Los Angeles Theatres: Warner Huntington Park: auditorium

The proscenium in 1930. Thanks to Bill Housos for the photo from his collection. He notes that he purchased his photos of the Warner from the Theatre Historical Society several decades ago.

A detail of the center of the proscenium from the photo above.

The beast on the side of the proscenium. It's a detail from the photo in the Bill Housos collection.

The front of the house as seen from the balcony in 1930. It's a photo from the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation collection. It was on display at an "all-about" tour in 2014 of another Warner, the one in San Pedro.

The LAHTF is actively involved in the study and preservation of the vintage theatres in the L.A. area. The group frequently supports events and offers tours of various historic theatres. www.lahtf.org | LAHTF on Facebook

Looking toward the rear of the auditorium in 1930. Thanks to Bill Housos for the photo from his collection.

A ceiling detail from the photo above. Thanks, Bill!

The Warner as a twin theatre:

Looking across the rear of the main floor. The downstairs booth got added when the theatre was twinned. That black T-bar ceiling extends all the way forward to the bisected proscenium -- the balcony was made into a separate theatre. Thanks to Hunter Kerhart for his 2014 photo. Keep up with his explorations: on Facebook | hunterkerhart.com | on Flickr

A peek down the house right side aisle. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The view toward the proscenium of the downstairs theatre. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The stage from the center of the back row. Thanks to Matt Lambros for his 2014 photo, one that originally appeared on an After The Final Curtain 2015 blog post. Matt travels widely, photographing abandoned theatres everywhere. He sells prints of his work and conducts photography workshops. After The Final Curtain | on Facebook

A wide angle view from the house right side of the main floor. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A house right sidewall view. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A main floor side aisle column capital. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The T-bar ceiling meeting the main floor screen. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Drapes installed for the twinning meet the proscenium. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

House left near the front. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A main floor sidewall detail. What is that thing? Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The main floor side aisle house right near the rear. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A detail of some side aisle ornament on the main floor. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The main floor from the top of the house left aisle. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Painted ceiling detail at the rear of the main floor. The door leads out to the lobby. That wall on the right is the added main floor projection booth. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Painted ceiling detail at the rear of the main floor. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Painted ceiling detail and a non-period chandelier at the rear of the main floor. Note on the beam to the left of the chandelier the ghost image of the original decorative painting. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Main floor seats. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A closer look at a deco end standard. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

An out-of-place Spanish end standard on the main floor. It looks like we had to fill in with a few from some other theatre. Evidently this was a standard design - it also shows up at the United Artists downtown. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Looking toward the rear of the main floor of the twinned theatre. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The other half: the view across the balcony theatre. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Painted detail remaining above the house right balcony vomitory. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Balcony seating and the crossaisle railing. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A balcony exit house right. That's Hunter Kerhart in the shadow. Photo: Katie D'Anna - 2014

The plasterwork above a balcony side exit. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The balcony rail and beyond. The wall in front of that first row of seats is the original balcony rail. All that yellowish area is a floor they've extended out in front. The yellow area as well as the first four rows of the balcony have now been removed. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A closer look at the proscenium area in a detail from the photo above. The proscenium, with a new screen frame out in front, was covered in black soundproofing gunk. Note the left end of the yellow drape - that plaster ornament is the top of the organ grille. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The top of the proscenium behind the screen frame. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The main ceiling medallion. There was once a chandelier in the center. It obviously would have been in the way of the projection beam for the higher screen position of the balcony theatre after twinning. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The center of the medallion with a hole for the chandelier. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

At the edge of the center medallion. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Painted detail radiating out from the center plaster medallion. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The top of the organ grilles house right as seen in the upstairs theatre. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A wide angle view of the balcony. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

One of the surviving chandeliers at the rear of the balcony. It's a detail from the photo above.

The view up to the bottom of the chandelier. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A ceiling plaster detail. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A section radiating out from the center of the ceiling medallion. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Another section, with the medallion center at the right. Note the grilled openings for air distribution. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

Along the side wall in the balcony where wall meets a step-down from the ceiling. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

The vista toward the rear of the balcony. Photo: Matt Lambros - 2014

A closer look toward the booth. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A detail of the ceiling grillework in front of the booth. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2014

A wide angle look from the top of the balcony. Thanks to Matt Lambros for the 2014 photo, originally appearing on his After the Final Curtain Facebook page. Check out Matt's new book of theatre photos, which includes more images of the Warner Huntington Park: "After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater." It's available on Amazon.

A last look across the balcony in twin-theatre configuration. Thanks to Hunter Kerhart for the 2014 photo. See where he's been lately on his architectural photography adventures: on Facebook | hunterkerhart.com | on Flickr

After some selective demo for adaptive resuse:

Fireworks on the stage of the stripped theatre. Photo: Sydney Santana on Instagram - 2016. Thanks to Matt Lambros of After the Final Curtain for spotting this one and Hunter Kerhart for sending it along.

A look to the rear of the house after its un-twinning. Straight ahead we're looking all the way to the entrance doors -- the wall separating the lobby and auditorium had been removed. That demo, as well as removal of the main floor projection booth and the "ceiling" that divided main floor from balcony, was done in preparation for converting the building to use as a gym.

The photo appeared with a September 2016 Ghost Princess blog post: "I went to the most amazing abandoned theatre today." Thanks to Hunter Kerhart for spotting it.

The auditorium from onstage. Photo: Ghost Princess - 2016

A view across the stage to the house left wall. Photo: Ghost Princess - 2016. Thanks for the photos, Princess!

During the renovations for use as a gym:

The view toward the rear of the balcony with seats removed. Photo: Matt Lambros - Theatre Architecture Facebook page - July 2017. Thanks, Matt! See what he's has been up to lately: After The Final Curtain.net | on Facebook

A view from onstage showing the front of the balcony chopped off. Photo: Hugo Ruiz- August 2017

The ceiling from onstage. Photo: Hugo Ruiz- August 2017

A look across the stage at the new floor level. The building was getting prepped for its new tenant, a gym. Photo: Hugo Ruiz- August 2017. Thanks, Hugo!

A look to the rear of the house. Thanks to Steve Gerdes for his December 2017 photo.

A closer look back at the chopped-off balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

The vista up across the new panels on the front of the balcony. Photo: Hugo Ruiz

The view from house right. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

One of the house right deco stalagmites preserved in a "well" when the floor was leveled. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

A bit of sidewall ornament on the main floor house left after removal of the front of the balcony but before restoration of decorative surfaces. Photo: Jeff Raum - January 2018

The same area as above after paint restoration. Thanks to Jeff Raum for the January 2018 photo. His firm, Jeff Raum Studios, is doing the decorative painting on the adaptive reuse project. He noted that at the time of the photo there was still a pilaster capital awaiting installation on the left.

Plasterwork house left just back of the organ chamber. Photo: Hugo Ruiz

A plasterwork detail house left. The new steel studs and drywall at this spot are to fill in where the front of the balcony formerly was. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

The scaffolded proscenium. The good news is that all the black soundproofing gunk was cleaned off. The bad news is that several big chunks of ornament were chopped off during the Pacific Theatres twinning job. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

Missing proscenium ornament house right. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

The beast on the right side of the proscenium seen more clearly after the scaffolding came down. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

The gryphon on the house left side of the proscenium. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

The house left organ grille. Photo: Hugo Ruiz - 2017

A closer look at the bottom of the house left organ grille. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

The house left organ grille after touch up painting. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

The balcony from house left. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

A balcony view from house right. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

Grillework near the front balcony exit house right. Behind it is a never-used organ chamber. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

A peek into the house right organ chamber. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

New construction beginning on the stage for the gym tenant. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

A detail of the center of the cleaned off proscenium. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

The rear of the house. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

A look across the truncated balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

The newly terraced upper section of the balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - February 2018

A look toward the proscenium with new construction happening onstage. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - February 2018. Thanks, Hunter!

The auditorium viewed through the new framing for the gym. Photo: Steve Gerdes - March 1, 2018

An organ grille view from stage right. Photo: Steve Gerdes - March 1, 2018. Thanks for the photos, Steve!

The space as Blink Fitness:

An entombed deco stalagmite along the house left wall. Thanks to Mike Hume for this 2019 photo and the others that appear here. Visit his Historic Theatre Photography website for hundreds of great images of the theatres he's explored. Don't miss his page on the Warner Huntington Park.

A wider view toward the front of the auditorium. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019

A closer look at the proscenium. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019

The beast on the proscenium house left after repair of a huge hole. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019

The center of the proscenium after removal of acoustical material. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019

The proscenium beast house right. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019

A view of the now-truncated balcony. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019

The house right organ grille, with added drinking fountain. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019

A detail of a section of ornamental plaster at the organ grille. All the decorative restoration work was by Jeff Raum Studios. Photo: Mike Hume - 2019