Los Angeles Theatres: El Capitan Theatre: street views 1925 to 1954

1925 - Steel rising for the El Capitan. That's the Masonic Temple on the right. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the image for a Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group post.

Morgan, Walls & Clements designed the exterior, the theatre's ticket lobby, and the spaces in the six story building for Barker Bros. Department Store. G. Albert Lansburgh designed the theatre.

1926 - A February 1 construction photo. It's #T-011-2 in the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, now managed by the McAvoy family. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for spotting it for a post for the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook group.

More from the Torrence collection: You can also browse 46 early views as well as 16 photos from 1942 and later.

1926 - A lovely photo taken during the run of the theatre's initial attraction, "Charlot's Revue of 1926" starring Jack Buchanan, Beatrice Lillie and Gertrude Lawrence. The opening was May 3. Readerboards two and three say "Buchanan" and "Lawrence." Note the "For Rent" signs in the windows. It's a photo that appeared in the souvenir program for the 1991 reopening from the Tom B'Hend-Preston Kaufmann collection, part of the AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library. A copy of the program is in the Ronald W. Mahan Collection. Thanks to Ron for sharing this image.

1926 - A luminous view of the El Capitan by Emil Otto Hoppé with readerboards two and three advertising "The Green Hat" and its star Ruth Chatterton. The production opened August 8.

The photo appeared in the 1927 German book "Die Vereinigten Staaten. Das romantische Amerika. Baukunst, Landschaft und Volksleben." See a listing on Abe Books that features the photo. It also appears in Phillip Prodger's 2007 book "E.O. Hoppé's Amerika: modernist photographs from the 1920s." It's available on Amazon. Ken McIntyre notes that the photo once appeared in a Times rotogravure section. Bill Caffrey shared one version on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. Martin Turnbull has another on his site.

1926 - A view from a bit to the west taken during the run of "The Green Hat." It's a Brookwell photo from the Herald Examiner collection at the Los Angeles Public Library.

1926 - A facade detail from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Again the readerboards are advertising Ruth Chatterton and "The Green Hat." Here we can see that the retail space was still vacant at the time.

1926 - A Mott Studios photo taken during the run of "Castles in the Air," a production that opened November 2. It's from the California State Library collection, one of 14 exterior and ticket lobby views in their set #01407047. Eric Lynxwiler also has a copy of this one from his collection in his "Hollywood Productions" album on Flickr.

1926 - A "Castles in the Air" entrance detail. It's a Mott Studios view from the California State Library set. The photo is also in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It also appears (with many others) in a 10 page article about the theatre in the February 1927 issue of Architect and Engineer, available on Internet Archive.

1926 - The readerboards used channel letters and incandescent lamps. This detail is from the Mott Studios photo above.

1926 - A "Castles in the Air" view from the east. It's a Mott Studios photo from the Herald Examiner collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. It also appears in the California State Library set. That 14 photo set has six views taken during the run of "Castles in the Air." In addition to the three on this page there is also a closer street view from the east, a street level view from slightly west and one taken from upstairs in the Hollywood Hotel. Large versions are available on the California Library website, typically around 6MB.

1926 - The office building entrance. It's a photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It also appears in the California State Library set.

c.1926 - A look at the top of the building before the tower went up. It's a Mott Studios photo in the California State Library set.

c.1926 - The west end of the office/retail building. Hollywood Blvd. is off to the left. It's a Mott Studios photo in the California State Library set.

1927 - "The Firebrand" opened April 3. It's a play by Edwin Justus Mayer about the 16th century sculptor and libertine Benvenuto Cellini. The production starred William Farnum, Ethel Clayton and Ian Keith. It's a Mott Studios photo in the California State Library set.

1927 - "Laff That Off" reopened the theatre on July 14 after a period of being dark. This was the first produced at the El Capitan by Henry Duffy and starred his wife Dale Winter. The production ran until the end of August. It's a Mott Studios photo in the California State Library set.

1927 - A detail from the Mott Studios "Laff That Off" shot. At the time of the photo it was an auto display in the ground floor retail space. Barker Bros. hadn't yet moved in to occupy that space as well as the upper floors. Their deal was announced on August 28.

1927 - Looking west with the readerboards advertising "Figs," a show that played the theatre in November and December. Ken McIntyre found the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. Note that Barker Bros. had added some lettering on the corner of the building but still no protruding vertical sign.

1927-28 - A C.C. Pierce view looking east from the USC Digital Library collection. Note the side of the El Capitan stagehouse advertising the Henry Duffy Players, a stock company that presented in many theatres up and down the coast. This image is part of a panoramic photo that originated as six separate plates.

At the time of the photo the Warner Hollywood was under construction, a house that opened in April 1928. There's no sign yet of the Hollywood First National Bank Building. It would soon rise on the northeast corner of Hollywood and Highland. The photo was taken when "The Gaucho" with Douglas Fairbanks was at the Chinese between early November 1927 and the third week of January 1928. Part of a banner with Fairbanks' name is visible in the photo.

Take a peek farther back at the blank brick wall of the Christie Hotel (now a building owned by Scientology) and look to the right. You're looking at the auditorium and stagehouse of the Egyptian Theatre. There's also a strangely colored version of this panorama in the Huntington Library collection.

1928 - A banner is out for the George M. Cohan farce "The Baby Cyclone," a Henry Duffy production that opened July 29 and starred Harrison Ford, Natalie Moorhead and Isabel Withers. It ran until the third week of September when it was replaced by "The Shannons of Broadway." It's a shot from "1920s Hollywood California...," a fine 5+ minute long Hollywood travelogue on YouTube from Periscope Films. In that footage are views of the Chinese, the Egyptian, the Warner and other Hollywood sights. Other views of the El Capitan include a marquee detail looking east and a view of the entrance.

1928 - "The Shannons of Broadway," a play by James Gleason, opened September 23. It had run on Broadway from September 26, 1927 until June 2, 1928. Gleason himself appeared in both the New York and Los Angeles productions as well as a later film version.

This Mott Studios view is from the 14 photo California State Library set. A slightly cropped version is in the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, #T-11-24. That's a floor of the Barker Bros. Department Store we see in the second floor windows where they're displaying refrigerators and other merchandise.

1928 - A view from the west with a banner out for "The Show Off." The Henry Duffy production ran from June 24 until July 28 and starred Louis John Bartels, Helen Lowell and Juliette Crosby. Note the nice view of the roof tower on the theatre building. On the left it's the Hollywood First National Bank Building at Hollywood and Highland, a Meyer & Holler design completed in 1928. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo.

c.1928 - A view in the Los Angeles Public Library collection looking west from the Egyptian Theatre at Hollywood Blvd. and Las Palmas. The First National Bank Building, on the northeast corner of Hollywood and Highland, opened in 1928.

1929 - A Christmas view looking west. It's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The Hollywood Theatre is under the right side of the Christmas tree, here seen without a vertical sign. That would come along sometime before mid-1933.

c.1930 - A premiere night postcard view from the collection of Michelle Gerdes appearing on the Los Angeles Theatres Facebook page. The only readable word on the banner above the marquee is "Burt."

c.1930 - A slightly different version of the card is in Brian Michael McCray's amazing Hollywood Postcards collection. Thanks, Brian! All his 400+ cards used to be on Picasa until Google discontinued that platform. Yet another version of the card, without a lit tower atop the theatre, can be seen in a post by Sharrye Hagins on the Facebook group Lost Angeles.

1930 - It's the premiere of "Hell's Angels" at Grauman's Chinese. Hughes had the whole boulevard lit up down as far as Vine St. The Los Angeles Public Library has a copy of the photo that they credit to Mott Studios. There's also a copy in the California State Library collection, their #01425252. The State Library also has a wider Mott photo taken that evening, #01519815/

A woman using the Facebook name of Jane Jetson asserts that her father, Charles Richard (Dick) Morgan, took the photo. Perhaps he worked for Mott. She posted the version she has on the Facebook group Lost Angeles. Morgan and his wife managed the Cahuenga Apartments, 1830 Cahuenga Blvd., and in the 1940 city directory his photography business is listed as being at 4705 S. Vermont.

1930 - A postcard version of the view above. Thanks to Richard Adkins of Hollywood Heritage for posting the card on the Hollywood Heritage Facebook page.

1930s - An early postcard view looking east along Hollywood Blvd. from Ken McIntyre on Photos of Los Angeles. Yes, that's the El Capitan on the right with the roof sign. Note the Barker Bros. signage across the top of the building.

1932 - A Christmas season look east toward the El Capitan. Note the added neon on the marquee. Across Highland one can read the banner hanging below the marquee of the Hollywood Theatre advertising "Faithless," an October 1932 release with Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery. It's a detail from a California Historical Society photo appearing on the USC Digital Library website.

1933 - A Frasher Foto Card in the collection of the California State Library looking east. At the El Capitan the banner is advertising "Otto Kruger - in person - Counselor At Law - Smash Hit of Season." It opened Easter Sunday, April 16. The Times noted in their June 13 issue that the play was in its ninth and final week, to be replaced by "Twentieth Century," opening on the 22nd.

1933 - The banner was up for Charlotte Greenwood in "The Late Christopher Bean," a show that opened October 30. Thanks to Martin Pal for spotting this shot when it was for sale on Etsy. He shared it on Noirish Los Angeles post #59758 along with another Christmas season view with Edward Everett Horton and Douglas Fairbanks. The caption printed on the back of this one: "'I want a star' says Verona Gittere as she points to one of the modernistic trees which will decorate Hollywood Boulevard's Santa Claus Lane."

1933 - A banner out for "Ten Minute Alibi," a British play by Anthony Armstrong that opened December 7 and played into January 1934. In the cast were John Warburton, Walter Armitage and Peggy Campbell. The shot is from "Hollywood and the Beverly Hills Section," ten minutes of travelogue footage on YouTube from Periscope Films. Thanks to Terrence Butcher for spotting this. We also get a look at the forested winter wonderland in the forecourt of the Chinese.

1934 - A nice look east with Grauman's Chinese on the left and the sprawling Hollywood Hotel beyond. The play at the El Capitan was Sidney Kingsley's "Men in White." It had opened on Broadway in September 1933. The production playing the El Capitan ran from March 11 until May 5, 1934. There was a film version later in 1934 with Clark Gable and Myrna Loy. It's a photo from the California Historical Society appearing on the USC Digital Library website.

1934 - A view from the east with a banner out for "Men in White." Ken McIntyre located this one somewhere for a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles.

1934 - Will Rogers appearing in "Ah, Wilderness," a production that played in May and June. Thanks to the McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection for the photo, their #HB-159. It's one of 214 in their album "Hollywood Boulevard 1899-1940."

c.1935 - A lovely Christmas season photo on Calisphere looking west toward the El Capitan. It's a Frasher Foto Card from the Pomona Public Library collection. Note the two stars near the top of each tree for this season.

1936 - A fine Red Car motorman's view west toward the El Capitan. At the Egyptian the week of the photo it was "The Ex-Mrs.Bradford," an April release. The letters across the street for the Chinese are advertising "The Unguarded Hour" with Loretta Young and Franchot Tone. It played one week beginning June 4 with "The Country Beyond" as a co-feature.

The photo is in the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, #HB-167. Thanks to John Lee for spotting it in the collection. He had it as a post for the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. It later surfaced as a post by Ramon V. Parra on the public group Lost Angeles.

1936 - A look east toward the El Capitan from the Los Angeles Public Library. Here we get a look at the other side of the letters advertising "The Unguarded Hour" playing in June at the Chinese. See a different take from what was likely the same shoot in the McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, their #HB-173.

1937 - An early November look toward the theatre with a banner out for "Good News of 1938." Note the lettering strung across the street. "Ali Baba Goes Town" was a film starring Eddie Cantor that played the Chinese from November 1 through 7. The photo also makes an appearance on the McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs website as their #HB-198. It's in their album "Hollywood Boulevard 1899-1940." Also on their site see a street level "Good News" shot taken from the west, their #T-011-32 as well as an entrance shot, their #T-011-33.

1937 - A "Good News of 1938" shot that Ken McIntyre located for a post for the Photos of Los Angeles private group on Facebook. It also appears (in a less cropped version) in Marc Wanamaker's collection on the Hollywood Historic Photos site.

1937 - An entrance detail from the "Good News" photo above.

c.1937 - A Christmas time view by Herman Schultheis from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Note the airborne Santa atop each tree.

c.1938 - Looking west on Hollywood Blvd. in a photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It's by Herman Schultheis. On the east wall note that the "Barker Bros. Hollywood Shops" lettering has been removed from near the corner of the building and we get some new neon horizontally near the top.

c.1938 - The vista toward the El Capitan and the Grauman's Chinese. It's a Los Angeles Public Library collection photo by Herman Schultheis.

c.1939 - A wonderful shot looking east on Hollywood Blvd. from the USC Digital Library collection. In the shadows on the right, note the El Capitan marquee and its added neon. It's a Dick Whittington Studio photo. The banner in front advertises a KNX "Screen Guild Show."

1939 - Thanks to Tommy Dangcil for sharing this postcard in a now-vanished Facebook post. The show at the El Capitan was a stage version of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," later made into a film the same year.

1939 - A view east with a banner out for "The Mikado - in Swing" at the El Capitan. It opened July 30. At the Chinese "Stanley and Livingstone" is partially up on the readerboard. It played August 8 to 14 along with "Quick Millions." Thanks to the Historic Los Angeles Facebook page for sharing this version of the photo. Chinese theatre historian Kurt Wahlner suspects the photo was taken the afternoon of August 8 after the last show of "Frontier Marshal" and before that evening's premiere of "Stanley." The McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection has a sharp black and white version of this with different cropping, their #HA-024-36.

1939 - A view during the November 26 Christmas Parade. The El Capitan has a banner out for "Folies Bergere of 1940". Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. At the Chinese it was "Another Thin Man" and "Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence." Also see another view of the 1939 parade that shows more of the Chinese.

Earlier in 1939 Clifford C. Fischer had brought a version of the "Folies" that had been playing the World's Fair in San Francisco to the Chinese. It opened May 12 for a four week run and then moved to the Texas State Fair. A second "more daring" production took over the San Francisco run. Clifford later brought that second company, dubbed "Folies Bergere of 1940," to the El Capitan, opening November 1, 1939. The show was discussed in an October 17 article in the Times.

1939 - A fine look at the neon during mid-December. This shot is 7 1/2 minutes into 17 minutes of 8mm footage shot all up and down the street, including views of the Chinese, Warner, Pantages and other theatres. Many thanks to Jeff Joseph for sharing it on YouTube. And thanks to Kurt Wahlner for spotting the footage. Our Hollywood decorations consultant Glen Norman advises that the first minute of the footage is actually Christmas 1940. Note the polka dots on the trees that year.

1939/1940 - Charlotte Greenwood starred in "She Couldn't Say No," opening December 22. Thanks to the Los Angeles City Historical Society for including this shot in a post on their Facebook page. The photo also makes an appearance on the McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs website as their #HB-194. It's in their album "Hollywood Boulevard 1899-1940."

1940 - Laird Cregar was starring in "Oscar Wilde," a production that opened April 21. Many thanks to The Ronald W. Mahan Collection for sharing this photo.

1940 - A view during the November 24 Christmas Parade. The El Capitan had a banner out for "Folies Bergere of 1941," a show that had opened October 21. A Times article on November 28 noted that it would be closing its six week run on December 1. At the Chinese that week it was "Tin Pan Alley" and "The Gay Caballero." Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for locating the photo. After closing at the El Capitan, Producer Clifford C. Fischer then booked a tab version of the show into the Paramount downtown for a week beginning December 3, where it played with the film "Dancing on a Dime."

c.1940 - A view looking east from Elizabeth Fuller's Old Los Angeles Postcards collection on Flickr. This one has a 1947 postmark, but it's a pre-42 image -- the tower still says El Capitan. The letters came down during the remodel that turned it into the Paramount. Thanks, Elizabeth. Another version of the card also appeared on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

1941 - "It's Terrific!" A view of the extensive work done on the marquee for the run of "Citizen Kane." It was a rare film engagement for the theatre up to this point. The photo is from Marc Wanamaker's Hollywood Historic Photos collection -- although it now seems to be missing from that website. This version comes from the extensive "Orson Welles Director - Phase One" page on Joseph Egan's site The Magnificent Ambersons.

Bruce Kimmel notes that the film's world premiere was at the RKO Palace in New York on May 1 with the west coast premiere at the El Capitan on May 8. A three-shows-a-day run at both the El Capitan and the RKO Hillstreet began May 9, with reserved seats for the evening show. The engagement at the El Capitan closed June 25. It surfaced again for an exclusive run at the Hawaii Theatre beginning October 16.

1941 - Another view of the May 8 premiere of "Citizen Kane." Thanks to Bill Huelbig for locating the photo and grabbing a shot of it. Head to the ticket lobby page for a look at the display above the entrance doors that was done for the film.

1941 - A fine Frasher Foto Card looking east on Hollywood Blvd. toward the Chinese and the El Capitan. The banner at the El Capitan is advertising Laird Cregar in "The Man Who Came To Dinner," a production that ran from September 19 through October 18. Thanks to Vicky Valentine for locating the image. The El Capitan letters we see on the roof sign would come down during the 1942 Paramount remodel.

1942 - A photo from the run of Cecil B. DeMille's "Reap The Wild Wind" -- at popular prices! The film was the first attraction to play the theatre when it reopened as the Paramount after its remodel. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this one for a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. A less cropped version of the photo appears in the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, #T-042-1.

1942 - A "Wild Wind" view from the west. It's a photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It's also in the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, #T-042-14.

1942 - A detail from the image above.

1942 - The Paramount's new signage at night. This was shared in another post on Photos of Los Angeles by Ken McIntyre. The photo also appears on the website of the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, #T-042-12. You'll also find it, along with a number of other El Capitan/Paramount views in Martin Pal's fine Noirish Los Angeles post #22621.

1943 - Thanks to Ken McIntyre for sharing this one on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. The Paramount was running "Dixie" -- and a Puppetoon! As we can see in the lower right, it's from the collection of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

c.1943 - Thanks to Martin Pal for the post of this snapshot on his Noirish Los Angeles post #41291. He notes that the film at the Paramount is "True to Life," a December 1943 release with Mary Martin, Dick Powell, Franchot Tone and Victor Moore. Glen Norman notes that the non-illuminated Santas were used during the war years. The trees were back, with a new look, for Christmas 1945.

1944 - Thanks to the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection for this moody view of the theatre running "Uninvited" and "Memphis Belle." It's their #T-042-16. You'll also find the photo in Martin Pal's Noirish Los Angeles post #22621. Also in the Torrence collection see another view, #T-042-15, taken during the same engagement that shows the whole facade..

1940s - A nice postcard view looking east from shared by Ken McIntyre on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook group. That's the El Capitan/Paramount over there on the right and the Chinese on the left.

1940s - Looking northwest in a shot from ten minutes of footage titled "Hollywood, California Aerials" on Internet Archive. It's fascinating footage but messes with your brain as it's flipped. Toward the end of the reel we go to the Hollywood Bowl and out the freeway to the Universal backlot. Thanks to Alison Martino for posting an unflipped version of the footage on YouTube. That's the Hollywood Hotel across from the Paramount/El Capitan.

1940s - Thanks to Gianpiero Leone for this shot he posted on the Los Angeles Theatres Facebook page. Note the signage indicating that the theatre at the time was under the "direction Fanchon & Marco" and they were calling it "America's Most Distinctive Theatre."

1946 - Looking west toward the Paramount during the Christmas season in an uncredited Los Angeles Public Library photo. Note the sign in the upper left for "Blue Skies," a 1946 Paramount release with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Joan Caulfield.

1946 - A closer look at the theatre during the run of "Blue Skies." The film opened December 19 for a six week run, closing on January 30, 1947. Thanks to Sean Ault for spotting the photo when it was offered for sale online.

1947 - The November 7 collection of food and other relief items for France and Italy that would travel to New York on the Friendship Train. It's a photo that appeared in 2022 as a post on the 1947 Friendship Train Facebook page. It was later discussed on Martin Turnbull's Garden of Allah page.

1947 - A view east at Christmas time toward the Chinese and the El Capitan. It's from the collection of Gianpiero F. Leone. The photo appeared as a post he did on the Los Angeles Theatres Facebook page. He also added it to the Vintage Los Angeles page. A cropped version appeared on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook group from Bill Gabel.

1947 - A postcard derived from the previous photo. The card's retoucher eliminated the woman in the photo who was walking in the crosswalk. And a few other things were tweaked to make it a night view. Thanks to Brian Michael McCray for sharing the card from his collection on a Vintage Los Angeles Facebook post. The card also appears in Elizabeth Fuller's Old Los Angeles Postcards set on Flickr.

1948 - The May 26 world premiere of Billy Wilder's "The Emperor Waltz" with Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine. Thanks to the Facebook page All Movie Theatres for sharing the photo.

1951 - A February 11 photo looking west from Highland with the Paramount, at the left, playing "At War With the Army" with Martin and Lewis. That's the Hollywood Hotel across the street. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing the photo from his collection on Flickr. And thanks to Martin Pal for spotting it for his Noirish Los Angeles post #47622.

1952 - A view before the November 26 premiere of Arch Oboler's "Bwana Devil," the film that kicked off the 3-D craze. It also opened the same day at the Paramount downtown. Thanks to 3-D expert Mike Ballew for sharing the photo. See his two Facebook posts discussing the film's history: post 1 | post 2

1952 - A wonderful view east toward Highland taken during the run of "Bwana Devil." Note the "3 Dimension" signage above the entrance. It's a photo from the Richard Wojcik collection that appeared on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles.

1954 - A postcard view west taken when the Paramount was running "Rear Window." The film had its west coast premiere at the theatre on August 10. Off to the right are the grounds of the Hollywood Hotel. The banner on the right is advertising "The Egyptian," to open Wednesday, September 1 at the Chinese. Thanks to Chexy Decimal for sharing the card on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook group. Bill Gabel has also shared another version of the card with different coloring to the group.

1954 - The canopy of Grauman's Chinese is on the left in this September photo. "Rear Window" is finishing its run at the Paramount and there's an unfinished display above the marquee for "Sabrina." The Hollywood Theatre is in the distance. Many thanks to Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection.

1954 - A detail from Sean's photo, probably taken by a rail fan. Rail service on the Hollywood line would end September 26. See the PE Hollywood Line article from the Electric Railway Historical Association.

El Capitan Theatre: street views 1925 to 1954

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