Rivoli Theatre

4521 S. Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90062 | map |

Opening: Late 1921 as the "Gorgeous" Rivoli Theatre. The location was on the west side of the street just north of 46th St. That's about two blocks south of Vernon Ave. The building was a project of Hollywood Theatres, Inc. in conjunction with Arthur Sanborn. Sanborn's first theatre was the La Salle Theatre at 1898 W. Adams. It was later renamed the Adams, not to be confused with the later Bard's/Fox Adams. 

Architect: Lewis A. Smith. The Lilly-Fletcher Co. was the contractor for this project as well as several others also designed by Smith in the south side of the city around this time. 

 

This illustration appeared with an article announcing the project in the June 19, 1921 issue of the L.A. Times.

 

The June 19, 1921 L.A. Times article.

A card in the Los Angeles Public Library's California Index listed this data from the June 24, 1921 issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor:

"The Lilly-Fletcher Co...has a contract for a 1-story, 2-story, class C brick moving picture theater building for 46th street and Western Ave for A.L. Sanborn, L.A. Grant, J. Leslie Swope, John M. Young and Frank A. Grant...Cost, including furnishings and decorating, $75,000. Plans by L.A. Smith."

Thanks to Joe Vogel for locating the Pacific Coast Architecture Database page on the Rivoli. He calls our attention to this item they cite from the July 1, 1921 issue of Southwest Builder and Contractor:

"Brick theater, 70 x 141...4521 South Western Ave.. A.J. Sanborn, % Windsor Theatre; Lilly-Fletcher, contractors..." 

Joe adds: "I think the % is supposed to be c/o, but the optical character reader messed it up, as they do. Anyway, it looks like by 1921 the Windsor was part of Arthur Sanborn's growing chain of theatres." 

In 1917 Frank A. Grant had built the Windsor Theatre, a project at 221 S. Western Ave. Evidently he later hooked up with Sanborn, perhaps to operate the house. Around 1920 Grant teamed up with J. Leslie Swope, John M. Young, the Gore Brothers and Sol Lesser to form Hollywood Theatres, Inc. 

Sanborn isn't mentioned as being part of the team in a 1924 article describing the early years of Hollywood Theatres, Inc. See the Hollywood Theatre page for more about the firm. The Rivoli and whatever the Windsor deal was may have been their only ventures involving Sanborn.

Seating: 1,000 was the announced capacity. A statement in a restraint of trade lawsuit involving the Seville Theatre placed it between 900 and 1,000. 870 is a number appearing on Cinema Treasures, presumably from some later Film Daily Yearbook.

 

 

 

These October through December 1921 construction photos appear on the website of the Sanborn family's The Movie Experience location in San Luis Obispo. In the lower right image it's Sanborn with one of partners. The copy behind them promises "Superb Music – Superior Motion Pictures – A Symphony Of Lighting Effects."

 

 

The grand opening with Bert Lytell in person. Note a little plug for the contractor in the window in the upper right. It's unknown what the film was, perhaps "The Idle Rich," the last of five features Lytell did in 1921. It's a photo appearing on the website of SLO's The Movie Experience.

An interior view:

This was part of a collage appearing on The Movie Experience site. That's part of the opening night program in the upper left.

The Sanborn family still operates theatres in southern California from its offices in Newport Beach. They had been known as SoCal Cinemas and are now branded as The Movie Experience. They started in 1919 and claim to be the oldest theatre operating company in the western United States. Before coming west Sanborn had worked in theatres in Iowa. From a history of the company on the website for their The Movie Experience location in San Luis Obispo:

"In 1915, the lure of Hollywood called young Sanborn so he returned to southern California, where he had lived as a youngster, finding production work at Paramount with the W.H. Clune Film Producing Co. on Melrose Ave. (occupied the same building as the former Zukor's Famous Players studios). Then, as assistant director with business manager duties, he worked for Stuart Paton at Universal Studios. Mr. Sanborn worked on Clune's 1916 'Ramona' and then Paton's 1916 '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' and Paton's 1917 fifteen chapter action serial 'The Voice On The Wire.'

"However, sometime around the end of 1918 or 1919, Mr. Sanborn acquired a playhouse in Los Angeles on West Adams at La Salle Street, and with a partner, invested. On July 31, 1920 the 'new and better' La Salle Theatre held a grand reopening featuring Mary Pickford's 'The Hoodlum' on the screen and a 'mighty pipe organ' in the remodeled auditorium. A.L. Sanborn was now well on his way to directing theatres, rather than movies, as his life's work. In 1921, the second theatre was opened named the Rivoli. Described as 'southern California's Wonder Theatre,' and featuring a 'specially designed Wurlitzer organ to thrill and grip you,' the Rivoli was constructed on Western Ave. at 46 St. In 1923, the Rialto opened in the suburbs (city of El Monte) with Mrs. Sanborn doing the cashiering on opening night just a few days before their wedding. In 1939, Sanborn Theatres opened the El Monte Theatre with another new novelty -- air conditioning...."

In the 1922 city directory this house was called the Western Avenue Wonder Theatre. It's not in the 1923 directory but got listed as the Rivoli in the 1924 edition. In the late 20s the Rivoli was being operated by West Coast Theatres and Mr. Sanborn had moved on to other projects. See the pages for the Rialto/Valley Theatre and the El Monte Theatre, both later Sanborn operations. 

 

In the 1933 city directory gave it an alternate name for a change, calling it the "Rivolia."

 

 

A March 1949 L.A. Times listing located by Ken McIntyre. He notes that this was the last one he found in the paper.  

 

 

Richard Widmark accepted an award for Darryl F. Zanuck at the Rivoli in September 1950. Widmark was the star of "No Way Out," then running at the theatre. This article located by Ken McIntyre appeared in the California Eagle, a paper covering L.A.'s African-American community. Ken added this as a comment on a thread about the Windsor and Rivoli theatres on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

Closing: It was running as late as 1950, as seen from the article above. The closing date is unknown.  

Status: It's been demolished. The site is now a parking lot.

Looking for the Rivoli in a view south on Western toward 46th St. It was on the right where the parking lot now is. Photo: Google Maps - 2017

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Rivoli Theatre. The Pacific Coast Architecture Database has a page about the Rivoli.

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