Opened: December 8, 1903 as the Broadway Theatre. It was a vaudeville theatre project of San Francisco lawyer Alfred Morgenstern that, from the beginning, was also using films to fill out the bills. The vaudeville was booked by David and Sid Grauman, also based in San Francisco.
It's in the 1904 and 1905 city directories. The theatre was on the east side of Broadway near the corner of 6th in the north end of the same building as Silverwood's department store. This somewhat wrinkled, but otherwise terrific, c.1904 look at the theatre was a find on eBay by Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality. It's on his Noirish post #16475.
Seating: 600 initially
An article appearing in the December 6 edition of the L.A. Times. When they noted it was "Another Theater On South Broadway" there weren't many at this point. Blanchard Hall had opened in 1899 at 233 S. Broadway, the Unique Theatre was at 629 S. Broadway and the Mason Theatre had opened in June 1903 at 127 S. Broadway.
By March 1906 this theatre had become Tally's New Broadway and the theatre prospered. It gets a listing in The Billboard for 1906 through 1909 as running 3 shows daily. It's listed in the 1907-1908 Henry's Theatrical Guide, a publication on Google Books. The 1909 city directory has listings for both Tally's New Broadway and Tally's Film Exchange.
Tally had had earlier exhibition adventures on Spring and Main but in an article in the July 15, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World he says that, for him, the real beginning was on Broadway. "It was here, Mr. Tally says, that the first craze on motion pictures started and people used to be lined up for a block or more to get into his theater. The seating capacity of this house was 500 and considered very large. Admission charged was ten cents." The issue is on Google Books.
This operation shouldn't be confused with the later Tally's Broadway at 833 S. Broadway which opened May 2, 1910. Head down to the bottom of the page about that theatre for a timeline of Tally's other exhibition adventures.
A detail of plate 002 of the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey map from Historic Map Works showing the 500 blocks of Broadway and Spring. The New Broadway Theatre is there on the NE corner of 6th & Broadway. Actually, it was just in the north half of the space shown -- Silverwood's had the corner storefront. Eventually they took the whole thing. The Arcade Building is now on the site of Mercantile Place. What's indicated to the north of it as the Delaware Hotel is now the Pantages/Arcade Theatre, a house that opened in September 1910.
Closing: The theatre's last day of operation was probably May 1, 1910, the day before Tally's new house at 833 S. Broadway opened. Cinema Treasures researcher Joe Vogel found a May 4, 1910 Los Angeles Herald article discussing the closure that would lead you to believe May 2 was the last day. The page can be viewed on the Library of Congress website. Silverwood's wasted no time expanding into the space.
Status: The building the theatre was in has been demolished. The replacement Silverwood's building currently on the site dates from 1921.
c.1908 - Looking north from just above 6th. That's Mercantile Place heading off to the right, a shopping street that connected Broadway and Spring. It was demolished in 1923 for construction of the Arcade Building. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for sharing the card from her collection.
c.1908 - A detail from the California Historical Society photo.
c.1910 - Looking south on Broadway with the theatre on the left. Note the more elaborate signage on top. It appears Tally just moved that array down to his new building at 833 S. Broadway when it opened in May 1910. The large white building is the Walter Story Building, opened in 1909. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for sharing this postcard from her collection.
1910 - A detail from the "Roosevelt in Africa" photo.
May 1910 - "A New Show" coming to the theatre. But Mr. Silverwood meant clothing, not movies. It's a photo that appeared with an article about Silverwood's expansion in the May 4, 1910 Los Angeles Herald. The page can be viewed on the Library of Congress website. Thanks to Joe Vogel for finding the article.
c.1913 - Looking down on Silverwood's, in the lower left, after they had booted out the theatre and occupied the whole building. That's 6th St. headed east up the center of the photo. Thanks to Joe Vogel for finding the photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
2018 - The NE corner of 6th and Broadway. This new Silverwood's building went up in 1921. Photo: Bill Counter
2018 - A closer look at the portion of the block where the New Broadway once was. To the left is the Elden Hotel, a survivor from the 1890s. A slice of the Arcade building is on the far left. Photo: Bill Counter
Visit the Tally's Broadway page here on this Los Angeles Theatres site for more about Tally.
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