Los Angeles Theatres: Star Theatre

529 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90013 | map |

Opening: Sometime around 1914. It's in the 1914 city business directory as the Portola Theatre with Curtet & Haymann as the proprietors. It continues to be listed as the Portola through the 1918 city directory.

A 1918 ad for the Portola. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for spotting it.

In the 1919 city directory it's the Virginia. In the 1920 directory it's listed as the Victoria -- perhaps a typo. It's listed as Virginia (again) from 1922 at least through 1930. In the 1932 directory it has become the Star Theatre.

The 1936 photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt shows the Star running "Gambling Lady" with Barbara Stanwyck (1934), "Master of Men" with Jack Holt (1933) and some old Buster Crabbe films. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the photo. The photo also made an appearance on a Quite Continental blog post when some of Eisenstaedt's works were coming up for auction at Doyle New York in 2011.

Seating: 300

The theatre was on the west side of the street in a hotel building known over the years as the Green Hotel, the Brennan Hotel and Your Hotel. It was a busy block. Just north of the Star was the Gayety Theatre and the Optic was in the building to the south. South of the Optic down at the end of the block were the Picture Theatre at 545 (until 1926), the Art at 551 and the Bijou (until 1914) at 553. On the east side of the street were the Rounder at 510 (around in 1910), the Galway at 514, the Sherman at 518 (running until 1919) and the Burbank at 548.

This detail from plate 002 of the 1914 Real Estate Survey from Historic Map Works shows the Optic at 533, the Portola/Star at 529 in the Green Hotel Building, and the Gayety at 523 in the Interlaken Hotel Bldg.

Status: It was running as late as 1951. The closing date is unknown. There was no listing for it in the 1956 telephone directory. The building was demolished in the 1980s. A parking garage is on the site.

The Star in the Movies:

Richard Egan, Arthur O'Connell and others are coming out of the Star about an hour and ten minutes into Harry Keller's film "Voice in the Mirror" (Universal-International, 1958). Egan plays the alcoholic husband of Julie London who eventually forms a group similar to AA. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the tip on this one. The assumption is that the theatre had closed long before the filming and was spruced up for the shoot. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for two more views of the Star plus a shot during filming showing the Burbank Theatre across the street.

We get a look at the Star as part of an opening montage displaying many of L.A.'s high culture sites in "The Swinger" (Paramount, 1966). The film stars Ann-Margret and Tony Franciosa. She's a journalist posing as a swinger to get magazine editor Tony to publish a story she wrote while his goal is to get her to pose for the centerfold instead. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of five other theatres seen in the little travelogue.

More exterior views:

c.1907 - Looking north along the west side of the 500 block. The building that would later house the Portola/Star is the one with "G. A. Theil Wallpaper" sign on the side. It's a California Historical Society photo on the USC Digital Library website.

To the right of the Theil building the theatre later to become the Gayety is seen here as the Peoples Theatre. In the upper left note the Alexandria Hotel on the southwest corner of 5th and Spring. The steel going up is for the Security Building on the southeast corner of 5th and Spring.

1911 - Looking north from the Pacific Electric Building at 6th & Main. The future home of the Portola/Star now has signage as Rowan & Co. and hotel rooms upstairs. The "Vaudeville" vertical is for the Optic Theatre, hardly visible just this side of the hotel. On our left, the 2nd building beyond the 6th St. intersection is the Howell Hotel Building. At the time of the photo it housed the Bijou Theatre at 553 S. Main. Later it would house the Art Theatre at 551.

In the distance beyond 5th note one of the early Rosslyn Hotel Buildings. Thanks to Tom Ohmer for spotting the photo when it was posted by the Los Angeles Times. It appeared on the "Framework" section of their website but that's now vanished. They titled it "Congestion on Main St."

1913 - A January photo from the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Archive. The upper part of the tall building in the center soon to house the Portola Theatre was known as the Brennan Hotel. At the left is the Optic Theatre, with its vertical sign mounted on the hotel building. On the right is what had been the Olympic, here has been renamed the Century Theatre.

1913 - Looking across from the roof of the building housing the Picture Theatre, 545 S. Main, toward the Brennan Hotel Building. It's a photo from the L. A. Fire Department Historical Archive.

1913 - Another street level view from the L. A. Fire Department Historical Archive. For more coverage on the LAFire site go to the Major Incident page and look for "Brennan Hotel Fire, 1913" in the index on the left column. On the Brennan page, click on "see completion LAFD photo album photo collection" under the photo for more views. 529 S. Main was the Los Angeles Paint and Wallpaper Co. at the time. Its stock helped feed the fire.

c.1917 - A California Historical Society photo looking north showing the Optic sign on what has beecome the Hotel Green. The Optic and the Portola/Star entrances are out of the frame in the lower left. The "Burlesque" vertical and two more beyond are for the future Gayety Theatre, here called the Omar. Note the new Rosslyn Hotel Building on the northwest corner of 5th and Main. The photo is on the USC Digital Library website. It's also in the Los Angeles Public Library collection where they credit it to C.C. Pierce. USC also has another similar 1917 view evidently taken at the same time.

c.1938 - The theatre running "Broadway Gondolier" with Dick Powell and Joan Blondell (1935), "West of Singapore" with Betty Compson (1933) and "The Road to Glory" with Fredric March and John Barrymore (1936). That's not enough? They've got some Joe Louis / Max Schmeling fight films as well. Those could either be from 1936 or 1938. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the photo.

c. 1938 - The Star with "Sweetheart of the Navy" with Eric Linden and Cecelia Parker (1937), "That Girl From Paris" with Lily Pons and Jack Oakie (1937), "Death Fangs" (14 minutes, 1934) plus at least one additional feature. Thanks to David Zornig for posting the photo on Cinema Treasures. He credits it to Jimmy Moy. Note a sliver of the Optic Theatre on the far left.

1939 - A great Dick Whittington photo showing the west side of the block as we look north toward 5th St. The photo is in the USC Digital Library collection.

1939 - A detail from the Dick Whittington photo giving us a closer look at the Star's entrance. At the Optic "Hard to Get" with Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland was a November 1938 release. Their co-feature "Orphans of the Street" with Tommy Ryan and Ace the Wonder Dog was a December 1938 release. That's the Gayety on the far right.

1946 - A fine shot looking north on Main with the Star in front of us advertising its "3 Big Major Features" plus "Reconditioned Seats" and the Gayety down the block. It's the Truancy Detail in action. It's a Los Angeles Daily News photo appearing on the UCLA Digital Library website. Thanks to Eitan Alexander finding the photo in the UCLA collection. The Daily News caption:

"Woman talks to boys skipping school outside a movie theater in downtown Los Angeles. The truancy problem prompted the 10th District Congress of Parents and Teachers to recommend an expansion of the truancy detail, which would include increasing personnel in outlying portions of the district as well as on beaches."

1963 - The Star is in the Dover Hotel building this side of the Optic. The LAMTA officer is holding back pedestrians as a bus leaves the area where the Gayety Theatre had once been. The space was being used as a temporary Main St. bus station. Thanks to Sean Ault for the photo. It had appeared in the October 1963 issue of the MTA Emblem that's in his collection.

c.1970 - A look north on Main St. toward 5th from the Sean Ault collection. The Art Theatre, 553 S. Main, is behind the bus with the Optic up the street and a glimpse of the building the Star Theatre had been in beyond. At 5th are the Rosslyn Hotel buildings. Thanks, Sean!

c.1972 - A Victor Plukas photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The Star's entrance was once in the left storefront, here seen with signage removed and a gate across it. Next door, the the Optic is still in business with "The Hunting Party," a 1971 release with Oliver Reed, Candace Bergen and Gene Hackman on the marquee.

1974 - The "Electra Instrument Co." storefront is the space once home to the Star. "Someone Behind the Door," one of the Optic's features, was a 1971 release with Charles Bronson, Anthony Perkins and Jill Ireland. Thanks to Sean Ault for spotting this one on eBay.

1980 - The Star's building still surviving but not for long. We're looking south from just below 5th with the Optic Theatre on the far left above the back of the white van. On the right it's a bit of the Rosslyn Hotel building. Thanks to Sean Ault for finding this one on eBay.

2019 - Looking north on the west side of the 500 block toward the side of the Rosslyn Hotel, the only surviving historic building on this side of the block. Photo: Bill Counter

More Information: See the research by Ken McIntyre and Jeff Bridges on the Cinema Treasures page for the Star.

Los Angeles Theatres

Star Theatre

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