534 S. Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90013 | map |
The Arcade Theatre pages: history | vintage exterior views | recent exterior views | lobby areas | auditorium | stage | basement | office building |
A look toward the proscenium taken from drawing #3814 in the Morgan, Walls & Clements archives at the Huntington Library. The original drawing only showed half the proscenium. Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for flipping and merging it. Visit the site he curates about the Chinese: GraumansChinese.org. Also see an earlier proscenium treatment with less ornamentation. It's from drawing #3813.
Plans for the building at the Huntington start with drawing #3787. From there you can page forward through the set. The last for this project is drawing #3818. Thanks to Mike Hume for locating these. Visit the Index to the MW&C Drawings that he's been compiling for his Historic Theatre Photography site. There's also an index by Mike Callahan on Internet Archive.
Original seating: 956 total. 518 on the main floor, 366 in the balcony and 72 in the 12 boxes.
A section through the lobby and auditorium taken from drawing #3818. If you went up one flight of stairs from the main floor you'd be on the "mezzanine promenade" at the back of the house where you could look down onto the main floor. Click on any of these images for larger views. Or use the links to go to the Huntington's pages for high resolution images.
A wider section of the building, drawing #3810. Here we see an earlier design for the sounding board.
A 1st floor plan, drawing #3802. Also see a first floor seating layout. On the Huntington site it's drawing #3816.
A theatre mezzanine and office building 2nd floor plan, drawing #3803. Although this is dated 1909, someone has drawn in a fourth box, connecting to the front of the balcony. This was a later addition, not proposed until 1912. More details appear on some of the drawings below.
The stairs we see at the front of the mezzanine go up into the balcony. The stairs at the back of the mezzanine are exits down to the passages along the north and south sides of the building. The exit stairs appear again on the detail on the far right plus we get the stairs coming up from the house left side of the lobby.
A plan of the theatre's balcony, office building 3rd floor, and identical office building 4th floor, drawing #3804. Also see a balcony seating plan. On the Huntington site it's drawing #3817.
An early elevation of the boxes from drawing #3813.
The later, more elaborate box ornamentation scheme, drawing #3815.
This image from drawing #3798, dated March 1912, shows the proposed addition of a fourth proscenium box at balcony
level.
This ceiling plan from drawing #3809, dated November/December 1909, shows an earlier, unrealized, design for the sounding board.
A proscenium sketch incorporating the earlier sounding board design, from drawing #3809.
The auditorium in the 1940s. The theatre originally had a capacity of 956 but was down to 800 in later years. Note that the upper level of proscenium boxes had been removed but they hadn't yet punched holes in those areas for new HVAC ductwork. The doorways for access to the lower level of boxes are visible along the splay walls. Thanks to the Los Angeles Conservancy for sharing this photo from their archives.
An image of the sounding board mural extracted from the previous photo.
A view from the stage from the Los Angeles Conservancy archives. Both of these were originally obtained from the Theatre Historical Society.
Recent views on the main floor:
Looking toward the stage from the rear of the main floor in 2007. At the time, the auditorium was used for storage for the electronics store in the lobby. The floor still has its original slope. Photo: Bill Counter
The house left side of the main floor at the rear. Note the height of the balcony soffit. The mezzanine level lobby, the "mezzanine promenade," was open so patrons could look down on the rear of the main floor. It was later closed off. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The open mezzanine is a design feature that was used in many theatres, including the 1920 Pantages (later the Warner Downtown) at 7th & Hill. There certainly are lobby noise and auditorium acoustical problems to deal with. One interesting effect of the high balcony, though, is that live sound must have been extraordinarily good at the back of the house. There's still a bit of a curve evident right down near the top of the door, indicating that the railing was shaped like the balcony front, perhaps even with stud lighting like the balcony.
The rear of the main floor house right looking at the white exit door out into the 5' wide exit passage along the south side of the building. The wall at right dividing the house from the lobby is built on a seating riser. Originally the lobby was a bit smaller. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
A lovely view with the curtain closed taken in early 2020. Work was being done in the basement and the
lobby. Note the section of the pit wall that was removed to allow basement access. The project was
primarily one to upgrade the office building floors for creative
office occupancy after years of being vacant.
The photo is one used in
the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation report "L.A. Theatres at Risk 2021." It's available on YouTube. Thanks to LAHTF board member Mike Hume for making the photo available.
Looking onto the stage from the front of the main floor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
A view up into the stagehouse. That ladder upstage right will get you to the grid. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The house right side of the proscenium with the bottom of the asbestos showing. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
A c.2007 proscenium detail from the now-vanished website L.A. Time Machines.
A closer look at the proscenium plaster. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Part of the remains of the main floor box area house right. The doorways go to an entrance corridor at the rear of the boxes and the stairs to the upper level boxes. In the foreground note the raised concrete foundation that elevated the area above the rest of the main floor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Stairs up to the upper boxes, which were removed long ago. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Plaster infill on the upper box openings, areas that would have opened out into the box seating areas. We're looking back toward the balcony from the front box. The HVAC ducts here are supply air coming down from a rooftop unit. The original supply (heating only) was through floor mushrooms. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Looking back at the house left side of the balcony rail from the front of the house. Thanks to Kolby for his 2006 photo on Flickr. It's one of 44 views in his "Los Angeles Conservancy Broadway Tour" album.
A detail of the balcony front. Note the row of bulbs across the bottom. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Looking toward Broadway from onstage. At the rear of the main floor there was originally an open standee area as well as an open mezzanine promenade above. Thanks to William Cervera for his 2011 photo.
An undated view to the rear. Thanks to the Los Angeles Conservancy for sharing this photo from their archives. At the time this was taken there were still seats in the balcony.
A post-retail view toward the back of the house. The rubble was from demo of part of the wall at the front of the orchestra pit and creation of a new access path into the basement. At the time of the photo the office spaces fronting on Broadway were being rehabbed for creative office use. Thanks to Hillsman Wright for his February 2020 photo.
In the balcony:
A post-retail view toward the back of the house. The rubble was from demo of part of the wall at the front of the orchestra pit and creation of a new access path into the basement. At the time of the photo the office spaces fronting on Broadway were being rehabbed for creative office use. Thanks to Hillsman Wright for his February 2020 photo.
In the balcony:
A look toward the stage. The big brown void at the right of the proscenium was once filled with an ornate array of six proscenium boxes that extended out into the auditorium. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Another view of the proscenium and the sounding board. Below that HVAC duct in one of the partially closed upper box doorways is an exit from one of the main floor boxes. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Looking for the missing mural on the sounding board. At the extreme left there's part of the mid-house arch that divides the sounding board from the lattice and coffer style ceiling above the balcony. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Some of the plaster work where the mid-house arch meets the sidewall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
A bit of plaster ornament on the column of the house right side of the mid-house arch. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Looking back across the upper section of seats toward the booth. Thanks to Joe Hellen's Downtown Management Co. for the c.2010 photo. It's one that had appeared on their now-vanished site DowntownFilming.com.
Looking back across the upper section of seats toward the booth. Thanks to Joe Hellen's Downtown Management Co. for the c.2010 photo. It's one that had appeared on their now-vanished site DowntownFilming.com.
Plasterwork at the top of the lattice part of the ceiling. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Another ceiling plaster detail. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Plasterwork in the lattice portion of the ceiling. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The current version of the main chandelier. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
One of 4 similar balcony chandeliers. The frame may be original, but it looks mostly like a 40s re-do. In the distance is the main chandelier. That's the edge of the booth at right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The current version of the main chandelier. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
A stage view from the back of the balcony. Thanks to Downtown Management for the c.2010 photo.
The view down from the top. Thanks to Matt Lambros for this 2017 photo as well as the five others appearing here. See his After the Final Curtain
post about the Arcade for his photos along with a fine history of the
building. In addition to the blog, you might want to check in with Matt
on Facebook to read about his latest explorations, photography workshops and books.
A look down from a back corner. Photo: Matt Lambros - 2017
Another view of the sounding board. Photo: Matt Lambros - 2017
The wide angle view of the rear of the balcony. Photo: Matt Lambros - 2017
A detail of the house right wall. Note the newer HVAC grilles. In the original heating system, the lattice
allowed use of the attic as a plenum for exhaust. Also of interest between the two grilles is a hole that was once another
chandelier hanging point. Photo: Matt Lambros - 2017
The
house left side of the balcony. The balcony exits lead to fire escapes
going to the exit passages along each side of the auditorium. All the
exiting is toward Broadway. Photo: Matt Lambros - 2017
A post-retail view of the empty stage. To the left of the ramp note the new access into the basement, used during the rehab of the office building. Thanks to Hillsman Wright for his February 2020 photo.
A post-retail view of the empty stage. To the left of the ramp note the new access into the basement, used during the rehab of the office building. Thanks to Hillsman Wright for his February 2020 photo.
The projection booth:
A look back toward the booth. The current configuration is, of course, not original. Look at the way the booth front meets the ceiling plaster scheme -- it's obviously a later construction. It appears that when this one was built it didn't go all the way up and panels were later added on top. The original booth was much smaller. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The entrance door is on the right out of the frame. One first enters an electrical equipment room, then on into the booth itself. On the left end of the booth there's a half-height door as an emergency exit.
Plasterwork above the equipment room north of the booth. There's a hatch to get above the dropped ceiling to look at plaster and painted surfaces that used to be out in the auditorium before the present booth was built. For this photo and the one below, theatre explorer Daniel was up in the hatch, supported on the shoulders of William Cervera below.
Some painted detail up above the the hatch in the equipment room ceiling.
Plaster molding on the back wall up near the ceiling of what is now the equipment room north of the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The booth front wall. All the equipment is long gone. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
In the booth looking up. Usually you'd have a flat ceiling and just a duct up for lamp exhaust. Here we get this quite unusual shaftway to the roof. Perhaps this follows the outlines of the original booth. The black raceway at the left has switches to transfer arc lamps from rectifier to generator. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
In the attic:
The impressive concrete encased roof trusses. They're about 18-20' on center. Through the openings we're looking forward toward the proscenium firewall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Another view looking forward. The first truss you see is even with the mid-house arch at the front of the balcony -- note the plaster starting to slope downward under it. The second truss beyond is about midway out in the sounding board area. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Looking northwest from below below the roof access hatch. The hole in the truss looks toward the rear of the auditorium, house left is over toward the right. The flexible duct seen is supply air down from a rooftop HVAC unit. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
One way of getting on the theatre roof is out the windows of the 3rd floor of the office building. The access hatch down to the attic is over near the house right wall and about 65' back from the proscenium wall.
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