Los Angeles Theatres: Million Dollar Theatre: lobbies and lounges

The outer lobby:

Looking in from the entrance doors. The point where the ceiling drops down is where the entrance doors originally were. Everything this side of that was part of the vaulted open-air ticket lobby. The 40s vintage shallow dome at the top of the photo is part of the dropped ceiling hiding the vault above. The patterned ceiling tile is from the 90s. See the page on the ticket lobbies for more information.

Thanks to Wendell Benedetti for his 2017 photo, one appearing on the LAHTF Facebook page. The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation is actively involved in the study and preservation of the vintage theatres in the Los Angeles area. The group frequently supports events and offers tours of the buildings. www.lahtf.org | group Facebook page | official FB page

A peek in from the ticket lobby at the carpet being installed by short-lived tenant CoBird prior to the January 2018 "Night on Broadway" event. Thanks to Hunter Kerhart for his photo. Keep up with his recent explorations: on Facebook | HunterKerhart.com | on Flickr

The new lobby carpet. Photo: Hunter Kerhart - 2018

The south wall. The photos are of Mexican film and singing stars. From the left it's Juan Gabriel, Luis Aguilar, Cantinflas and Demetrio Gonzales. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

Looking toward the snackbar. Stairs left and right lead up to the balcony. Off to the left beyond the stairs are the secret entrance to the corridor behind the south lobby wall (to a ticket window) and the doorway to the stairs down to the basement men's room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The north wall. Starting on the left it's Celia Cruz, Delores Del Rio, Maria Felix and Irma Serrano. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The inner lobby:

A c.1945 photo from the Ed Kelsey collection showing the exit doors to what, at the time, was a still an open-air ticket lobby beyond. The stairs are the house right stairs to the balcony. The doors were later removed and the lobby area expanded toward the street. In the upper left note that the decorative painting in this inner lobby area was done on the raw concrete.

The photo appeared in a now-vanished 31 item set that was with "Touring Broadway's First Movie Palace," Adrian Glick Kudler's 2013 Curbed L.A. story about an LAHTF "all-about" tour of the building.

A 2021 view of part of the decorative painting now hiding above a 40s vintage dropped ceiling in the middle of the inner lobby area. This view and the ones below are part of a nine photo set by Michelle Gerdes that are featured in a Facebook post. The photos, all more or less looking toward Broadway, were taken from access holes in the auditorium above the exit signs at the head of the left center and right center aisles, on either side of the snack bar.

An inner lobby ceiling detail. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2021

Another now-concealed inner lobby ceiling detail. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2021

For additional photos pay a visit to Michelle's 340 photo Million Dollar Theatre album on Flickr. Many more views of this area can be seen toward the bottom of page two. Thanks, Michelle!

The house left end of the inner lobby. The lit doorway on the left heads to the men's room in the basement. Straight ahead is the exit to the passage between the theatre and the Grand Central Market. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

Down the stairs to the men's room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

Looking into the men's toilet area in the basement. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

The men's sink and toilet area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

In the formerly glamorous basement men's lounge looking up the stairs. Just to the left of the doorway, there's a fire door that (if one could open it from this side) gets you into the building basement area underneath the lobby. If you continue far enough through the labyrinth, you end up either stage right or stage left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

Looking out from the house left side of the inner lobby. The doorway on the right leads down to the men's room. Beyond is the door to the passage behind the furred-out south lobby wall leading to the ticket window that's the remains of the theatre's original boxoffice. See the page about the ticket lobbies for photos inside the wall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

The snackbar and a peek down the right center aisle. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The house right end of the inner lobby. The exit doors lead onto 3rd St. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

Looking back out toward the street. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The house right stairs to the balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

A closer look at the photos on the landing. The photo on the left is Ana Bertha Lepe. On the right it's Maria Elena Velasco, known for playing a character named India Maria. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The house left stairs. Note the doorway on the left that leads to a suite of management offices. The photos are of Jorge Mistral and Maria Antonietta Pons. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The upstairs offices:

Looking in from the door that's on the landing of the house left stairs. In the room on the left there's access to the area above the lobby's dropped ceiling. Out of the frame to the right is the conference room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

Theatre explorer Michelle Gerdes peeking in to see hidden murals above the lobby's 40s vintage ceiling. Behind that "mother's room" sign is a door to get out into that space or on top of the marquee. The recess on the right with added book shelves once was an opening to one of the two balconies looking out into the ticket lobby in the south retail spaces. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

In the conference room looking south. The manager's office is through the doorway to the left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

Looking west in the conference room. The door to the left is a storage closet. Behind the stub wall are the stairs down to the exit passage along the south side of the theatre. The metal door in the recess beyond goes to a vault. The curved wall on the right is the back side of the curving wall on the landing of the stairs up to the balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The exit stairs from the office suite down to the south exit passageway. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

In the manager's office, presumably an area originally intended to be part of the mezzanine for the retail spaces in the two south bays of the building. The window looks out into the narrow exit passage between the theatre and Grand Central Market. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The faux-brick wall treatment covers what was an open arch leading to a little balcony. In early 1919 the un-rented south bays became an open-air ticket lobby and this became Sid Grauman's office where he could look down from the balcony. Although this area remained part of the theatre space, the main floor of the two south bays was converted to retail use around 1926. See the page on the ticket lobbies for more details.

The balcony lobby:

A drawing of the center of the balcony lobby. The vomitory to the center of the lower crossaisle is on the left. The stairs at the center of the image head to the house right end of the upper crossaisle. Thanks to theatre historian Ed Kelsey for sharing the photo from his collection. It appeared in the September 1919 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The caption read: "Even in the Halls Leading to the Upper Balconies the Designers of the Theater Spared Nothing to Obtain Unusual and Harmonious Effects. An Example of What was Accomplished is Shown Above."

A drawing of the decorative treatment originally appearing in the balcony lobby dome. Much of this survived until painted over in white by a church tenant. The drawing appeared in an article by Jo Neely in The Graphic entitled "A Dream Come True." It was reprinted in the May 1918 issue of Architect and Engineer of California. It's on Internet Archive.

"Adam," one of the figures in the balcony lobby dome. The drawing appeared in the May 1918 issue of Architect and Engineer of California.

"Cupid," another figure from the dome. The drawing appeared in the May 1918 issue of Architect and Engineer of California.

The balcony lobby from house right. The ladies' room is straight ahead. The center vomitory, going out to the lower level of the balcony, is around the corner to the right. The gated arch at the far right leads into a snackbar area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

Note the yellowish wall at the left. An alcove can be seen there in the 1919 Popular Mechanics illustration where one could look down onto the stairs. Although the arch was covered when a shear wall was added in front of it in the 1990s, the railing is still visible from the stair side.

Peeking into the ladies' lounge. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

The balcony ladies' toilet and sink area. Yes, this is currently the only ladies' room at the Million Dollar. Four stalls and a tiny lounge area. Was there more to it in 1918? Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

Another look at the ladies toilet and sink area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

At the center of the balcony lobby looking toward house right. Thanks to Sandi Hemmerlein for the photo. It's from her Avoiding Regret Million Dollar Theatre photo essay that details her adventures at the 2013 LAHTF "all-about" tour of the building.

The lit arch at left is the balcony snackbar area. The stairs at right get you down to the lobby. Straight ahead after the landing, one takes a left for stairs to the house right side of the balcony's upper crossaisle.

The snackbar just north of the center vomitory. Presumably this was a lounge area in 1918. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013

A drawing by William Lee Woollett and Paul Mays for a mural. It appeared with an article by Jo Neely in The Graphic entitled "A Dream Come True," reprinted in the May 1918 issue of Architect and Engineer of California. It's on Internet Archive. Steve Gerdes notes that the most likely location for this mural is in the arch visible as one heads down the house right stairs to the main lobby.

The arched surface above the stairs is the mural's likely location. The opening behind the railing on the right, now blocked by a shear wall, was once open to the balcony level lobby. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

The house right stairs continuing on up to the upper crossaisle in the balcony. That window looks out onto 3rd St. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

Under the lobby's center dome looking out toward the balcony. That open door (or the closed one opposite it) gets you into the booth. When you're out at the crossaisle, you're standing on top of the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

The view back in from the balcony. The lit doorway is the ladies room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

At the house left end of the balcony lobby. The mirror on the extreme left edge of the image hides what was originally an open arch looking down onto the back of the main floor seating area. It's a similar situation on house right, just beyond the snackbar area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

The window beyond the mirror looks into a display area (setup as a barber shop) that presumably was a lounge in 1918. If you take a sharp left at the chandelier, you're headed out to the lower section of the balcony. Continuing around beyond the stairs down to the main lobby there are the stairs to the house right side of the balcony's upper crossaisle. The ladies room is around the corner to the right just beyond the yellowish wall.

The barbershop display on the house left side of the balcony lobby. It has no connection to the theatre's history. The story is that it came out of the wax museum that used to be on the third floor of the Globe Theatre building. The ballast resistor room for the projection booth is directly behind this. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012

The stairs into the balcony at the house left end of the lobby. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

Heading down the house left stairs to the main lobby. The archway at the left behind the railing, once open to the balcony lobby, was closed off during 1990s seismic retrofit work. It's possible that the rectangular area in the upper right was once open to the ladies lounge beyond. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021

Los Angeles Theatres

Million Dollar Theatre: lobbies and lounges

No comments:

Post a Comment