Opened: November 26, 1930 as the Wilshire Theatre with the Independent Theatre Corp. as operators. The building is on the south side of Wilshire between Euclid St. and Euclid Ct., a block west of 14th St. Photo: Bill Counter - 2007
The principals of the company were Edward A. Johnson as president, Forrest W. McManus as vice-president and M.E. Baylis as secretary. McManus had been operating the Tivoli (now called the Royal Theatre) in Sawtelle since 1926. He had the Nuart underway when the company was organized in July 1930. These became the firm's first two theatres and with the Wilshire opening they had three. Harry H. Belden and Ira Marshall were the project's developers.
Architect: It was designed and built by John Montgomery Cooper. He also designed the Roxie Theatre downtown, a 1931 house.
Seating: Originally 1,189. In 1961 it was reseated to hold about 800. After the 1977 twinning it was 317 + 307.
The November 25, 1930 edition of the Santa Monica Evening Outlook had rosy predictions about the number of stars that would be in attendance for the opening. Opening night festivities included a concert by the Santa Monica Evening Outlook Newsboys Band and Mickey McGuire and His Gang, both in person and on the screen.
This discussion of the theatre's decor was another article from November 25 edition of the Evening Outlook.
An article about the stage from the November 25, 1930 edition of the Santa Monica Evening Outlook.
Snappy uniforms for the ushers. It's another item from the November 25 edition of the Evening Outlook. They note that a "colored maid will have charge of the women's lounge room" but somehow the staff for that part of the theatre wasn't included in the photo. Many thanks to Samuel de la Torre Dórame
for the research on the theatre's early history and finding the items from the Outlook. He specializes in researching the history of the Sawtelle neighborhood. See his blog Sawtelle 1897-1941 for many fine articles.
It was twinned down the middle in 1977 by Mann. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the February 17 news item for a comment on a Facebook post about the theatre on Ken's Movie Page.
Starting
in the early 90s it was operated by Landmark Theatres who called it the
NuWilshire to go with their Nuart venue. Until the end, however,
the signage continued to say just "Wilshire."
Closing: The NuWilshire closed November 4, 2007. The facade was landmarked by the City of Santa Monica in 2008.
In March, 2009 the interior was gutted and converted to retail space. The Santa Monica Daily Press ran a 2009 article about the conversion: "Rehab begins for NuWilshire Theater." As part of the
project the floor was removed and a basement excavated for underground
parking. It sat vacant for a long time waiting for a tenant. Performance Bicycles eventually moved in. They went out of business in 2018.
Status: Vacant again.
A 1961 Boxoffice magazine auditorium view of the theatre with a covered up proscenium but still as a single screen house. Thanks to Chris1982 for posting the shot on the Cinema Treasures page about the NuWilshire. National General had just given the theatre a big remodel.
A 2007 look at the lobby by Nick Illes appearing on the Cinema Tour page about the NuWilshire. On the site you'll find more photos including another lobby view and a booth shot.
The house left stairs to the booth and restrooms. Photo: Marilynn on Flickr - 2007
A stair detail. Photo: Marilynn on Flickr - 2007
An upstairs shot. Photo: Marilynn on Flickr - 2007
The view down from the house left stairs. Photo: Marilynn on Flickr - 2007
A look toward the booth in one of the shoebox auditoria. Photo: Marilynn on Flickr - 2007.
A sidewall view. Photo: Marilynn on Flickr - 2007
A peek into the booth in 2007. Thanks to Marilynn for sharing her photo on Flickr.
A few more exterior views:
1930 - A view prior to opening. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo. Too bad we can't see the roof sign. The photo ran with a huge amount of press coverage in the November 25, 1930 edition of the Santa Monica Evening Outlook.
1969 - Running "The Stewardesses" in 3-D. It's a photo from the L.A. Conservancy's collection that's on their NuWilshire Theatre page. It got many comments when Joshua Mark shared it for the You know you grew up on the Westside of L.A. if... Facebook group.
1979 - A post-twinning view of the theatre by Anne Laskey that's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. They also have another view taken the same day by Ms. Laskey from a bit farther east.
2008 - A facade detail from Dean Chen on Flickr. He has about ten additional exterior views you can page through.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page for lots of data. And go to Cinema Tour for more photos including lobby and booth views.
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