Los Angeles Theatres: Highland Theatre: interior views

5604 N. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90042 | map |

Also see: Highland Theatre - history and exterior views

On the main floor:

Looking in from the front doors. Thanks to Rabeyah Khan sharing for this photo and her many others appearing here. She's a location manager who was scouting the Highland in the Summer of 2023 for a TV project that wasn't pursued.

The layout since the triplexing in 1983 has been three small auditoria on the main floor. The capacities are 130, 225 and 110. The balcony has been unused for over four decades. When the theatre opened in 1925 the seating capacity was 1,432. The triplex closed at the end of February 2024.

A view down the bar. Thanks to Michelle M. for sharing her 2020 photo on Yelp.

The end of the bar and a peek house right toward auditorium #3. That open door on the left edge of the image leads to the booth for #2 and #3. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Out to the street. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Behind the bar with a view over toward #1 and #2. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The left wall and stairs. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Signage as it was in 2020. Photo: Michelle M. on Yelp

House left, headed toward the men's room. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A peek in. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

More fixtures. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Out toward the lobby. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The center door heads to the booth for auditorium #1. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The digital projector for #1, a Barco DP100 - "Visibly yours." It had been a single 35mm machine and a platter when the triplexing was done in 1983. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The equipment rack for #1. That's a Dolby CP750 Digital Cinema Processor at the top. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The porthole view. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Looking in to auditorium #1, house left. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The front exit out the north side of the building. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The rear of auditorium #1. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The entrance to #2, the center house. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A peek in to #2. It's the largest of the three, with a capacity of 225. Photo: Kari A. on Yelp - 2018

Up front in auditorium #2. That exit on the right cuts across behind the screen of #3 to get to the exit doors on the south side of the building. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A look toward the rear of auditorium #2 taken by Gina Christine during the 2012 NELA Art Short Film Series. Note some decorative plaster remaining on the balcony rail. The photo also appeared as part of "Northeast L.A. Filmmakers Take a Bow," a story on the blog The Eastsider.

Another busy night in auditorium #2. Thanks to Sandi Hemmerlein for sharing this 2015 photo as well as many others appearing here. Visit her Avoiding Regret photo essay "Highland Theatre's Hidden History" for many more shots plus tales of her adventures at the 2015 Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation "all-about" tour of the building. The LAHTF promotes preservation of historic theatres in the L.A. area and occasionally offers tours and other events.

The balcony rail gets the spotlight. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - 2015

Another look at the rail. It's a detail from a 2023 photo by Rabeyah Khan

Back near the booth in auditorium #2. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The door to the booth for auditoria #2 and #3. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The Barco DP100 on the left side of the booth for #2. Equipment racks are on the right. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The back left corner. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Equipment racks in the center. We're looking at the gear for auditorium #3 which includes a Dolby CP750 digital processor, Dolby CSL100 Show Library, DSS200 Dolby Screen Server, QSC QM series monitor unit, QSC power amps. In the right hand rack we're seeing the back side of some of the equipment for auditorium #2. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The projector for auditorium #3. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The house right end of the lobby. On the left it's the open door to the booth. The entrance to auditorium #3 is to the left of the exit doors. To the right of the doors note the sign for the ladies room. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A peek in the ladies room. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

An alcove with mirror. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Toilet stalls. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The entrance to auditorium #3. The doors on the right go out onto Ave. 56. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A look to the screen in auditorium #3, house right. Photo: Dora H. on Yelp - 2019

The side exit near the front. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The rear of auditorium #3. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A look back toward the lobby. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A major lobby remodel in 2025. Photo: Bill Counter - July 18. Display cases, dropped ceiling panels, snackbar equipment and more all went in a dumpster. But it's only a movie. It's a sequel for Netflix set in 1977 about the Brad Pitt character from Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood." David Fincher directs a script by Quentin. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post about "The Adventures of Cliff Booth" for more photos of the prep at the Highland.

Up to the balcony:

Heading up the house right stairs to the balcony, unused since the theatre was triplexed in 1983. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2015

Pegasus in plaster, evidently with gold leaf underneath the paint we see. It's a photo Stephen Russo took on the stairs that appeared on the LAHTF Facebook page.

A 1940s look at the Highland's balcony lounge that appeared on the Highland Park Independent Film Festival Facebook page. It has the look of a photo used for a carpet ad in a trade magazine. It's sad to say that this is the only vintage photo of the theatre's interior to surface so far.

A 2015 balcony lobby view from ace theatre photographer Wendell Benedetti. Thanks to Wendell for this and the rest of his photos appearing on this page. A set of seven can be seen on the LAHTF Facebook page. The ceiling decor isn't original -- it's from a 40s Fox West Coast Skouras-style renovation. We're looking in from house right. That wall at the end was added, sealing off the house left stairs.

A lobby ceiling detail. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2015

The balcony lobby after a paint job covering the Skouras-style ceiling work. We're looking in from the door at the top of the house right stairs. The black beasts along the wall are digital projectors. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Doors to lounge and restrooms tucked in under the balcony. The auditorium is off to the right. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A ladies lounge area being used for concession storage. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A peek into a restroom. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Along the crossaisle from house right. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A closer look at the house left wall. It's a detail from a photo taken by Rabeyah Khan in 2023.

The wall sealing off the stagehouse. Note the AC ducting for the theatres below. Photo: Stephen Russo - 2015

A ceiling grille. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - 2015

The decorative painting typical on the ceiling beams. It's a detail from a photo taken by Rabeyah Khan in 2023.

A panoramic look to house right from the end of the crossaisle. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - 2015. He calls our attention to the seats that were installed in the upper section in the 80s when there were unrealized plans to put a screen for the multiplex operation up here in addition to the three on the main floor.

A composite "restoration" view done in 2015 by Wendell Benedetti imagining what the theatre might have looked like prior to triplexing. He's borrowed some details from the Rialto in South Pasadena, a similarly sized house designed by the same architect, Lewis A. Smith. The photo appeared on the LAHTF Facebook page. Thanks, Wendell!

A look across the front section. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2015

A closer view house right. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The sidewall mural house right in front of the balcony rail. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - 2015

The house right exit door at the front of the balcony Photo: Wendell Benedetti - 2015

The house right wall up near the ceiling. Thanks to Nicole Loretta Marsak for sharing this photo and others appearing here. It's one of a set of seventeen shots of her adventures at the November 2015 LAHTF "all-about" tour that appear in a Facebook post.

The upper section center and house left. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

Back in the corner. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

A closer look at that crest on the house left wall. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - 2015

To the booth. Sorry, no photos of the interior. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023

The back corner house right. Photo: Rabeyah Khan - 2023. Thanks for all the terrific photos! Rabeyah is a location manager who was surveying the building for a TV project that didn't happen.

A view down from the top. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - 2015

A look back down the house right vomitory. The balcony lobby is off to the right, the stairs to the main floor are through the doorway. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - 2015

Backstage:

Looking up at the cove above the proscenium. On the left is the wall enclosing the unused balcony. On the right that's part of the asbestos curtain. Photo: Nicole Loretta Marsak - 2015

The loading doors offstage left. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2015

Looking across to stage right. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2015

A view toward the Armstrong - Power wire guide counterweight system. Thanks to Louis Villaescus for this and his other 2015 photos appearing here.

A bit of cleanup stage right by LAHTF volunteers before the 2015 "all-about" tour. It's a photo that once appeared on the LAHTF Facebook page.

Looking along the lockrail from upstage. Photo: Louis Villaescus - 2015

A ropelock detail. Photo: Louis Villaescus - 2015

The index striplight. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2015

A striplight detail. Photo: Wendell Benedetti- 2015

Several of the arbors. Photo: Louis Villaescus - 2015

The dimmerboard stage right. Photo: Wendell Benedetti- 2015

Another dimmerboard view. This one's from the Highland Park Independent Film Festival Facebook page.

A look along the back wall as LAHTF volunteers move surplus projection equipment. On the right note the drywalled area enclosing the front end of the downstairs theatres. It's a 2015 photo that appeared on the LAHTF Facebook page.

To the basement: