Opened: December 29, 1925 as the West Coast Uptown with Norma Talmadge's "Graustark" as the initial feature. The stage show featured Charlie Nelson and his Playboys. The Harry Wenger photo from the Los Angeles Public Library shows the theatre running "Hands Up," a Civil War drama released in January 1926.
The theatre was on the east side of the street just south of 10th. When the theatre opened it was advertised as at 10th and Western. West 10th was later renamed Olympic Blvd. to promote the 1932 Olympic Games.
Architect: Lewis A. Smith. The prolific Mr. Smith did a lot of West Coast Theatres projects. Like many other theatres the circuit was building in the 20s, this one had a full stage.
A rendering for the project from L.A. Smith's office. It's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
Seating: Estimates vary from 1,600 to 1,715.
The
theatre was initially operated by West Coast Theatres, which soon after
became Fox West Coast. In the 1929 city directory it's still listed as the
West Coast Uptown. The location, five blocks south of Wilshire, later
put the Fox Uptown into competition with the Warner Bros. house at Wilshire
and Western, the Wiltern.
The Uptown, along with the Beverly and the West Coast in Long Beach, were featured in an ad for Payne Furnaces that appeared in the December 28, 1929 Motion Picture News. It's on Internet Archive.
The
area southeast of Wilshire and Western was once an 80 acre ranch owned
by the Pellissier family. When they subdivided the property for housing,
they dubbed the area "Uptown." The family, and their realtor Henry de
Roulet, later were involved in building the Wiltern.
The December 29, 1925 L.A. Times ad. Thanks to Noir City Dame for digging out the ads. She featured these and various Uptown photos on her Noirish Los Angeles post #33919.
The theatre was "extensively remodeled" by Fox West Coast in 1949. The theatre reopened on Friday, June 31 with "House of Strangers." Thanks to theatre historian Kurt Wahlner for the research.
Closing: It was last operated by National General Corporation. A permit was issued in January 1961 for use of the building as a church.
Status: A demolition permit was issued in February 1963. The site
was redeveloped for a Ralph's market that now has also been demolished
and replaced with a newer development. Thanks to Chris Nichols for the
permit research.
Interior views:
c.1926 - A view looking north on Western Ave. from Pico. The Uptown is in the distance on the east side of Western. The photo from the California Historical Society is in the USC Digital Library collection.
1926 - A facade photo with the theatre set for a premiere of "Across The Pacific" with Monte Blue. It's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection, formerly indexed as #00044621. It seems to have been lost in the transition to a new cataloging system.
1937 - We're at Christy's Drive-In at Olympic & Western. In the window we see the reflection of the Uptown vertical. It's a Daily News photo in the UCLA Library collection of Los Angeles Daily News Negatives.
1937 - An August Daily News photo of a carhop at Christy's gives us a view of the Uptown in the background. They're running "New Faces of 1937" and "They Gave Him a Gun." It's in the UCLA Library collection.
c.1938 - Another view looking north toward the Uptown from the Iura footage included in Rick Prelinger's 2019 compilation. The Iuras shot the footage to send to relatives in Japan. After the war the film was sent back to the family in the U.S.
1940 - Looking east on Olympic Blvd (S.R. 173) toward Western. It's a photo from the Automobile Club of Southern California in the USC Digital Library collection.
1942 - A view of the corner of Olympic and Western from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. They're running "Tortilla Flat" with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr.
1958 - A look at the Uptown from the collection of Jeff Bridges (aka Vokoban) on Flickr. That's Olympic up at the corner. The photo also appears on Facebook as a post by Stephen Russo on Vintage Los Angeles and one by Ken McIntyre on Photos of Los Angeles.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Fox Uptown Theatre for everything that is known about the building. The architect also did a lot of other designs for West Coast Theatres. See the Cinema Treasures list of other projects by L.A. Smith.
Harry Wenger, several of whose photos are on this page, photographed many Fanchon & Marco productions and other stage sets. The Online Archive of California has a guide to one collection of his work at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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