be an entertainment-related venue or that any of the remaining historic features (such as the deco lobby) would be preserved. They later became a willing partner in the discussions that followed resulting in both a City of Los Angeles landmark designation and assurances of protection of historic interior elements.

 

A rendering looking west on Sunset across the facade of the theatre toward the new building Essex was proposing for the parking lot beyond. It appeared with a 2014 Curbed L.A. article by Bianca Barragan on the project titled "Here's the Latest Look for the Sunset-Vine Mixed User." Richard Adkins of Hollywood Heritage noted at the time: 

"There are some good things to their plans for the new adjacent building. It has a facade on Hawthorne as well as Sunset in order to upgrade that street. They are borrowing rhythms and massing from the Carroll and they are restoring or returning elements of the vintage signage."

 

An updated rendering that was released by Essex in 2016. The theatre was declared a City of Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Landmark in 2016. Julia Wick had a December 8 photo spread on LAist with many vintage views along with the story "Hollywood's Earl Carroll Theatre Gets Landmark Designation." Although it hadn't been a public performance venue for years, she rather optimistically noted:

 

"Now, the protection and restoration of the legendary building is finally fait accompli... Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell approved a Historic-Cultural Monument designation for the Earl Carroll Theatre. The designation, along with an agreement O’Farrell orchestrated between property owner Essex Property Trust, Hollywood Heritage, and the Los Angeles Conservancy, will ensure that one of the last remaining examples of modern entertainment venues constructed during the height of the Golden Age will remain for decades to come."

 

Patrick Lee had a December 9 story on L.A. Curbed: "Hollywood building that once housed lavish supperclub wins landmark status." He mentioned "restoration" of the theatre but offered no details other than facade work. 

 

The landmarking was a big step as earlier the developers had expressed an interest in applying -- but only after their work was completed. While much of the building has been altered, enough historic features remain to make the Earl Carroll also eligible for inclusion on the National Register. Essex has also talked about granting a facade easement to the L.A. Conservancy to obtain certain tax credits. Although they had no tenant for the building at the time, the company agreed to maintain the art deco lobby, retain the revolving stage, and work on restoration of the exterior. The auditorium has been extensively remodeled over the years. All the neon is gone, the ceiling has been removed, and the floor was leveled for TV studio use. 

Bob Linder represented Essex at an October 2017 open house and groundbreaking. KTLA's Gayle Anderson paid the theatre a visit on October 16. The "Restoration of the Earl Carroll Theatre" article about her visit includes links to several video clips on the history of the building and the restoration plans. Pauline O'Connor followed up on October 23 with "Take a peek inside...." a Curbed L.A. story using many photos from LAHTF's Wendell Benedetti and Mike Hume.

Initially there seemed little chance it would ever again be a public venue as the developers didn't want to meet the necessary parking requirements. But in 2019 with Essex giving assurances of some dedicated parking and a new group interested in being the tenant, it looked like it had a chance of once again being open to the public. Word of the project had been swirling around and it finally hit the media with "Earl Carroll Theatre restoration slated to open in late 2020," Bianca Barragan's September 25 story for Curbed L.A. Obviously that proposed opening didn't happen. Also see "Hollywood's Historic Earl Carroll Theatre is Coming Back To Life," the September 2019 story Chris Nichols did for L.A. Magazine. 

The Wallace on Sunset, the new mixed-use building by Essex located to the west in the theatre's former parking lot, opened in 2021. It contains 200 apartments and 4,700 sf of commercial space. There's a "paseo" between the theatre and the new building. 

An aborted theatre restoration project: The theatre was scheduled for restoration and a rebirth as a music venue. Thaddeus Smith, once a partner in the Music Box/Fonda and responsible for that theatre's 2002 reactivation, teamed up with real estate guy Brian Levian to lease the building. The interior work was to have been done by Smith and his partners. For a variety of reasons, including financial and Covid issues, the project was declared dead in 2022.

Status: The building is for sale, although a lease is still a possibility. It had been offered privately but in July 2023 a listing appeared on Loopnet from JLL. Brokers Nicole Mihalka, Andrew Harper and Will Poulson can be reached at 213-239-6076. Thanks to Escott O. Norton for sharing the news. He discusses the situation in an August 2023 Facebook post. There's a PDF of the listing flyer for details. JLL notes that the property comes with 70 parking spaces. The 1969 "Aquarius" facade mural that Quentin Tarantino had repainted for his film "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" is still on the building.

Facade restoration: There was an agreement between the city and Essex to restore the building's exterior to its 1938 look, including the vertical neon stripes on the Sunset Blvd. facade and the neon sculpture with the lettering "Thru these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world." No cement signature blocks, however, as they came later. The work by Essex was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023. But the Cultural Heritage Commission didn't approve the work plan until January 2024. 

 

Research on both the paint colors and neon details was undertaken by Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein, authors of "Neon: A Light History." Paul Stoakes of the firm Signmakers was involved in producing drawings as well as constructing prototypes of certain components. But Essex started delaying the project, offering various reasons. In mid-2024 it became apparent that they were pulling the plug and reneging on their commitment to do the work. They will be passing the project along to whoever buys the building.    

More exterior views:

1938 - A Herman Schultheis shot of the installation work on the famous neon on the exterior. The piece, a 20' high likeness of Mr. Carroll's companion Beryl Wallace, is ringed with the words "Thru These Portals Pass the Most Beautiful Girls in the World" in aluminum letters. The photo is in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. 

1939 - A photo taken in August by Maynard Parker. It's from the Huntington Library collection. The link to the Huntington will also get you thumbnail views of 21 additional photos of the theatre by Mr. Parker.

1939 - Thanks to Rick Watts for finding this one for a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

 

1939 - The neon-illuminated Electrical Products Corporation "Zeon" service truck in front. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this photo from his collection on Flickr.  With co-author Tom Zimmerman, Eric is responsible for the Angel City Press book "Spectacular Illumination: Neon Los Angeles 1925-1965." Also see his 2016 book "Signs of Life: Los Angeles is the City of Neon."

 

 

1939 - A nice angle on the facade neon. It's an ad that appeared in a 1939 issue of the theatre program magazine Playgoer. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this from his collection on Flickr. And kudos to Ken McIntyre for spotting it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. 

 

 

c.1939 - Thanks to Bob Sly for sharing this photo, one taken by his uncle Harry Croome.

 

1939 - A Frasher Foto Card in the collection of the Pomona Public Library. Their Frasher Postcard Collection has hundreds of photos from all over southern California. 

1939 - A lovely postcard view east on Sunset. On the left it's the NBC and CBS buildings but no Palladium yet. It didn't arrive until 1940. It's a card included in the 2016 Cultural Heritage Commission Final Report, a 498 page pdf from the L.A. Department of City Planning. There are some postcards beginning on page 125 and the document's program collection starts on page 129. 

c.1939 - A card from the site Card Cow. The number in the lower corner isn't the date -- it's earlier than that. 

 

c.1939 - A view of the tire shop along the east side of the theatre. Thanks to Michael Hayashi for the photo, a post on Photos of Los Angeles. Parking at the time was 15 cents. 

c.1940 - Thanks to Cezar Del Valle for this early postcard of the theatre from his Theatre Talks collection.  There's also a version of this one on Card Cow. Card Cow also has another night postcard of the theatre from across the street.

 

c.1940 - A postcard view by Bob Plunkett from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Another version of the card from the Michelle Gerdes collection appears on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

1940 - Earl Carroll and some of the showgirls with autographed blocks that would be installed on the theatre's facade. It's a photo by Gene Lester in the Herald Examiner collection at the Los Angeles Public Library.  

 

 

c.1940 - The letters that said "THEATRE" on the west and east walls, as well as those above the marquee, were sequenced in about a four second display so that they first said "EAT," then "AT," then "THE" and, finally, "THEATRE." The signs were not in sync. You can see the west wall signage in action near the end of a 4 minute clip of Christmas footage on YouTube from Periscope films. Thanks to Glen Norman for locating it.  

 

1940-41 - An Ansel Adams shot of Beryl in neon on the facade. The photo is in the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. Note the poster for Jimmy Durante. He appeared in the revue "Pan-Americana" that opened in December 1940.  

 

 

1940-41 - A detail from the Ansel Adams photo showing some of the tube supports and connections. The aluminum letters of the "halo" were backlit with blue neon. Beryl's face was done in the new Zeon peach color, referred to in promotional literature as "flesh-colored neon." The vertical bands farther left on the facade were in white. 

Thanks to Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein for sharing their findings. They are the authors of the 2021 book "Neon: A Light History." For the exterior restoration work funded by Essex Properties they have done an extensive investigation of the neon installation as well as the original look of the facade. In a presentation about the theatre for the 2024 annual meeting of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles they shared materials from Signmakers, a sign shop that's a collaborator on the project. See their illustrations showing the layout of the vertical tubing on the facade, details of the neon face, and sequencing of the Eat-At-The-Theatre animation.

1942 - The Wikipedia article on the Earl Carroll Theatre has this photo taken by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. It's in the Library of Congress collection. Note the fire escape from the upstairs offices, added in 1941.

1940s - Note the green color of the facade in this card -- evidently accurate, according to research by Paul Greenstein and Dydia DeLyser. Thanks to Mark for including this card with his post about the theatre on the blog Having A Nice Time. It also appears in the Hollywood section of the site Penny Postcards of California.

The back of the card reads: "The Earl Carroll Theatre - Restaurant in the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard near Vine, is a favorite Nite Spot in the Film Capital of the World. Seating arrangements are terraced so all guests may enjoy an unobstructed view of the lavish stage production with 'Sixty of the Most Beautiful Girls in the World.'"

 

1943 - A photo from the collection of Paul Greenstein. Thanks to Martin Turnbull for sharing it on a Hollywood's Garden of Allah Facebook post.    

c.1943 - A card from Elizabeth Fuller's lovely Old Los Angeles Postcards collection on Flickr. There's also a copy of the photo used for the card in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. 

c.1943 - A Hulton Archive view along the facade from Fox Photos/Getty Images. It's in "The Hollywood Palladium will become an LA cultural monument," a 2016 LAist article by Elina Shatkin. Martin Turnbull later put it on his website and gave it a 1942 date based on a license plate. Mystery writer J.H. Graham has it in her article about the Palladium and notes the banner for Tommy Dorsey's little bother Jimmy, who appeared there "at least three times: October 1941, August 1943, and June 1944."

c.1943 - An interesting Bob Plunkett card with no copy on the marquee except several quotation marks. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this one from his vast collection. It's on Flickr.

 

 

 

1945 - Thanks to Richard Wojcik for sharing this great shot of servicemen visiting the theatre. Richard shared this one as a post on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. 

 

 

1940s - A snapshot from the Sean Ault collection. Thanks, Sean!

 

 

c.1945 - "$1.65 Includes Lavish Revue and Dancing." But no dinner included in the package at that price. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this photo from his collection on Flickr. 

 

c.1946 - Neon historian Paul Greenstein notes that this shot with the signage turned on shows how vibrant the neon was even in the daylight. Thanks to Paul for sharing this image from his collection. Versions of it can also be seen on the sites Media Storehouse and Alamy. 

1946 - Big plans for a new film theatre were announced but never realized. The Los Angeles Public Library photo appeared on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page, where Brian Michael McCray offered details on the never-built theatre:

"Seating 7,000, $15 Million, structure to be larger than Radio City Music Hall, Sunset Boulevard, a half a block east of current structure. Proscenium 130 ft., THREE revolving stages 75x100, and ice rink AND a water tank, so that Esther Williams and Sonja Hennie could BOTH perform simultaneously while 110 dizzy dames twirled. Movie Theatre, TV studios, nightclub and a high rise office tower topped with a heliport. (And we got The Cinerama Dome instead.)" Thanks, Brian! 

 

 

c.1947 - Thanks to Lewis Lustman for sharing this shot of his mother in front of the entrance. He added it as a comment to a 2023 post about the theatre by Pam Petronio on the Lost Angeles Facebook group.  

 

 

c.1947 - A Burton Frasher Card in the collection of the Pomona Public Library. There's also a higher resolution version on Calisphere.

c.1947 - A view of the theatre from "The Aquarius Theater," Alison Martino's 2009 post on her Martino's Time Machine blog. The photo also appears on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page and with her 2015 Los Angeles Magazine article "Uncovering a Secret Gem...."

 

 

c.1947 - A fine look west from El Centro. Chris Nichols notes that the Mark C. Bloome building we see snuggled up to the east wall of the theatre was by Arthur Froehlich and built in 1946. The 3 minute car wash was 45 cents. The photo has popped up on several Facebook pages including Classic Hollywood/Los Angeles/SFV and Lost Angeles.

1948 - Looking west from El Centro St. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the photo for a post for the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. David Sorenson notes that it appears somewhere on a Water & Power Associates Museum page. Jim O'Neill commented that there's a banner on the left at the Kaiser-Fraser dealer advertising the 1948 Frazer. Post-war inflation: the car wash was up to 49 cents.

Earl Carroll and Beryl Wallace died in a plane crash in June 1948. 

 

1948 - The "Celebrity Wall." It's a postcard in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. There's also a different black and white postcard using a photo by Bob Plunkett. Both Card Cow and Penny Postcards of California have copies of that one. The price, without dinner, was up to $1.85. 

 

1948 - Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this September photo from his collection. It's on Flickr.

 

c.1948 - Thanks to Tom Anderson for locating this fine view west for a post on the private Facebook group Mid Century Modern. Richard Wojcik also shared it on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page as a comment to a post of a 1958 photo.

c.1949 - A postcard view of the celebrity autograph plaque wall from Brian Michael McCray's amazing Hollywood Postcards collection. Thanks, Brian! Another version of this star wall postcard from the John Marshall collection appears as a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. 

 

 

1949 - A shot from a family vacation in California. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this from his collection. Start with this shot on Flickr and you can page in both directions to see other L.A. locations this family took photos of including Grauman's Chinese, the Palladium, the NBC building, CBS Square and various nightclubs.  

 

 

1949 - Another shot from the family vacation album that ended up in Eric Lynxwiler's collection on Flickr.

 

 

1949 - A view of the autograph blocks from the family vacation album. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing these on Flickr. In addition to the three shots seen here, the family album had four additional Earl Carroll views that can be seen on Flickr.  

c.1951 - Thanks to Sean Ault for this fine night view taken when CBS was using the theatre. It's also on Vintage Los Angeles as a post from Richard Wojcik. 

c.1953 - The theatre became the Moulin Rouge in 1953. Thanks to Laura De Marco for this shot. It was once posted on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles but then vanished.

c.1954 - An "All New Show" shot from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Also see a daytime "All New Show" photo in the Library's collection.

 

c.1954 - A great 3 minute compilation of Hollywood footage. Luke Sacher's "Hollywood 50s Neon" on YouTube features the Moulin Rouge, Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian and lots more.

 

c.1954 - "New Acts" -- including Miss Malta. Thanks to the Classic Hollywood/Los Angeles/SFV Facebook page for locating the photo. It's one by Bob Willoughby that appears on the Getty Images site. They give it a January 1, 1950 date which shouldn't be trusted.

c.1954 - A lovely view shared by Hector Acuna on the private Facebook group Mid Century Modern Los Angeles. 

 

 

c.1954 - Among the acts appearing were the Borrah Minevitch and his Harmonica Rascals, Chiquita & Johnson and the DeCastro Sisters. Minevitch died in 1955. The revue was directed by Donn Arden. The Mike Roberts Kodachrome photo is on a card that appeared on eBay. On the back: "Frank Senne's [sic] Moulin Rouge - Hollywood California - World's largest theatre restaurant. The showplace of the world, featuring lavish productions on stage and famous food."

 

 

c.1954 - "Revue of 80." This card that was on eBay dates from about the same time as the previous one. 

 

 

1954 - A November 11 shot from Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives. It can be seen on the site Fine Art America.  Thanks to Martin Turnbull for locating it in the collection and sharing it on the Garden of Allah Novels Facebook page.   

 

c.1955 - It's a photo from the Hulton Archive appearing on the Getty Images site. Don't believe the 1945 date they give it. Tom Anderson included this one in his post of 18 photos for part four of his "Los Angeles After Dark" series for the Facebook group Lost Angeles.

 

c.1955 - A great Moulin Rouge postcard that appeared on eBay. The show "Paris Toujours" opened September 28, 1955. A version is also on the site Card Cow.

 

 

 

1957 - A lovely Moulin Rouge view. The show was Donn Arden's "C'est la Vie" with Louis Armstrong. The show had opened in January with Billy Daniels headlining. Dean Martin was the star in April, Dennis Day headed the show in May, Louis was the attraction in June, Jean Fenn and Liberace were at the top of the bill in July. Thanks to Alison Martino for locating the image. It appears with her 2015 Los Angeles Magazine article "Uncovering a Secret Gem..."  It's also on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles.

 

 

1958 - The Moulin Rouge was featuring Sammy Davis, Jr. and the Will Mastin Trio in "Pariscope." Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing this February photo. Sammy joined the show January 28 for a four week run. Variety reviewed it in their February 6 issue. It's on Internet Archive.

 

 

1959 - Picketing in style. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the photo for a post on Photos of Los Angeles. Bruce Kimmel notes: "They're not picketing the Fred Astaire Show, which shot at NBC in Burbank. They're picketing the upcoming Emmy Awards show that took place at the Moulin Rouge. They were dark for a week during that period, until Sammy opened on the 9th of May."

 

c.1959 - "World's Greatest Entertainment Value." It's an image from a short bit of Getty Images footage that was shot by Warner Bros. The "Public Parking Here" sign below the readerboard includes mention of "Queen For a Day." Also see a similar clip from Getty showing more of the readerboard but less of the Palladium. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating these.   

 

1960 - A colorful view east from Vine St. It's a sliver of a much larger image that was located on eBay by Martin Pal. He has it on Noirish Los Angeles post #56145. 

 

 

 

1960 - The Moulin Rouge running "Oriental Fantasy" featuring, among other acts, the Oriental hillbillies Ming and Ling, dancer Tokuno Azuma and "40 Lovely and Lively Geisha Girls from Tokyo." Many thanks to Kathy Kikkert for putting this photo on the back cover of her 2023 Angel City Press book "Hollywood Signs: The Golden Age of Glittering Graphics and Glowing Neon." 

 

 

c.1961 - Thanks to G.S. Jansen for sharing this nice "Queen For a Day" view by an unknown photographer on his Noirish Los Angeles post #1506. Visit Noirish LA for a great ride around the "bright and guilty place" that is Los Angeles!

 

c.1961 - A Moulin Rouge shot that Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality found on eBay for his Noirish post #23819. Also see several nice views of the theatre on his Noirish post #5759. In this shot there's a swing stage hung halfway down the facade with a couple of guys getting rid of the last of the pink paint job.

 

c.1962 - By the time of this "Queen For a Day" shot the paint job was done and the Frank Sennes name had been removed from the marquee. Thanks to Adsausage for sharing this one from their collection.   

 

1963 - A lovely "Queen For a Day" view from Tikbalang Douglas who posted it on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.  

 

 

 

1965 - A look at the celebrity autograph slabs from the Richard Wojcik collection on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. Note here we still have the Beryl Wallace neon on the building. Thanks, Richard!

 

1966 - The Turtles at the wall. It's a photo taken by Ray Graham for the L.A. Times that's in the UCLA Times Photographs Collection. Thanks to Alison Martino for locating the shot for a post on her Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. 

 

1966 - A detail that was extracted from the previous shot by Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein as part of their investigation of the facade and its neon installation for the exterior restoration funded by Essex Properties. They note that here we can see the tubing in the vertical niches. Paul adds that that the connections seen on the right are indicative of later, less professional work while the doubleback over on the left is properly done and most likely from the original 1938 installation. Dydia and Paul are the authors of the 2021 book "Neon: A Light History."

1966 - Thanks to Richard Wojcik for this photo taken in June of the Palladium and the Earl Carroll, here as the Hullabaloo. Hullabaloo had opened December 5, 1965. The photo was a post of his on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. He notes that the dirt in the foreground is the site of the then recently demolished NBC complex at Sunset and Vine.

 

1966 - This cropped version of Richard's photo is from Alison Martino on Flickr. The image also appears with her 2015 Los Angeles Magazine article "Uncovering a Secret Gem...." Thanks, Alison! 

1968 - An April shot of the building as the Kaleidoscope. Thanks to Joshua Weisel for the photo he found, added as a comment to a post on the SoCal Historic Architecture private Facebook group. 

1968 - A look at the Kaleidoscope with lines for a Janis Joplin show. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for sharing the photo on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

 

1969 - "Hair" producer Michael Butler commissioned the art collective The Fool to design and paint a mural on the north and west sides of the building. It was completed in two months. This photo appears with "Interview With Marijke Koger-Dunham," one of the artists on the project. The article by Heather Harris appears as a 2016 post on the site Fast Film. It originally appeared in Paraphilia Magazine on August 23, 2012. 

1969 - "Urania," one of the nine muses depicted on the "Hair" mural. Photo: The Fool / Marijke Koger-Dunham 

 

 

1969 - Thanks to Bobby Cole for sharing this photo. Note the stars up on the rooftop AC units. He added it as a comment to a post about the 2018 "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" repainting that was on the Mid Century Modern private Facebook group. 

 

c.1970 - "Hair" playing at the Aquarius. Thanks to Mary Bolter for locating this photo for a post on the Southern California Nostalgia private Facebook group. Also see the page on the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies site showing many photos of the recreation of this paint job Quentin Tarantino had done for "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood." Sadly, it didn't make it into the finished film.

c.1970 - The mural on the west wall. Thanks to Trullee Fike for sharing this photo and the one below as comments to a post about the theatre by Martin Turnbull on his Garden of Allah Novels Facebook page.

 

 

c.1970 - A west wall detail. Photo: Trullee Fike  

early 1971 - Thanks to Richard Wojcik for this photo taken after "Hair" had completed a nearly two year run at what was then called the Aquarius Theatre. It was a post on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. Don't miss Alison Martino's post "The Aquarius Theater" on her blog Martino's Time Machine.

 

c.1971 - A detail of the painting on the west wall. The photo is one that appears with Alison Martino's 2015 Los Angeles Magazine article "Uncovering a Secret Gem...." 

 

 

1978 - "Elvis Forever."  It's a photo from the McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, their #T-004-2. The link will get you to another "Elvis" shot as well as 1979 views of the theatre during the engagements of "Oliver" and "Ain't Misbehavin."

1981 - Filmex at the Aquarius. Thanks to Philip Mershon's Felix in Hollywood Tours for the photo, a post on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. It's also on Flickr from Gerald DeLuca. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for spotting that appearance for his Noirish post #50385.  

 

 

1983 - A tour bus shot from the Richard Wokcik collection. He shared it with the Mid Century Modern private Facebook group where he noted that the theatre had recently been acquired by Martin Tahse Productions.

 

 

1986 - The theatre as home for "Star Search." Thanks to Jeff Cashdollar for sharing this shot as a comment to a post by Jeff Vail about the theatre for the Facebook page Lost Angeles.

2009 - A look east on Sunset Blvd from Argyle. That's the Palladium on the left. Photo: Google Maps  | interactive version |

c.2009 - The Nickelodeon signage. Thanks to Mark for the photo with his post about the theatre on the blog Having A Nice Time.

2010 - The Earl Carroll Theatre as a studio for Nickelodeon. Photo: Bill Counter

c.2011 - A look at the building from Ken Mcintyre on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

2013 - Another look at the building by Ken McIntyre, shared on Photos of Los Angeles.

2017 - On the roof from the top of the dressing room stack stage right. We're looking to the south of the building over the stage area. The scene shop behind the stage is much lower and its roof can't be seen from here. Thanks to Mike Hume for this photo and others appearing on these pages. See the fine page about the theatre on his Historic Theatre Photography site.

2017 - A view north across the side of the auditorium roof. Note the Hollywood sign hiding behind the construction crane in the distance. Photo: Mike Hume 

 

2017 - Looking east on Sunset Blvd. Photo: Mike Hume

2017 - A closer view of the post-Nickelodeon facade. Photo: Mike Hume

October 2017 - Looking west along the facade. Photo: Mike Hume

 

October 2017 - The scene shop at the rear of the building. We're looking east -- the loading doors are at the other end. Photo: Mike Hume

November 2017 - The work on the new building in the parking lot begins. Thanks to Chuck Weiss for the photo on the SoCal Historic Architecture private Facebook group.

February 2018 - West on Sunset.  Photo: Bill Counter

February 2018 - The fenced-off porte cochere with the site of the new building on the right. Photo: Bill Counter

February 2018 - A closer look at the entrance. Photo: Bill Counter 

February 2018 - The southeast corner of the building. The big rollup gets you into the scene shop. Through the smaller doors on the right you're backstage and can take a left for the stage or dressing room stairs. Straight ahead gets you to the Circle Room. Photo: Bill Counter

October 2018 - The facade getting painted as it was in 1969 for shooting a scene for Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post about the film's use of various theatres for many more photos of the building's re-do in progress. Photo: Bill Counter

 

 

November 2, 2018 - Cars are in place the day of Quentin's Sunset Blvd. shoot for "Once Upon a Time..." It's a photo by Andrew Cooper for Sony Pictures that once appeared with Emily Zemler's April 2019 L.A. Times article "How 'Rocketman' and 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' uniquely re-create a lost Los Angeles." It's been seen in many locations since then including on IMDb, in a great post about the film's locations on the Italian site Contattaci, and from Richard Wojcik on the Mid Century Modern private Facebook group. Sadly, the building didn't end up in the finished film. Barbara Ling was the production designer.

November 2018 - The theatre under a tent. Photo: Mike Hume. Thanks, Mike! Visit his Historic Theatre Photography site for lots of tech information and hundreds of fine photos of the many theatres he's explored in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

May 2019 - The view down Argyle with the new project rising to the theatre's west. Photo: Bill Counter

April 2020 - A rare unobstructed view of the east side of the building. The structures that had been here have been demolished and a new project will be rising on this side of the building as well. Photo: Bill Counter 

April 2020 - The theatre is a long way from reopening but it's nice to see some of the readerboard neon still works. Photo: Bill Counter 

April 2020 - A detail of some of the surviving neon. Photo: Bill Counter

June 1, 2020 - A crowd marches east on Sunset protesting police brutality and racial inequality. Thanks to Brad Stubbs for his photo, one of 71 in his "BLM Protest 6-1-20 Hollywood" album on Facebook. 

 

 

July 2021 - The neighborhood was growing up, with new housing on both sides of the theatre. The building on the right, built by Essex Property Trust in the theatre's former parking lot, is called the Wallace on Sunset. Presumably that's an homage to Beryl Wallace, the star of the Earl Carroll shows. Photo: Bill Counter  

 

 

2023 - A drone's-eye view appearing on the Loopnet listing for the property from the brokers at JLL. See a PDF of the listing flyer for more information.

Earl Carroll and his theatre in the Movies: 

Earl Carroll was involved in film production with early credits as either producer or co-producer including the cult-classic "Murder at the Vanities" with Jack Oakie and Kitty Carlisle (Paramount, 1933), "Stowaway" with Shirley Temple (20th Century Fox, 1936) and "Love is News" with Tyrone Power and Loretta Young (20th Century Fox, 1937). See a lengthy IMDb list of his writing and producing credits dating back to 1912.

All the wonders of the great stage were demonstrated in "A Night at Earl Carroll's" (Paramount, 1940). The plot is slim, but it doesn't matter. A mobster engineers a kidnapping of Mr. Carroll and the lead performers so there won't be a show. But quite a show we get!

The house left side of the proscenium revolves open to reveal a stack of four ladies playing four pianos in "A Night at Earl Carroll's." In addition to Mr. Carroll, the film features Ken Murray, Rose Hobart, J. Carrol Naish, Lela Moore and Forbes Murray -- and a cameo by Beryl Wallace. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for twenty more shots from the film.

 

Later films revolving around Carroll's work included "Earl Carroll Vanities" (aka "Moonstruck Melody," Republic, 1945) with Dennis O'Keefe, Constance Moore, Eve Arden and the Woody Herman band. Mr. Carroll was played in that one by Otto Kruger. And there was "Earl Carroll Sketchbook" (aka "Stand Up and Sing" and "Hats Off to Rhythm," Republic, 1946) that starred Constance Moore and William Marshall. "Sketchbook" was without Carroll or even an actor portraying him but we do get a parade of various stagehands, agents, and even the Costello Twins. The latter were reported to be intimate acquaintances of Mr. Carroll at one time. The titles of these two films came from Broadway shows Carroll had co-written and produced titled "Earl Carroll's Vanities" (1923 to 1932) and "Earl Carroll's Sketch Book" (1929, 1935).

The set Republic used for the interior of the theatre in both "Earl Carroll Vanities" and "Earl Carroll Sketchbook." Interestingly, they did a great job of contouring the front of the stage with the center stairs and narrow protrusions on each side to match the real theatre. On this set the band is in that recess we see in the house right wall. As far as exterior shots, both films give us only a couple of quick glimpses of the real theatre. 

We get quite a tour of the theatre in its Moulin Rouge days Douglas Sirk's "Imitation of Life" (Universal-International, 1959). The film stars Lana Turner, John Gavin and Sandra Dee. Here we get a look at the dropped ceiling added in the lobby area. Thanks to Escott O. Norton for the screenshot. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for nine more Earl Carroll shots from the film as well as views of the Music Box/Fonda.

We get some nice aerial shots in the Jerry Lewis film "The Errand Boy" (Paramount, 1961). Here looking west on Sunset it's the Earl Carroll (here renamed the Moulin Rouge) on the left and the Palladium across the street. See the Historic L.A. Theatres In Movies post for a Hollywood Blvd. aerial view and visits to the Fox Westwood Village and the Chinese.

Elvis takes the beat to Bagdad in Gene Nelson's "Harum Scarum" (MGM, 1965). Of course while in the Middle East to premiere his new desert-themed movie Hollywood filmstar Johnny Tyronne (Elvis) gets kidnapped, meets a princess, and falls in love. We wind up at the Earl Carroll for the final number, "Harem Holiday." See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for more shots from that scene.

"The Big T.N.T. Show" (American International, 1966) was filmed at the theatre in November 1965. It features Bo Diddley, Petula Clark, Joan Baez, The Byrds, David Crosby, Ray Charles, Donovan, Roger Miller and many more.

A vintage exterior photo of the theatre as the Earl Carroll that's used at the beginning of "Zoot Suit" (Universal, 1981).

Another exterior image from the opening. The end credits of "Zoot Suit" note that it was filmed at the Aquarius Theatre, as it was then called. There are some shots of the audience in the auditorium during the film -- but we really don't see anything except seats. There are, however, some views of the lobby.

A lobby shot from "Zoot Suit" Thanks to Lanna Pian for the tip on this one. The Historic L.A. Theatres In Movies post has several more lobby shots.

The Earl Carroll is one of a number of theatres brought back to a late 60s look by Quentin Tarantino for his epic "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (Sony, 2019). Regrettably, the theatre doesn't appear in the finished film. Thanks to Zzub McEntire for this October 5, 2018 progress shot of the work. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies pages about the filming for 40 shots of the Earl Carroll as well as views of other theatres used including the Cinerama Dome, Vogue, Ritz/Pussycat, Grauman's Chinese, Bruin and Fox Westwood Village.  

More Information: See Mike Hume's fine page about the Earl Carroll on his Historic Theatre Photography site. And don't miss "A Day at Earl Carroll's," his three and a half minute 2017 video tour of the building on You Tube. 

The City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning has a 2016 Cultural Heritage Commission Final Report available as a 498 page pdf. See the Draft Environmental Impact Report from March 2015 and a pdf with the L.A. Conservancy's comments.

On Facebook see the Beryl Wallace Homepage. The site Earl Carrol Girls has an extensive collection of photos of the building, the performers and memorabilia. Alison Martino's 2015 Los Angeles Magazine article "Uncovering a Secret Gem..." has some history of the venue. The Rock Prosopography 101 post about the theatre's Kaleidoscope era has a list of 1968 shows and images of poster art.

See the Bruce Torrence article on Frank Sennes and the theatre's years as the Moulin Rouge. Martin Turnbull has a fine article about the theatre on his website. You Tube has a nice 2 1/2 minute clip from Robbies Video Archives "The Hullabaloo Club, Hollywood, 1966" with a nice discussion of its transition from the Earl Carroll/Moulin Rouge.

The Wikipedia article on the Earl Carroll Theatre has an informative history on the Hollywood theatre and Earl Carroll Theatre in New York City. Also visit their listing for Earl Carroll. Earl Carroll also has a listing on Find A Grave.

The book: A new book on Earl Carroll by Randy Schmidt titled "Impresario: Earl Carroll and Beryl Wallace" is in the works from the University Press of Mississippi "Hollywood Legends" series. There's an Indiegogo page up with information about the book and Mr. Carroll. A short video is included. Schmidt also has an Impresario page and an Earl Carroll Theatre page up on Facebook.

The Missing Plaques: The Earl Carrol had a whole wall of little plaques that were signed by the stars. In a June, 2011 story, L.A. Magazine's Chris Nichols answers a question about what happened to them:

"In 1968, a Dutch art collective known as the Fool replaced the nameplates with a psychedelic mural of Greek muses and stored the autographed pieces in the basement. They stayed there until 1979, when Magic Castle founder Milt Larsen acquired them for his Variety Arts Center downtown. Gene Autry lassoed them for his museum later that year. Finally, Butterfield & Butterfield auctioned off 104 of the plaques in 1989 and 1990. Two bearing the names of Norma Shearer and Amos ’n Andy had been left beneath the theater stage. They were put on display until 2006, when the property was sold again...and the owner gave the pair to the handyman." Thanks, Chris!

One story was as of 2015 some of the plaques were still in the possession of Milt Larsen. The February 2018 word is that about 80 of the plaques are in the possession of a San Diego theatre owner. Perhaps the same gentleman (Papa Alan) who commented back in 2011 on a post on the blog Dear Old Hollywood saying he had 80 to 100 of the plaques in his possession.

The Earl Carroll Theatre pages: back to top - history + exterior views | lobby areas | auditorium | stage | stage basement | sceneshop | ephemera |

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