Opened: The Tower Theatre opened in 1935. The building is on the west side of the street just north of Compton Blvd. It was operated by Fox West Coast and was also known as the Fox Tower. The uncredited photo is on Calisphere from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection. "Woman Wanted" was an August 1935 release with Maureen O'Sullivan and Joel McCrea. Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" with Robert Donat and Madeline Carroll was another August release.
Architect: S. Charles Lee
The UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection has mountains of drawings and other materials, only a small fraction of which have been scanned. The S. Charles Lee Papers home page on Calisphere allows a search over 600 images and other items that have been digitized. These items are also indexed via the UCLA Library website. For a guide to the items not yet digitized, see the S. Charles Lee Papers Finding Aid on the Online Archive of California site.
Seating: 1,000
Closing: The theatre was running into the mid-60s when Compton was still a safe place to go to the movies. After that it turned into a war zone and all the theatres closed. Actual closing date is unknown.
Status: The owner has constructed a series of stores along the front of the property. The auditorium is still there but unused except for storage.
Interior views:
A look in toward the lounge area. The photo by Watson Photo is on Calisphere from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection.
Another lobby view by Watson Photo. It's on Calisphere
from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection.
Looking toward the screen. It's a "Watson Photo" on Calisphere from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection.
More exterior views:
1935 - An entrance detail. The photo by Watson Photo is on Calisphere from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection. The posters are for "Woman Wanted" and "The 39 Steps."
1935 - "Here comes the Band" with Ted Lewis and his orchestra was out at the end of August. "Transatlantic Tunnel, an October release, starred Richard Dix and Leslie Banks. The uncredited photo is on Calisphere from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection. The area to the right of the entrance, here seen as a small parking lot, later got filled in with a string of retail buildings.
2019 - Looking north on Long Beach Blvd. That gray facade to the right of the first tree is where the theatre entrance had been. The store buildings farther off to the right were added later in front of the auditorium. On the far left it's the intersection at Compton Blvd. Photo: Google Maps
2019 - Looking above the added store buildings to the tops of some decorative columns along the side of the auditorium.
2019 - No doubt where the theatre entrance had been. Photo: Google Maps
2019 - A detail of the terrazzo. Photo: Google Maps
2019 - The screen end of the building. On the left we're looking south toward Compton Blvd. Photo: Google Maps
2019 - A detail of the tops of the side wall columns. Photo: Google Maps
2019 - In the alley. On the left we're looking along the screen end of the building toward Long Beach Blvd. To the right we're looking south along the house left wall of the auditorium. Photo: Google Maps
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Tower. Cinema Tour also has a page on the Tower.
Two of the UCLA collection photos of the Tower make an appearance on pages 67 and 68 of "The Show Starts on the Sidewalk," Maggie Valentine's book about the work of S. Charles Lee. There's a preview of the book on Google Books.
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