The Arcade Theatre pages: history | vintage exterior views | recent exterior views | lobby areas | auditorium | stage | basement | office building |
The theatre opened in 1910 as the Pantages. The building offers six stories of office space above the theatre lobby and retail spaces. The upper floors have been unused for decades. From the store entrance
under the marquee, one can walk straight back into the auditorium, used for many years as a warehouse by the electronics firm that was in the lobby. The space to the right of the marquee was formerly the office building
entrance but was used for years by retail tenants.
2007 - An early morning view of the "triplets" -- the Arcade, Cameo and Roxie theatres. The three, plus the Arcade Building, are owned by the Hellen family's Downtown Management Co. See the Roxie and Cameo pages on this site for information about those theatres. Photo: Bill Counter
2007 - A closer view. Photo: Bill Counter
2007 - A closer view. Photo: Bill Counter
2007 - A look across the neon to the lettering on the facade that gives away the theatre's original name, the Pantages. Photo: Bill Counter
c.2010 - Another photo by Martin of You Are Here fame. He lived in Germany and was mapping LA building by building during his visits.
2010 - The triplets plus a bit of the Arcade Building at the far right. On the far left at 5th St. it's the Jewelry Trades Building, another property owned by Joe Hellen's descendants. Also in the family is the Chester Williams Building, across the street on the NE corner. Photo: Bill Counter
2011 - The south storefront. Destined, once again, to be the entrance for the office building floors. When the space was used for retail you had to wiggle behind a jewelry counter to get to the stairs or elevator. A separate staircase, located on the left in the front of the space, goes to the basement. Photo: Bill Counter
2012 - The north side of the upper floors of the building. Check out the great windows on the 6th floor. Photo: Bill Counter
c.2012 - A cornice view. Thanks to the Hellen family's Downtown Management Co. for
the photo. It's one that had appeared on their now-vanished Downtown Filming site.
2012 - The south end of the cornice. Photo: Bill Counter
2012 - The north storefront. At one time this space was a restaurant. Photo: Bill Counter
2012 - The north storefront. At one time this space was a restaurant. Photo: Bill Counter
2014 - At the time, the north storefront had just been renovated. Photo: Hunter Kerhart. Keep up with Hunter's recent explorations: HunterKerhart.com | on Flickr
2014 - On the sidewalk looking past the north storefront. Photo: Hunter Kerhart.
2014 - A drone's-eye view of the top of the building from Ian Wood's "Downtown Los Angeles" on Vimeo. That's a sliver of the Cameo's roof and the Roxie roof and stagehouse over on the left. Ian spent several months shooting downtown theatres and other historic buildings from a drone that resembled "a mutant chicken." It's four minutes and forty five seconds of wonder that's not to be missed.
2016 - A view of the theatres from a fire escape across the street. Thanks to Hunter Kerhart for his photo, one originally appearing on the LAHTF Facebook page. The stuff in the street is preparation for a "Night On Broadway." Thanks, Hunter!
2016 - Another fire escape view. Photo: Bill Counter
2016 - A closer look at the marquee and terrazzo. Photo: Bill Counter
2017 - Checking out the marquee, a mid-30s installation. Thanks to Matt Lambros for his photo. See his After the Final Curtain post about the Arcade for more 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.
2018 - A view north. Photo: Bill Counter
2016 - A closer look at the marquee and terrazzo. Photo: Bill Counter
2017 - Checking out the marquee, a mid-30s installation. Thanks to Matt Lambros for his photo. See his After the Final Curtain post about the Arcade for more 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.
2018 - A view north. Photo: Bill Counter
2018 - Patiently awaiting a rebirth. All three theatre buildings got re-roofed in 2018. Photo: Bill Counter
2018 - The north end of the cornice. Photo: Bill Counter
2018 - A closer look at the lettering on the second floor. The damage to the letters (and other stamped metal trim on the facade) isn't anything recent. There had been problems for at least 50 years. Photo: Bill Counter
2018 - The 1935 vintage terrazzo. Photo: Bill Counter
September
2018 - The last days as an electronics store. The storefront on the right had been vacated earlier. Photo: Bill Counter
October 2018 - The building moved one step closer to its redevelopment when the tenant that had been using the lobby for retail and the auditorium for storage (for over a decade) moved out. Joe Hellen, the building's owner, applied for permits earlier in 2018 to renovate the office building portion of the structure. Photo: Bill Counter
Until they cut an opening in the back wall of the stagehouse in early 2019, the 5' wide passages on either side of the building were the only means of getting onstage other than through the auditorium. Until 1923 the theatre had a loading door onto Mercantile Place, now the site of the Arcade Building. All patron exiting from the theatre was onto Broadway -- the stagehouse is boxed in by the Cameo to the left and the Arcade Building (1923-24) to the right. Both the Cameo and Roxie theatres to the north have always had exits into the back alley.
October 2019 - CicLAvia on Broadway. Note the banner for CalAsia, the construction firm working on the rehab of the office building space. Photo: Bill Counter
October 2018 - The building moved one step closer to its redevelopment when the tenant that had been using the lobby for retail and the auditorium for storage (for over a decade) moved out. Joe Hellen, the building's owner, applied for permits earlier in 2018 to renovate the office building portion of the structure. Photo: Bill Counter
Until they cut an opening in the back wall of the stagehouse in early 2019, the 5' wide passages on either side of the building were the only means of getting onstage other than through the auditorium. Until 1923 the theatre had a loading door onto Mercantile Place, now the site of the Arcade Building. All patron exiting from the theatre was onto Broadway -- the stagehouse is boxed in by the Cameo to the left and the Arcade Building (1923-24) to the right. Both the Cameo and Roxie theatres to the north have always had exits into the back alley.
October 2019 - CicLAvia on Broadway. Note the banner for CalAsia, the construction firm working on the rehab of the office building space. Photo: Bill Counter
February 2020 - Work was continuing on the office portion of the building to rehab it for creative office space. Until a tenant for it is found, don't expect any work in the theatre. Design work was by Kaplan Chen Kaplan Architects with Kaptive Construction and Preservation doing the facade restoration work. Photo: Bill Counter
February 2020 - A cleaned up eagle and column capitol at the 2nd floor level. Photo: Bill Counter
February 2020 - A closer look at the capitol. Photo: Bill Counter
February 2020 - The building unveiled after restoration work and a new paint job. Photo: Bill Counter
February 2020 - The new beige marquee treatment. Along the way, an "A" was knocked off above the north readerboard. Photo: Bill Counter
February 2020 - A closer look at the grille above the office building entrance. It's original. See a detail from a 1913 G. Haven Bishop photo in the Huntington Library collection where we can look through the matching grille at the theatre entrance into the ticket lobby. That one also survives. See a Hillsman Wright photo showing it from inside the lobby in 2020.
February 2020 - A closer look at an eagle and column capital. Photo: Bill Counter
February 2020 - The Pantages letters -- looking better than they have in 50 years. Photo: Bill Counter
May 2021 - A view south across the front of the 'rcade. Thanks to Yasmin Elming for sharing her photo.
October 2022 - Another CicLAvia event on Broadway. Photo: Bill Counter
In the north exit passageway:
No, it's not snowing -- those are flower petals. The photo was taken during a rehearsal for an art installation called "Petal Drop." The photo by Carolina A. Miranda appeared her with February 4, 2016 article "The anonymous artists...now plan to rain flower petals on downtown L.A." The Cameo is on the left, the Arcade Theatre on the right. Straight ahead is a door onto the Arcade stage. A main floor exit from the theatre is seen between the first two observers.
The south exit passageway:
A peek at the south fire escape. It was there in 1910 for the balcony exits. A later retrofit added fire escape access from the office building floors as well. That's the Arcade Building on the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A closer look into the slot. To the left of the red sign, note the hole in the building below the 2nd floor cornice, another area where the stamped metal detailing had rusted away. For years the sign advertised a dentist's office that occupied the second floor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
In the south exit passageway looking toward the stagehouse. The stairs in the distance are from the front balcony exit house right. The stairs at the right are coming down from the upper floors of the the office building and the upper balcony exit. The theatre building is to the left, the Arcade Building at the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Up a level higher looking toward the stagehouse. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
A view in closer to the stagehouse. One of the main floor exits is at the left. Photo: Joël Huxtable - 2011
A look up along the southernmost 5' of the stagehouse. At the platform mid-photo there's a door leading into the stagehouse -- but be careful -- there's no flyfloor beyond as it got removed sometime in the past. It's difficult to see in this view, but there's a ladder up to the platform from the balcony level of the fire escape. At the top of the photo is a second door going onto the grid. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The end of the passage with a door leading onto stage left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
Yes, this door (and a similar one in the north passageway) have been the loading doors since 1923. Or, you could load in through the auditorium. Before the Arcade Building went up there was a loading door in the stage left wall leading into Mercantile Place.
Looking upward but back toward Broadway with the theatre on the right. Photo: Joël Huxtable - 2011. Thanks, Joël!
Around the back:
The rear of the (left to right) Arcade, Cameo and Roxie theatres. The ramp you see at the left is a new-ish entrance to the parking garage in the basement of the Arcade Building. Photo: Bill Counter - 2007
The upper floors of the office building as viewed from behind the theatre. That's a bit of the Cameo on the lower right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A new loading door cut into the back wall of the stagehouse. Hey, they can now load a show in from Spring St. It's that plywood construction center stage trying to hide behind the truck. The brick building on the right is the Cameo Theatre. The Cameo and Roxie always had loading and exit provisions out the back. But not the Arcade. Photo: Bill Counter - April 2019
On the roof:
On the roof of the Cameo looking toward Broadway. On the left it's the north side of the Arcade Theatre building. The office building has fairly small floors -- less than 2,500 s.f. It's just over the lobby area and does not wrap back along the sides of the theatre itself due to the constraints of the 60' wide lot. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The remains of the original exhaust fan for the theatre. The wood support has rotted but the ductwork heading to the attic is fine. The suspicion is that this installation was a retrofit. The entire attic originally acted as an exhaust plenum. Supply air came up through mushrooms under the seats. Photo: Bill Counter - 2011
The newer ductwork you see is from a 70s (?) HVAC system. The units themselves are on the roof off to the left. Roof access is through the 3rd floor windows of the office building, seen off to the right. The hatch to get down into the attic above the auditorium is hiding behind the snorkle. The brick/concrete structure is the Arcade Building.
The Arcade Theatre pages: history | vintage exterior views | back to top - recent exterior views | lobby areas | auditorium | stage | basement | office building |
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