Los Angeles Theatres: United Artists Theatre: stage and stage basement

Looking backstage from house left. Photo: Cap Equity Locations - August 2014.

Proscenium width: 46'

Proscenium height: 32'

Grid height: 66' 9"

Stage depth: 29' 6" from the proscenium plasterline to the backwall. It's 39' 4" to the lip of the pit.

Stage wall to wall: 61' 10"

Wing space stage left: 18' 1"

Wing space stage right: 4' 6"

Lifts: Peter Clark screw jack type, one for the pit and one for the organ. They are still operational. There was no horn lift nor any stage lifts.

Orchestra Pit: It's 40' 9" wide with a front to back dimension of 2'6" at the sides and 9' 9" at the center.

Rigging: It was originally a Peter Clark counterweight system with the lockrail stage left. It was all rebuilt during the Ace renovations of 2013-2014. The T-track system originally had 50 linesets, including 5 electrics. The count is now 23. There is no pinrail.

Arbor capacity: 1000 lbs.

Dimmerboard: The 1927 Frank Adam Major 10 scene Pre-Selective type is still in place downstage left. In the basement clapper room, the stage half the board has been removed.

Company switches: 400A 3 phase on the upstage left backwall, 400 A upstage right on the backwall on a bridge, 100A three phase downstage left on an isolation transformer.

Followspots: 2 Lycian Zot 12 HP

House mix position: In front of the downstairs booth. It's 56' to the front of the stage. The house console is a Midas Pro 2. Speakers are 16 D&B Q1 (4 per side on the floor, 4 in the air) used with a stereo mix. Subs are 8 D&B B2. Front fill uses 4 D&B Y10P speakers.

Loading: Upstage right. The stage is several feel lower than the alley so a ramp was always required. A new lift at the loading door was added during the Ace renovations. Unfortunately, it was designed mostly as a service elevator for the hotel so loading in a show is actually more difficult than before. And the lift area plus a small green room have consumed almost all of what was already minimal wingspace stage right.

Dressing rooms: A stage left stack plus the basement originally. The ones on the 2nd and 3rd floors stage left are now kitchen areas for the restaurant.

Basement support areas: Many areas once dressing rooms, shop space and other support facilities for the theatre are now a warren of rooms for the hotel operation.

Pipe Organ: Removed in 1955.

The main floor post-renovation. Thanks to The Theatre at Ace Hotel for the plan. And also to Mike Hume for putting it on his Historic Theatre Photography page about the building. The shaded areas are all spaces used by the Ace Hotel operation.

The stage before the Ace renovations:

Onstage peeking out into the auditorium in 1957. It's a shot from Alexander Mackendrick's "Sweet Smell of Success" (United Artists, 1957). That's Burt Lancaster onstage with his back to the camera. In the upper right you can see a bit of the curved TODD-AO drapery track out in front of the proscenium. Obviously the screen has been taken down as we're playing this scene onstage and looking out toward the glorious auditorium. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for more UA shots from the film.

The Major Pre-Selective dimmerboard. We're looking offstage left. Those two sets of buttons on this end with the brass plates are the controls for the organ and orchestra pit lifts. Photo: Pat Lile - Coldwell Banker Pasadena - 2009. Thanks to Pat for all her fine photos of the building. She's the broker who sold the building to Ace and its partners.

This style of board was manufactured by Frank Adam Electric Co., St. Louis, Missouri. For more on Frank Adam equipment see Robert Foreman's Vintage Theatre Catalogs article that includes a 1952 catalog as well as other information about the company. The Warner Hollywood also has a Frank Adam board.

Another view of the board. In the foreground, we see the red dimmer circuits. It was a 3 color setup for both house and stage. Note that the upper row is white while, barely visible, blue circuits are on the bottom. Photo: Pat Lile - Coldwell Banker Pasadena - 2009

The index light above the lockrail. It was a Peter Clark rigging installation. Photo: Pat Lile - Coldwell Banker Pasadena - 2009.

Pre-renovation: the apron and the footlights. Pat notes that the stage was painted black and red during the theatre's Mexican film days. It was stripped down and refinished by the church. The pit lift and the organ lift still function. The organ itself was removed in 1955. Photo: Pat Lile - Coldwell Banker Pasadena - 2009

During the renovation:

A look across toward stage right when construction was underway and all power in the theatre was off except for in the construction offices located on the stage. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2012

A gloomy look up toward the grid before the stage got stripped. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2012

Note that the grid decking is running parallel to the proscenium instead of in the normal orientation. Without purlins between the loftwells supporting the grid decking, the capacity of the grid to support heavy loads at locations other than near the loftwells was substantially reduced. And, of course, with the decking in this direction it's difficult to set sheaves for spot lines.

Looking downstage along the lockrail. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

Getting rebuilt: the stripped down counterweight system T-wall stage left. The main T-wall originally provided for 50 linesets, including 5 electrics. The stairs at the left head up to the former dressing rooms. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Downstage left before reopening. Here it's six weeks until showtime with the most of the counterweight system except the T-wall (at left) stripped out and getting refurbished. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

The grand master wheel and the three color masters (red, white, blue) with house at left and stage at right. Each of the master handles has a lever (best seen on the blue stage master lower right) that allows that bank of dimmers to be going up, down, or be disengaged when the master wheel is rotated.

The ten three-position switches above the grand master wheel allow the selection of each of the 10 scenes for each dimmer to be off, on individual manual control, or controlled by a master switch. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

A dimmer detail on the Major pre-selective switchboard. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

In the middle we have the oval dimmer handles for three of the stage dimmers on the white row of circuits. Each handle could, depending on the size of the load, be linked to more than one resistance dimmer plate. The dimmer is wired in the neutral side of the circuit.

Above each dimmer there is the three-position switch (same color) to select the circuit to be independently on, off, or switched by the appropriate color master. The switching activates contactors on the clapper board in the basement, switching the hot side of each circuit.

Above those we see the 10 little switches to "pre-select" a particular dimmer as being on or off when the similarly numbered scene master was activated. Of course on these "10 Scene" boards you couldn't really fade from one previously set of palette of intensity levels to another. You could preset, though, which dimmers would be on or off for a particular cue. And which groups were going up and which were going down.

Above the 10 scene switches is a jeweled indicator light to show whether the particular dimmer is on or off.

The view onstage along the board. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Behind the Major dimmer board. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

At right are the resistance dimmer plates. At the left is a magazine with plug fuses for the individual circuits. In the basement below this is the clapper room. All the various switching combinations on the front of the board switch relays on or off to control power to the different groups of circuits.

The clappers (relays) have cartridge fuses alongside and are in the hot side of the circuit. One relay could energize a single branch circuit -- or a whole bunch. If it powered more than one or two, generally there would be plug fuses for those individual circuits in the magazine behind the dimmerboard. The dimmers are in the neutral side of the circuit.

The view six weeks before before reopening. At the upper right note the movie screen flown downstage. The stairs up left go to the dressing room stack. Much of that area has been repurposed for hotel and restaurant support areas. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Upstage left six weeks before reopening. On the right is the stripped down T-wall. The lighted doorway on the right leads to the stair landing to go up to what had been dressing rooms (now kitchen areas) or down to the basement. On the wall: a new company switch. photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

What's all the grey stuff? Well, during the Ace renovations a lift was put in back near the loading door -- mostly to get hotel supplies to the basement. And then they walled off a corridor in front of it. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Wingspace? Who needs wingspace? See that little door on the right? That's street level. You can easily bring all your big set pieces through there, can't you? If you go through the double doors and take a left, there's a star dressing room in the former prop room below the organ chamber.

The lift behind the gray wall stage right. That's the loading door out to the alley at the center of the photo. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Below the lift platform: a view down to the basement. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Post-renovation:

A look across the front of the stage with the pit and organ lifts part way down. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - April 2014. Keep up with Hunter's explorations: on Facebook | HunterKerhart.com | on Flickr

A view from house left. Photo: Cap Equity Locations - August 2014. Thanks to Rebecca Reynoso, 323-375-4192, for the photos. Cap Equity brokers deals between property owners and those looking for filming locations or other special uses. Their United Artists Theatre page has 82 recent photos.

A stunning view across the stage during a performance by Lykke Li. The photo by Oliver Walker for Goldenvoice once appeared on the Goldenvoice Facebook page.

A better view off right. Note the lack of wing space stage right due to new construction. Photo: Cap Equity Locations - August 2014

Across the empty stage. Photo: Cap Equity Locations - August 2014

The rebuilt counterweight system. Only 23 lines. Photo: Cap Equity Locations - August 2014

A busy time stage right with stagehands and Bud Coffey (at right), production manager for the L.A. Conservancy "Last Remaining Seats" series. Thanks to Mike Hume for his June 2018 photo taken before the screening of "In the Heat of the Night." Visit his Historic Theatre Photography site for tech info and many fine photos of the theatres he's explored in Los Angeles and elsewhere. And don't miss his page on the Theatre at Ace Hotel.

The prompt area downstage right. Not much use of the dimmerboard these days. They should have pulled it out. Photo: Mike Hume - 2018. Thanks, Mike!

A look upward. Photo: Mike Hume - 2018

Another view toward the rebuilt Peter Clark system. Thanks to Bozzy Karasu for his 2019 photo on the Archiving Technical Theatre History Facebook page.

Looking offstage along the house light end of the board. The house master levers are on the right. Photo: Bozzy Karasu - Archiving Technical Theatre History Facebook page - 2019

A detail of the 10 switches used to set a particular circuit for the presets, in this case it's the white organ grille. Photo: Bozzy Karasu - Archiving Technical Theatre History Facebook page - 2019

Another detail of controls for several house light circuits. Photo: Bozzy Karasu - Archiving Technical Theatre History Facebook page - 2019. Thanks, Bozzy!

Setting up the three stage channels and subs for a 2019 film screening. Thanks to Henry Miranda for his photo, added as a comment to a post on the Motion Picture Technology Facebook page.

The stage left organ chambers:

Looking in at the lower level. You get into the chambers on this side through a door in what had been a 2nd floor dressing room -- now a kitchen area. Step in too far and you'd fall into a pit. You take a few steps down and then climb up another ladder to get to the lower chamber. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Looking up from "the pit." The door at the right gets you into the upper chamber. And there's a ladder continuing on up for attic access. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

The view down into "the pit" from the upper level. The vertical black array upper center are conduits from house light circuits going down to the dimmerboard below. The tube upper center is the organ wind line. The gentleman? Hunter Kerhart, architectural photographer extraordinaire. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

The back of the grille in the upper chamber stage left. Note the three color strip lights at the top. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

In the basement stage right:

Stage right looking toward the back wall. That's the new lift on the left. If you head to the backwall and take a right you're in a corridor heading across to stage left and stairs up onto stage. Behind us, under the auditorium is a warren of offices supporting the hotel operation. Also behind us, on our right, is a door for the organist to get on the organ lift. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

The lift down at basement level. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Exit stairs up to the alley. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Looking down the upstage corridor. Here on the corner it's the hotel security office. Down at the end of the corridor you can take the stairs up to stage level. Or take a right and go to areas under the hotel -- or all the way to the screening room and men's smoking lounge. See the other basement areas page for more photos. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Under the lifts as seen from stage right. The screw jack near us is the single one for the organ lift. Beyond, we see the the six-jack mechanism for the pit lift. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

The view up underneath the lifts. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

The organ lift mechanism on the stage right end of the pit. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

In the basement stage left:

Peeking into the clapper room. We're underneath the stage switchboard. The stage side of the clapper board (formerly at the right) has been removed for some of the new electrical installation. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

The clapper board. Half is gone -- this remaining section has relays for the house light section of the dimmerboard. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2014

Los Angeles Theatres

United Artists Theatre: stage and stage basement

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