Opened: 1931. The United Artists was on the east side of the street a block and a half north of Manchester. It was across the street and a bit north of the Granada Theatre, a house replaced in 1949 by the Fox Inglewood. The photo of the theatre running "The Kid From Spain," a November 1932 release with Eddie Cantor, is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
Architects: Clifford A. Balch, A.R. Walker and P.A. Eisen. It was a standard United Artists style house for the period with deco panels on the front labeled "Unity" and "Artistry." The design was similar to the Balch/Walker & Eisen designed UA theatres such as the Four Star on Wilshire Blvd. and the UA theatres in Long Beach, Pasadena, East Los Angeles and elsewhere.
The only one of this bunch for which vintage interior photos have surfaced is the one in Long Beach. All of these were film-only theatres without stage facilities. The Walker & Eisen firm had done the building for the downtown United Artists in 1927, although that theatre interior was by C. Howard Crane.
Seating: 942
The theatre had troubles early. Ken McIntyre found a story in the November 1, 1931 issue of the L.A. Times: "Inglewood, Oct. 31 – Two bandits held up the box office of the United Artists Theater during the second performance last night, effecting the robbery while the motor of their roadster was kept running at the curb. Less than $100 was obtained."
As with the other United Artists theatres in the Los Angeles area that were built at this time, it was initially operated by Fox West Coast. See the page on the Four Star for information on the rationale for the UA building spree of the early 30s.
If United Artists had ever owned the building themselves, it was soon sold off. Ken McIntyre found an item in the L.A. Times noting that in September 1933 the building was owned by Mrs. Nora M. Brown and she had just sold it for $85,000 cash to Albert Jones, a San Diego theater owner and investor.
The theatre was listed as being at 122 N. Market St. in the 1933 city directory. The address was listed as 148 N. Market in the 1938 and later directories. In the 70s it was advertised using an address of 142 N. Market.
A UA usherette with a supposedly neon-lit lobby display for "First Love" with Deanna Durbin in 1940. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for finding the trade magazine photo for a post on Cinema Treasures.
United Artists Theatre Circuit had been a holding company that didn't actually run its theatres. It had always been a separate corporation from the studio and distribution operations but with many of the same individuals historically involved in both of the UA entities. With the consent decrees of the 50s not only did the theatre circuit get divorced from the United Artists film studio but Fox was forced to give up operation of the UA houses. Thus the newly active United Artists Theatre Circuit ran them and many were well positioned near profitable Fox houses. Which of course was the rationale for picking the sites in the first place.
The exterior got a big upgrade in 1949 with the tower bulked up and more neon installed. The original rectangular marquee was replaced by a lovely curved design with a rotating "UA" on the north end. The entrance was also completely redone with new soffit neon and a curved boxoffice.
The UA appears in this detail from an ad touting the "premiere presentation" venues for the 1969 release of the 20th Century Fox film "Che!" starring Jack Palance and Omar Sharif. Thanks to Ron Mahan for sharing this from his collection. Those swarms of things around the theatre? Cars on the freeway going to the movie, of course, and parked at the Southgate Drive-in.
For a while in the 1970s it was leased out to Mitchell Bros. as a porno venue advertised as the Mitchell Bros. Inglewood. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating this September 11, 1973 ad.
The facade got another remodel later in the 70s with the tower chopped off and a sad, simplified marquee installed. In the 80s it was run as an independent in conjunction with the Fox Inglewood across the street as the Fox Cinema II.
Closing: Sometime in the 1980s. In its last years it was running Spanish language product.
Status: The boarded up theatre was destroyed by an arson fire July 6, 1993. What remained was later demolished.
The date of the fire comes from Sam Gnerre's 2017 Daily Breeze article "Inglewood's commercial landscape once was dotted with movie theaters," a fine survey of a once thriving film-going town. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting the story.
More exterior views:
c.1932 - "Look how wide all of the streets are here." We're
looking north on Market with the vertical of the Granada Theatre visible in the
center of the image. The theatre burned in 1945 and four years later was replaced with the Fox Inglewood. Across the street to the right is the taller
vertical of the United Artists. It's a card that appeared on eBay and sold for $154.00.
c.1937 - The UA running "You're a Sweetheart," a December 1937 release with Alice Faye, George Murphy and Ken Murray. It's a photo by Herman Schultheis in the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library.
1938 - "The BIG Pictures are HERE!" This photo from the MGM art department is now in the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. The photo, without the MGM stamp, makes an appearance on page 115 of the 2008 Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres in Los Angeles" by Suzanne Tarbell Cooper, Amy Ronnebeck Hall and Marc Wanamaker. The page with the photo is included in the preview of the book on Google Books.
1949 - A view showing off the theatre's new curving marquee and augmented tower. The films for the "Gala Opening" were "That Midnight Kiss" with Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza along with a sneak preview. It's an uncredited photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
1949 - The crowd has arrived. This gorgeous shot by Ralph Morris, then of the studio Morris & Munroe, is in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Also see take 2 and take 3 for different searchlight angles.
1949 - Another photo of the reopening that's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. The photographer is not credited.
1949 - A peek at the curved boxoffice and some of the soffit neon. The photo is in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
1952 - A lovely panorama looking north on Market St. with the United Artists on the right in the distance and Ritz Theatre in the foreground. That's the Fox on the left. It's a detail from a much larger photo by Joseph Fadler taken
for Southern California Edison that's in the Huntington Library collection. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor BifRayRock for finding it in the collection for his Noirish post #37847.
1953 - A detail from a shot taken by Doug White for Southern California Edison as part of a series documenting street lighting. It's in the Huntington Library collection. Thanks to Scott Collette for locating this image, as well as other Inglewood views, for a post on the Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook page. His album is also on Instagram.
1953 - Zooming into the previous photo for a closer look at the theatre. They were running "Stars Are Singing," starring Rosemary Clooney, and "The Lawless Breed" with Rock Hudson. Scott notes that this bill was playing the week of March 28.
1954 - "On Our Stage..." Well, there really wasn't one at this theatre. It's a September photo that ran with the caption "Show Time! Grease Paint Derby is coming. UA Inglewood Theater will be ready!" Their films that week at the "Home of the Wide Screen" were "On the Waterfront" and "My Forbidden Past." See the accompanying article about the amateur show that was to play 4 UA houses. The headline for this coverage was "Grease Paint Derby opens Monday at Pasadena UA." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a post on the Ken's Movie Page Facebook group.
1955 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images site for this fine view looking south toward the United Artists and the Fox. The cross street we see is Regent.
1955 - A closer version, thanks to American Classic Images. The UA is running "I Am a Camera," a July release with Julie Harris and Lawrence Harvey, along with Frank Tashlin's "Susan Slept Here," a 1954 release with Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds.
1955 - A photo by Alan Weeks in the collection of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society. Thanks to Sean Ault for locating it. It also makes an appearance in an album from Metro Library and Archive on Flickr.
1955 - A detail from the Alan Weeks photo.
1958 - Is that a great marquee, or what? "The Narcotic Story" was a February booking. Thanks to Nathan Marsak for sharing this lovely photo from his collection. It was a post on the Facebook page of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation.
c.1960 - A great shot looking south on Market St. The United Artists is on the left running "A Summer Place" and "Moby Dick" and the Fox is on the right. The photo appears on the Online Archive of California site as a contribution from the Inglewood Public Library.
1961 - A look south on Market toward the UA running "Can-Can" with Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine. The first run for the film was a 70mm roadshow engagement at the Carthay Circle. Thanks to L.A. transit historian Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection. Bruce Kimmel comments: "Week of Feb 1 - second feature was, of all things, 'I Was a Male War Bride.'"
1961 - South on Market St. in a June photo with the United Artists on the left running "Konga" ("Not Since King Kong!") and "Terror in the House." The Fox has "The Young Savages." The photo is on Calisphere as a contribution from the Inglewood Public Library.
1962 - It's a Christmas parade on November 23. The photo is on Calisphere from the Inglewood Public Library. In view are the Darby Dolls of the Inglewood Recreation Department. At the UA it's "War Lover" with Steve McQueen along with "The Best of Enemies."
1966 - The vertical sign and the curving marquee are gone. Thanks to Bill Gabel for finding this Christmas parade view for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. "The Russians Are Coming..." was a May release.
Bruce Kimmel comments: "Although you'd think this is December, this double bill played from November 16 to November 29. 'Russians Are Coming' would continue to play there almost the entire month of December, but with different second features, including 'A Thousand Clowns,' 'Birds Do It,' and one other that just went out my mind. I can pinpoint the exact date of this photo as this parade took place on Friday November 25th."
1980s - A look south by an unknown photographer. On the left the United Artists is in its Fox Cinema II days running Spanish language product.
1984 - The UA as the Fox II. Thanks to American Classic Images for the photo. A tiny image from the 80s taken after the theatre had closed is on the site Roadside Peek.
2020 - Looking south from Regent Street. The fenced hole on the left is where the UA once was. That's the tower of the long-dormant Fox on the far right. Photo: Google Maps - 2020
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the United Artists Inglewood for research by Ken McIntyre, Bill Gabel and other contributors.
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