Opened: In September 1936 as the Roxy Theatre. The building is on the north end of downtown on the west side of the street between Lexington St. and Milford Dr. Thanks to Meredith Jacobson Marciano for her 1980 photo, a post on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page.
Architect: Unknown. Joe Vogel notes that the Los Angeles County Assessor's office lists the building as dating from 1938.
Seating: 800 originally.
In the early years it was operated by Grover L. Smith, who also operated the Cosmo and Vogue theatres, farther south on Brand as well as the Atwater Theatre in Atwater Village.
An announcement of the project appearing in the May 31, 1936 issue of the L.A. Times. Thanks to Ron Strong for locating this for the page about the theatre for his Bijou Memories site.
A September 16, 1936 ad. Thanks to Ron Strong for locating this.
A November 1941 ad for the Roxy along with
listings for the three other theatres operated by Grover Smith. Thanks
to Ken McIntyre for locating it.
A January 1944 ad that was located by Ron Strong.
A 1948 listing for the Roxy and Smith's other theatres spotted by Ken McIntyre.
It was operated in the 50s by Harold Wenzler, who also at various times ran the Lux on 3rd St., the Granada on Temple St., the Daly in Lincoln Heights and the Oaks
Theatre in Pasadena. Before operating his own theatres Wenzler had a
long career as a theatre PR guy with clients including Sid Grauman.
In 1956 Wenzler sold to Fred Stein's Statewide circuit. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this notice in the Southwest Wave newspaper for a thread about the Lux and Wenzler on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles.
In November 1967 Loew's took over the L.A. area Statewide operations.
A Loew's ad touting the remodels they had done in their L.A. area theatres. Thanks to Ron Strong for locating this. It's included in his Roxy Theatre - Google Photos album. In the 1969 and 1970 city directories it's listed as Loew's Theatre. In the 1972 directory it's the Loew's Roxy.
General Cinema took over in July 1972 when Loew's left the southern California market. Stein, with his son Robert, was back running it beginning in late 1973 via their new company Century Cinema Circuit.
An August 1, 1973 item about General Cinema Corporation's sale of many of the theatres to Century Cinema that they had purchased from Loew's. It was another find by Ron Strong.
When Century headed into bankruptcy in late 1976, Seattle-based Sterling Theatres bought some of their assets, including the lease on the Roxy. SRO gave it a remodel in 1979. At some point the theatre got equipped for 70mm. The screen width was 40'. The last chain to operate the Roxy was Pacific Theatres, taking over the SRO sites in southern California in June 1985.
Closing: The Roxy closed as a movie theatre on Sunday July 30, 1995. Thanks to Joseph Anthony Sobora for the research. He notes that the last films to play the house were "Congo" and "Braveheart."
Status: Beginning in 1996 it was a music club and events venue called Beyond the Star's Palace. That operation closed in 2015. It's now a banquet hall called Stars on Brand.
Interior views:
A c.2013 view toward the stage that once appeared on the Beyond the Stars Palace website.
More exterior views:
1972 - A Days of Verdugo parade photo that was once posted to the Vintage Glendale "The Jewel City" Facebook group by Knoche Cowden. Thanks to Deanna Bayless for spotting the post.
c.1973 - Thanks to Tina Billingsley for sharing this photo she found in her collection as a post on the I Grew Up in Glendale Facebook group. The Roxy had "American Graffiti."
1981 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this photo.
1983 - Another view from the American Classic Images collection.
1991 - A look at the revamped marquee. It's a photo by cinematographer Gary Graver who took many photos of dying single-screen theatres theatres. More of his photos can be found in two compilations on YouTube: "Second Run - part 1" and "Second Run - part 2." Thanks to Sean Graver for use of the photo.
2010 - Looking south across the entrance of the theatre in its Beyond The Star's Palace days. Photo: Google Maps
2013 - Another Beyond the Star's view. Photo: Bill Counter
2019 - The new look for SOB - Stars on Brand. We're looking south. Photo: Google Maps
2021 - Demolition of the building on the south side of the theatre revealed signage on a long-covered wall. Thanks to Claudia Mullins for spotting the photo on the site Next Door.
2021 - Thanks to Donald Pestana for this closer view. He added it as a comment on a post by Lew Snow on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. The signage presumably read "Glendale's Home Owned Theatre."
2021 - A wider view taken by Tony Pelaez. Thanks to Alex Rojas for spotting the post on the Vintage Glendale "The Jewel City" Facebook page.
2021 - Thanks to Kurt Sawitskas for this view taken as the new building was rising south of the theatre. It's one of four images he posted in October on the Vintage Glendale "The Jewel City" Facebook page.
2021 - A detail of the sign taken from an image by Kurt Sawitskas. Thanks, Kurt!
The Roxy in the Movies:
The Roxy is on the far right in this view looking north on Brand from "The Brothers Rico"
(Columbia, 1957). Richard
Conte is looking for his younger brother when he heads from Florida to
the fictitious town of El Camino, California. He's actually in Glendale staying at the
California Hotel, in the film renamed the El Camino Hotel.
The shot pans
a bit to the left so we see the signage for the California Room. If it
had gone a bit farther to the left we'd see the entrance to the California Theatre in the same building, with an address of 341 N. Brand Blvd. Phil Karlson directed the film, based on a story by
Georges Simenon, that also stars Diane Foster, Kathryn Grant and Larry
Gates.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the theatre for more history. They list it as the Roxy Cinema. And don't miss Ron Strong's Bijou Memories page about the theatre.
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For the record, the opening ad for the Roxy was published on 9-16-1936. It ran with that status until 193 when proper advertising was begun.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the date, Ron. And how was that "until 193" supposed to read?
DeleteThat should read "1943".
DeleteI worked at the Roxy Theatre way back around 1970 while in high school. The manager at the time was Mr. Dunnagan (I can't recall the precise spelling anymore) -- a great boss. I believe his first name was Marvin, and he was an ex magician. A few of the employees were interested in getting into the movies. I believe one actually got into television and later became a professor at Glendale Community College. I really enjoyed working at the Roxy. My co-workers were fun and friendly, and it was exciting (and a lot of work) when we had crowds of people come to see the latest films. I can still smell the delicious scent of the popcorn we popped behind the candy counter. This brings back fond memories. I'm sorry that it closed.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you. Glad you like the page. I wish we had some interior photos from it was still a film house.
Delete