Opened: 1924. The Criterion Theatre was run by West Coast Theatres and their successor companies for decades. It was the best appointed theatre in Santa Monica and with the advent of Cinemascope, was known for having the largest screen in town. The building is on the east side of the street at the corner of 3rd and Arizona. The c.1945 photo is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
Architects: Engineering Service Co. designed the building. The facade remains but all of what is behind it has been seriously reworked over the years. The original theatre was gutted when it was rebuilt as a 6 plex by Jeff Cooper Architects in 1983. A 2001 remodel for Mann Theatres was done by Behr Browers Architects.
Seating: 1,200 originally. The 6 plex had a capacity of 1,600. There were three stadium-style houses downstairs, three with sloped floors upstairs.
West Coast Theatres became Fox West Coast in 1929. This June 2, 1929 photo spread in the Santa Monica Evening Outlook
featured the area's most prominent men in the amusement business. At
the time Louis Clark was managing the what had become the Fox Criterion. He's in the top row at the center. Thanks to Samuel Dórame for finding
the newspaper item. For fine research relating to the Sawtelle area visit his
blog Sawtelle 1897-1941.
It's also been known as the New Criterion. The theatre got a remodel by Fox West Coast in the 40s. New seats
were installed and the four original chandeliers were removed in a lighting
re-design. The theatre got another makeover in 1965 to
coincide with the malling of 3rd St. into what would later be called the 3rd St. Promenade. A new
marquee was installed and the 1925 vertical removed. National General
Corporation, the successor company to Fox West Coast, was acquired by
Mann Theatres, who ran the venue until 1977.
It then operated as an independent theatre dropping down to a double feature 49 cents policy for a time. By 1981, along with the Broadway/Elmiro Theatre, it was run by Metropolitan Theatres as a Spanish language house. The
theatre was gutted in 1983 for construction of a new 6 plex behind the
historic facade. The configuration was 3
stadium style houses downstairs and 3 sloped floor houses upstairs.
In 1990 it was taken over by (once again) Mann Theatres, calling it the the Mann Criterion 6. The apartment portion of the building sustained damage in the
Northridge earthquake of 1994. It was later rebuilt providing retail
space on the ground floor and an expanded theatre lobby. Mann gave the complex another remodel in 2001.
The
Mann circuit started slowly eroding as leases expired or properties were
sold. The Mann lease on the Criterion was up in June 2010 and the operation was taken
over by AMC, becoming the AMC Criterion. With AMC's acquisition of the Criterion all first run films in Santa Monica were either at the Laemmle Monica or at the AMC houses -- the other two being the Broadway 4 (earlier a Cineplex Odeon venue) and the AMC Santa Monica 7.
Interior views:
A less crowded view of the lobby. It's a 1945 photo by Marge Phillips in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
1925 - "Wild Wild Susan" with Bebe Daniels was the feature film. Plus, of course, four acts of "Headline Vaudeville" and the Pathe Review. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this photo for post on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles.
1933 - A postcard with the theatre running "The White Sister," an April release with Helen Hayes and Clark Gable. Thanks to the Route 66 Postcards Facebook page for sharing it. They note that it's from the collection of Joe Sonderman. There's also a copy of the card on the Huntington Library website from the collection of Ernest Marquez.
1938 - A fine marquee photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The Santa Monica Public Library also has a slightly different photo taken at the same shoot.
1947 - A classy view of the Fox Criterion as we look south on 3rd. The photo appeared on Alison Martino's Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. Thanks, Alison!
1950s - A postcard view looking north along 3rd St. The Criterion's red vertical is down there on the right. It was a post by Don Sherman on Photos of Los Angeles. Chrys Atwood also added a version of the card on the very fun Venice, Ocean Park and Santa Monica Facebook page.
1954 - A photo from the Bill Beebe collection at the Santa Monica History Museum. It's also made an appearance on the SMHM Facebook page. The kids were there for a showing of a safety film sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.
1964 - A look north on 3rd. Thanks to Michael Hayashi for locating the photo. And thanks to Bruce Kimmel for noticing that the Criterion is running "Becket," a March 1964 release. A 2022 post of this on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page elicited many comments.
1965 - A view looking up 3rd at what was soon to be the 3rd St. Mall, later renamed the 3rd St. Promenade. Note the Criterion up there on the right. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo.
1970 - A view south from Arizona St. with something from Walt Disney on the Criterion marquee. It's a photo from the Santa Monica Public Library collection where they give it a date of February 14. Thanks to David Mortensen for including this one in a selection of fourteen 1970 downtown photos from the Library in a post on the You know you're from Santa Monica if... Facebook page.
1982 - A Santa Monica Public Library photo. Thanks to David Mortensen for including it in a fine selection of 26 of the Library's Mall photos for a post on the You know you're from Santa Monica if... Facebook page.
c.1995 - Included in a set of black and white 3rd St. Promenade photos by Q T Leong is this fine look south toward the Criterion 6. The image has also been seen on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles.
2010 - Thanks to Mark Peacock for this fine shot of the vertical. It's from his Vintage Theatres photo set on Flickr.
2012 - A marquee soffit shot by Corey Lascaris appearing on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles.
2013 - End of the line for the Criterion. Thanks to Larry Ziff for his photo on Vintage Los Angeles of the theatre with a blank marquee after its March 28 closing.
2013 - The dead Criterion in September. At the time of the photo, the theatre was being gutted for use as retail space. Photo: Bill Counter
Elvis and his band mates are hauling a boat around downtown Ft. Lauderdale and somehow go south on 3rd St. so we get a view of the Criterion in "Girl Happy" (MGM, 1965). In the boat is Shelley Fabares, the daughter of a mob boss they're working for, and she needs to be back at her motel before daddy calls to check in. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for another Criterion shot as well as one of the Mayfair.
The theatre is seen on the left in this shot from Tim Burton's "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (Warner Bros., 1985). Thanks to Sean Ault for spotting the theatre in the film. He notes that the film offers views of the mall "when it was still an old time shopping street. Before the Chia Pet statues began to pop up and all the original stores were priced out of existence." See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for another Criterion shot from the film.
New Theatres for Santa Monica: The City of
Santa Monica had been in negotiations with AMC to build a new theatre
complex on city owned property downtown (possibly an existing garage
location at 5th and Arizona) but AMC bowed out of the negotiations in
late 2012 (after three years of talk) citing their concern about lack of
adequate return on investment.
The Santa Monica Mirror had a December 2012 article about the city investigating the possibility of other developers or theatre operators. Santa Monica Daily Press also ran a story. At
one time there was concern at the city council that the downtown would
be over screened after construction of the proposed garage complex and
one of the requirements for a deal was that AMC shutter one or more of
their existing locations. The landlord at the Broadway 4 wasn't happy
about this as he feared the loss of a tenant.
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures
page on the old Criterion. Cinema Treasures researcher Bill Gabel has
unearthed lots of history on the theatre. Also see the Cinema Treasures
page on the replacement Criterion 6.
The Cinema Tour page on the Criterion has some exterior photos. The Huntington Library has a 1966 view of the Promenade but we only get a bit of the marquee at the right edge of the photo.
Many photos of the street are included in Alison Martino's fine 2022 article "What Third Street Promenade Used To Look Like" on her Martino's Time Machine blog. A post about it on her Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page produced many comments.
Nathan Masters did a fine 2016 KCET story with many photos about the evolution of the 3rd St. Promenade: "How Santa Monica's Third Street Became a Promenade." The Santa Monica History Museum has some Criterion photos if you'd care to go on a search.
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The Criterion is also in the Elvis Presley movie Girl Happy (even though it takes place in Fort Lauderdale Florida)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll check it out. I also need to get a screenshot on the page from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure."
DeleteThe Criterion appears in It Happens Every Spring (1949) at abut the 53 minute mark. It's showing a double bill of Snake Pit and Jungle Patrol. According to the AFI website, that movie was filmed in December 1948 and January 1949. According to Newspapers.com, that double bill played at the Criterion in late January 1949.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bob!
DeleteThese photos really take me back. I first started going to the Criterion in 1964 or 65. I remember the new Santa Monica mall. First film I remember seeing at the Criterion was Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain. Also The Art of Love with James Gardner. Not on a double bill. The criterion truly was the best house in Santa Monica with its size and decor. They often showed the latest Disney releases, I saw You Only Live Twice when it went into multiples in August 1967, and On Her Majesties Secret Request for Christmas 1969. Deadlier Than the Male (1967) with Elke Sommer was another favorite. One of the oddest double features I saw here was The Wild Bunch when it went into multiples and ran as it’s co-feature the adult lesbian drama The Fox. Presumably they were billed together both being adult themed films from WB. The prickly British theater manager who ran the theater in late 60s had denied me access to the theater before for trying to get into “adults only films” but fortunately he was at his desk that afternoon counting his box office takings. The other Santa Monica theaters in town were the ElMiro (aka Cinema on the Mall, Cineplex Odeon Broadway. This had been a nice enough Cinema with a orchestra that would converge to a balcony like stadium seating. There was the cute, gothic Majestic aka Mayfair on 3rd and 2nd where I got my first movie job ushering in the summer of 1973. It had a steep balcony. Seated 547. The Wilshire on Wilshire and 14th st was nice and seated about 700 and the Aero on Montana was a sweet neighborhood cinema (now home to the American Cinematheque)
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