Royal / Cecil Theatre

246 S. Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90012 | map |

Opening: It was running by 1907 as the Royal Theatre. The location was on the east side of the street between 2nd and 3rd in the southern bay of a building constructed in 1894. Directly to its north was the 1888 City Hall.  

 

Seating: 300

"Where To Go Tonight." The Royal was included in this September 1907 column of ads from the Los Angeles Record. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

The other advertisers: "The Original Penny Arcade" at 125 S. Main was a venue later known as the Happy Hour Theatre. "Automatic Vaudeville" at 434 S. Spring was evidently the theatre later known as the Edison. The Theatorium at 444 S. Main was just north of the location of the current Regent Theatre. The Scenic Theatre was, as the ad says, at 522 S. Spring. The business at 258 S. Main offering "all the latest songs and moving pictures, 1c" was Kingsley, Moles & Collins Co. They were mostly a printing and stationery firm and it appears that they added some peep show machines. 

In late 1908 under the management of Robert A. Brackett the theatre had a short fling with sound films using the Gaumont Chronophone process. It was a sound-on-disc system using pneumatic, rather than electrical, amplification. Brackett was also involved with another sync-sound venture opening in Los Angeles in 1908, the Chronophone Theatre at 423 S. Spring St., a venue later known as Horne's Big Show.

 

 

Thanks to Tony Pepper for sharing this 1908 photo from his collection. Note the signage for "The Brackett Show - Talking -Singing - Moving Pictures" and "Not a Photograph," meaning pictures that moved rather than lantern slides.

 

Brackett gets several mentions in "Los Angeles Before Hollywood" by Jan Olsson. The full book is available as a pdf from the National Library of Sweden. Both the Brackett venture on Broadway and the Chronophone on Spring are mentioned on page 129 of John Fullerton's "Screen Culture: History and Textuality." It's on Google Books. Fullerton says Brackett offered "reform" programming of better, de-sensationalized, films and instructional lectures. The Los Angeles Herald got behind the film-cleanup movement, offering free coupons to Brackett's shows.

Looking for a partner for the "Automatic Vaudeville Talking Picture Business." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this November 1908 ad. The Royal is listed in the 1908 and 1909 city directories.

 

 

Brackett left the Royal in 1909 when he lost his lease. Here he was trying to sell seats, projectors and other equipment. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the ad for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

 

He still was operating the Spring St. Chronophone venue after dropping the Royal. He also had a gig as the first manager of the new Clune's Theatre at 5th & Main, another attempt at a "high class" operation. It opened in May 1909. It's unknown who began operating the Royal after Brackett left. 

 

 

 

Other papers, in addition to the Herald, started offering coupons. Both the Royal and Brackett's former Spring St. venue, renamed Horne's Big Show, appear on this 1909 "Red Coupons" list from the Los Angeles Express. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it. Not to be outdone, Hearst's Examiner started offering coupons to the sleazier offerings at a number of regular nickelodeons. 

 

We get information on the size of the orchestra in this August 1910 L.A. Times help wanted ad. Just a pianist during the day, a violin added at night. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the ad.

Offering the theatre for sale in the Times in 1910. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the ad. 

In 1910 it was running as the Cecil Theatre. Arthur Hyman was running it later in 1910 and 1911. The 1910 city directory has listings for both the Royal Theatre and A.S. Hyman. In the 1911 directory there's again a listing for the Royal. See the College Theatre page for more on the Hyman circuit. 

The Royal was in the building between the Rindge Building and City Hall. It's a detail from plate 002 of the 1910 Baist Real Estate Survey from Historic Map Works. 

Closing: 1913 or earlier. Ken McIntyre reports that in 1913 246 S. Broadway got leased to the California Post Card Co.

Status: Demolished. The building the Royal was in came down for the construction of the Hosfield Building, still at 240-244 S. Broadway. It's a design of Robert Train and Robert Edmund Williams that dates from 1914.

A 1921 Baist map from Historic Map Works identifies the south storefront in the Hosfield as 246. A more recent address for it is 244 S. Broadway. The 1888 City Hall was once abutting the north side of the Hosfield and its predecessor. The Hosfield was leased at one point by the City as an annex to City Hall. 

 

c.1895 - The building with the tower is the 1888 City Hall at 226-238 S. Broadway, demolished in 1928. On the right is the new building that would later be home to the Royal Theatre. Thanks to Mel for sharing this postcard on his Vintage LA Colorized Facebook page. Donald Young commented: "The church spire belongs to First Presbyterian Church which was demolished around 1895. A Los Angeles Cable Railway car is shown heading north."

c.1898 - A view looking north from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The squat building that would later house the Royal Theatre in its south storefront is dwarfed between City Hall and the new   Rindge Building, on the right. The city dates it as being from 1898. It still exist at 3rd & Broadway but it's now chopped down to a single floor and seriously remodeled. Thanks to Diana Leigh for finding the photo in the LAPL collection.

c.1900 - A drawing of the south end of the 200 block from the Los Angeles Public Library collection showing the City Hall, the building to later house the Royal, and the Rindge Building. Thanks to Diana Leigh for finding the drawing in the LAPL collection.

c.1900 - Looking south along the east side of the 200 block. The squat lighter colored building would later be the home of the Royal. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for sharing the postcard from her great collection.

c.1900 - The City Hall and, on the right, the building at 240-246 S. Broadway. The postcard appears in J. Scott Shannon's post "Old Civic Center - South to City Hall" on the site Los Angeles Past.

 

c.1908 - The entrance arch of the Royal is seen on the right in this detail from a postcard. We're looking north with the red brick City Hall in the center. Thanks to Tony Pepper for sharing the card from his collection.

 

1956 - Looking north from 3rd St. The five-story building in the center, the Hosfield Building, is on the site of the building that housed the Royal. City Hall was once on the lots beyond. Thanks to Sean Ault for locating the photo.

2010 - The building now on the Royal's site at dusk. At the far right that's the Bradbury Building at 3rd & Broadway. It's a photo by Laurie Avocado on Flickr. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Tovangar 2 for finding it for inclusion on the Noirish post #27839.

2018 - Looking north toward the site of the Royal from 3rd St. On the corner, that's what's become of the Rindge Building, dating from 1898. It was once three stories. Photo: Bill Counter 

More Information: Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Tovangar2 for research about the location of the Royal. See the terrific Noirish post #27839 for a discussion of the buildings on the block.

Also see the Cinema Treasures page on the theatre, indexed on their site as the Cecil Theatre.

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