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Palace Theatre: the office building

630 S. Broadway Los Angeles CA 90014 | map |

The Palace Theatre pages: history | vintage exterior views | recent exterior views | ticket lobby | lobbies and lounges | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | booth | backstage | basement support areas | office building

The office building entrance on the south end of the Broadway frontage. Here we see the entrance stripped down to the brick. All of the modernizations have been taken off and it awaits restoration work. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

See plans for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors of the office building on the Palace history page.


A 2004 view of the entrance by Tom Zimmerman that's in the California State Library collection. Thanks, Tom!



A Gary Leonard photo looking in at the west end of the elevator bank. The photo is one that appears as part of an extensive collection of photos of the building on Broadway Theatre Group's Palace Theatre website. See the gallery page to start your tour. This one appears in the site's office areas album. Thanks to the team at Broadway Theatre Group for the use of the photos.



A great look at the elevators. It's a Gary Leonard photo in the Palace Theatre website's office areas album.



The view through the office building lobby toward Broadway. Those are the elevators on the left. Behind us are doors leading out to the south exit passageway along the side of the theatre. Photo: Bill Counter - 2014



A peek out from the 2nd floor toward the marquee. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2015. Keep up with Hunter's latest explorations: HunterKerhart.com | on Flickr



The view down onto the marquee. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2016



Looking south along the length of the 2nd floor. Down beyond that stack of seats in the middle of the photo there's access via a firedoor (and then up a few steps) into the back of the 1st balcony. And also access to the stairs to the 2nd balcony. Straight ahead in the distant gloom is the office building lobby and elevators. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2015. Thanks, Hunter!



The 2nd floor looking north. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016 



An earlier 2nd floor north view. It's a Gary Leonard photo in the Palace Theatre website's office areas album.



The 2nd floor toward Broadway. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



Another 2nd floor view south. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016 



A 3rd floor view. It's a Gary Leonard photo in the Palace Theatre website's office areas album.



The 4th floor looking south. The newer ductwork is a diversion of some AC capacity into the theatre from a unit installed for this floor when developer Tom Gilmore was using it for offices. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



The 4th floor looking north. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



Looking toward Broadway through an office cubicle on the 4th floor. It's a Gary Leonard photo in the Palace Theatre website's office areas album.



The 5th floor of the office building. Note the sloped north and east facing windows at the far end of the space. It's been a popular film shoot location. Broadway is at the left of the photo. Thanks to Wendell Benedetti for his 2012 photo on the LAHTF Facebook page.



The vista across Broadway from a 5th floor window. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for her 2014 photo.



A Gary Leonard photo looking north on the 5th floor. The photo appears in the Palace Theatre website's loft album.



Thanks to Tom Zimmerman for this 2004 photo of the north end of the 5th floor. It's in the California State Library collection.



A Gary Leonard photo of the skylights on the north end the 5th floor. The photo appears in the Palace Theatre website's loft album.



The slanted windows on the north and east sides of the space. We're looking east. The doors get you out onto the fire escape north of the theatre. It's a Gary Leonard photo in the Palace Theatre website's loft album. A big thanks to the Broadway Theatre Group.



A corner view in 2011. Thanks to Broadway Theatre Group's then general manager Ed Baney for sharing his photo on Facebook.


The Palace office building in the movies: 


The 5th floor loft is seen as a New York apartment in Oliver Stone's "The Doors" (TriStar Pictures, 1991). The film stars Val Kilmer, Kathleen Quinlan, Meg Ryan and Kyle MacLachlan. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for several shots of the Orpheum from the film.
 


 
The setting for the apartment of Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore) is in the Palace's 5th floor loft space in Joel and Ethan Coen's "The Big Lebowski" (Polygram, 1998). The dude (Jeff Bridges) has come to visit. Yes, that's the Los Angeles vertical seen out the window. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for several more shots from the film.
 

We see lots of the Palace in "Whiplash" (Sony Classics, 2014). It's a film revolving around a music conservatory in New York starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. Here we're using the space as a practice room. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for eleven more Palace shots as well as five views of the Orpheum doubling for Carnegie Hall at the end of the film.

We see a lot of the Palace in Weird Al Yankovic's 2014 video "Tacky." We start on the 5th floor fire escape, move into the loft and down the elevator into the theatre. It's on You Tube.


Christian Bale and Brian Dennehy spend a lot of time inside and on the roof of the Palace Theatre in Terrence Malick's "Knight of Cups" (Broad Green Pictures, 2015). Here, in a location our filmmaker doesn't identify (Bales' brother's house?), we get a look at the 5th floor studio space.



A later shot on a lower floor from "Knight of Cups." We get many views of the father (Brian Dennehy) at work in an office here. In addition to many scenes in the Palace, the film also has brief views of the Los Angeles, Warner Downtown, State and Wiltern theatres. See the Historic L.A. Theatres In Movies post for more shots from the film.

The Palace Theatre pages: history | vintage exterior views | recent exterior views | ticket lobby | lobbies and lounges | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | booth | backstage | basement support areas | back to top - office building

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