Los Angeles Theatres: Mayan Theatre: basement

The downstage right stairs to the basement. You can get to these from either onstage or out in the exit passageway on the north side of the building. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

A basement detail from a section drawing in the Morgan, Walls & Clements Archive in the Huntington Library collection. You can click on this for a larger view. Also see the full plan. On the Huntington site it's their drawing #9286. Note the air handling plenum situated below the trap room, pit, musicians' room and other basement areas. The area under the lobby and rear of the auditorium is unexcavated.

Thanks to Mike Hume for locating plans for the project in the Huntington's collection. What they have for the Mayan starts with drawing #9275 and runs through drawing #9329. Also see poster case details, drawing #9938 and marquee reinforcements, drawing #9968. Visit the Index to the MW&C Drawings that Mike has compiled for his Historic Theatre Photography site. There's also a 22 page index by Mike Callahan on Internet Archive.

The bar on the upstage wall of the trap room. The area behind the bar and on either side are dressing rooms. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

A half elevation of the trap room's upstage wall from the plans in the Huntington Library collection. In this, from drawing #9310, we get the stage right half with two and a half of the five dressing room doors shown. Also on the drawing are some stage framing details.

In the trap room looking toward stage right. The left wall is at the proscenium line. Several small dressing rooms as well as the stairs up to the stage are straight ahead. Musicians rooms, pit access, and yet more dressing rooms are farther off to the left, under the auditorium. The trap room ceiling is now finished but originally the entire stage area was trappable.

Thanks to Mike Hume for his 2016 photo. Head to his first Mayan view on Flickr and you can page ahead to see all 30 photos he took during the July 2016 LAHTF "all-about" tour. Visit Mike's Historic Theatre Photography site for tech data and hundreds of terrific photos of the theatres he's explored. And don't miss his page on the Mayan.

An elevation of one of the two doors on the trap room's west side going through the proscenium wall. It's from drawing #9310 on the Huntington's site.

A plan view of the trap room from drawing #9310. The top half is a floorplan of the stage right end. The proscenium wall is on the left. The doorway through it at the top leads to musicians' rooms and chorus rooms under the front of the auditorium. The center door at the top goes to the stairs. The others on the top and down the right go to dressing rooms. The stage left layout is identical. The lower half of the drawing gives us a ceiling plan.

A closer look toward the stage right end of the trap room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

An elevation of the stage left wall, similar to the opposite end seen in the photo above. It's another detail from from drawing #9310. The center door with the exit sign leads to the stairs up to the stage.

A fan room stage left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

Storage in the fan area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

The doorway going downstage at the stage left end of the trap room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

Checking out the men's room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

A mechanical room stage left. The sign is directing you to a list of early shows at the theatre written on the wall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

The list of early Mayan productions on the sump pump room wall. The opening attraction in 1927 was the Gershwin musical "Oh, Kay!" starring Elsie Janis. As we can see here, it got an 8 week run. Thanks to Don Solosan of the LAHTF for his 2009 photo.

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 few more shows. "Marianne," #15 on the list, was a sound film starring Marion Davies. Production #23 on the list was Sid Grauman's presentation of the west coast company of the Kaufman & Hart Hollywood satire "Once in a Lifetime." Photo: Don Solosan - LAHTF- 2009

A former dressing room turned into a toilet room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

A chorus dressing room underneath the front of the auditorium. The theatre originally had a star dressing room on stage level stage left and several rooms above that. Everything else was in the basement. The basement dressing room space encompassed the area under the stage, of course, but also forward under the pit and a portion of the auditorium as well. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

A look along the counter in the chorus room. Thanks to James Cottle Photography for the 2016 photo. You can see the rest of his 12 photo Mayan Theatre set on the LAHTF Facebook page.