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BRINGING BACK BROADWAY PLANS
CENTENNIAL SUMMER CELEBRATION
Important 100-year milestones to be commemorated with a
month-long theatrical, cultural and artistic celebration
LOS ANGELES (September 28, 2010) – Councilmember Huizar’s Bringing Back Broadway
initiative today announced it will plan a centennial celebration for June 2011 to commemorate the
100-year anniversaries of the three oldest remaining historic theatres within the Broadway
Historic Theatre District in Downtown Los Angeles.
“It will be an honor to bring attention to these centennial milestones of history, culture and
entertainment born on Broadway,” said Councilmember José Huizar who leads the Bringing
Back Broadway initiative focused on the revitalization of the historic Broadway commercial and
entertainment corridor. “The theatres and movie palaces stand as tribute to where we have come
from, as we build a bright future for this important and beautiful part of Los Angeles’ legacy.”
The Broadway Centennial Summer is envisioned as a month-long festival of films, art, theatre
and tours to honor the oldest surviving theatre district in Los Angeles, and one of the largest
intact historic theatre districts in the entire United States. The two oldest theatres on Broadway,
the Arcade Theatre (originally the Pantages) and its next door neighbor, the Cameo Theatre, turn
100 years old this fall, having opened on Sept. 26, 1910 and Oct. 10, 1910, respectively. To coincide
with the 100th anniversary of the theatres opening, property owners of the Arcade and Cameo
Theatres say they are planning façade improvements to bring back the original historic character
of the theatres. The Palace Theatre opened on June 26, 1911.
Activities will include the 25th Annual Los Angeles Conservancy Last Remaining Seats screenings
in Broadway theatres, special screenings of early films, tours and discussions, historical
retrospectives and other arts and cultural activities. Additional collaborators, as well as specific
dates, times and details are under development and will be announced next year. Partners and
collaborators for the Bringing Back Broadway Centennial Summer Celebration include the Los
Angeles Conservancy; the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation; the Historic Downtown
Business Improvement District; L.A. Stage Alliance; the City of Los Angeles Office of Historic
Resources and Department of Cultural Affairs along with others.
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Bringing Back Broadway Plans Centennial Summer Celebration
Sept. 28, 2010
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"We're thrilled that the centennial coincides with the twenty-fifth season of Last Remaining
Seats," said Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, referring to the
Conservancy's annual series of classic films and live entertainment in historic theatres. "We've
held Last Remaining Seats screenings on Broadway every year since 1987, so we can't think of a
better place to celebrate this milestone. For such a relatively young city, Los Angeles has a
surprising number of century-old buildings, and that number keeps growing."
The Broadway corridor features the largest concentration of historic theatres and movie palaces
on one street in the nation, most of which date back to the 1920s and 1930s. There are 12 historic
theatres along Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Each offers a different and important
glimpse into the history of Los Angeles, and its primary industry – entertainment.
Vaudeville stages were all the rage when the theatres were built and famous acts such as the
Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, Houdini, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Will Rogers, Charlie Chaplin,
Eddie Cantor, Lena Horne, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland and
W.C. Fields all performed to the delight of Broadway audiences. Thomas Tally, Sid Grauman,
Billy Clune, Oliver Morosco and others vied for the honor of local impresario as the theatres
along Broadway become larger and more numerous.
Theatre architecture was more flamboyant than commercial styles and the influx of theatrical
structures helped to provide variety for the Broadway streetscape. In all, theatre development
along Broadway provided a major source of revenue and a location for premieres for the movie
industry, an important form of entertainment for Southern Californians, and a variety of
architectural designs that gave a unique character to Broadway.
Behind their deceptively simple exteriors, Broadway's ornate and spectacular theatres featured
sweeping marble staircases leading to ornate balconies, plush seats, and soaring, star-sprinkled
ceilings, along with spacious, elaborately crafted interiors, gilded rococo designs and a wide
range of exotic architectural styles.
The Arcade Theatre was the first of three Pantages vaudeville theatres built in Los Angeles while
the Cameo was one of the earliest deluxe film houses built in the city. Incredibly, though not
currently used for live entertainment, both still survive and are intact, standing as the oldest
surviving monuments to the early days of entertainment in Los Angeles. The third centennial
theatre, the Palace Theatre, is often open to the public for tours or special events and is used as a
film location.
Other important upcoming Broadway milestones include: the 90th anniversary of the State
Theatre which opened on Nov. 12, 1921 at 703 S. Broadway; the 85th anniversary of the Orpheum
Theatre, which opened on Feb. 15, 1926 at 842 S. Broadway; and the 80th anniversary of the Los
Angeles Theatre, which opened on Jan. 30, 1931 at 615 S. Broadway.
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Bringing Back Broadway Plans Centennial Summer Celebration
Sept. 28, 2010
Page 3 of 3
ABOUT THE CAMEO THEATRE
The Cameo Theatre at 528 S. Broadway opened on October 10, 1910 as a motion picture theatre at a time
when movies were just emerging from the nickelodeon storefronts to take their place alongside vaudeville
and theatre as legitimate entertainment. With its décor of marble, bronze and velvet drapes, Clune’s
Broadway Theatre (as the Cameo was originally known) was surprisingly luxurious for its time. Owner
Billy Clune was a pioneer in the film exhibition business, having started with penny arcades and then
nickelodeons. He eventually built a chain of film theatres in Los Angeles before retiring in the 1920s. The
Cameo got its present name in 1924 when Clune sold the theatre. The Cameo operated as a film house
from 1910 to 1991 – a record run of 81 years at the time that it closed.
ABOUT THE ARCADE THEATRE
The Arcade Theatre at 543 S. Broadway opened on September 26, 1910 as the Pantages Theatre with six acts
of vaudeville including Sophie Tucker, billed as “the international comedienne…and the 20th century
singer.” Ten years later a new Pantages opened at Seventh and Hill and the original on Broadway was
renamed the Broadway Pantages. A few years later it became Dalton’s Broadway Theatre and was finally
renamed The Arcade Theatre in 1927 in recognition of the importance of its new neighbor, the Broadway–
Spring Arcade Building. The Arcade survived as a film house for the next 65 years, finally closing in 1992.
ABOUT THE PALACE THEATRE
The Palace Theatre at 615 S. Broadway opened on June 26, 1911 as an Orpheum circuit vaudeville house
with 2,200 seats. It is the oldest remaining original Orpheum theatre in the U.S. It currently seats 1,050, as
the gallery, a “third class” balcony for the poor, with a separate entrance from the alley and separate
restrooms, was closed in 1930. Major vaudeville performers including the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields,
Sarah Bernhardt, Bob Hope, Al Jolson and Will Rogers have graced its stage. In 1926, after a new Orpheum
theatre was built two blocks away, the theatre was renamed the Palace Theatre. After presenting musical
variety shows and films, it became a first-run movie house for features with sound. At that time the box
seating was removed and replaced with two elaborate murals by Candelario Rivas, a Mexican artist who
was working for Anthony Heinsbergen. The Palace, closed in 2000, and is currently used as a special events
venue and film location. Plans are being developed to renovate and reactivate The Palace Theatre as a
regular entertainment venue.
ABOUT BRINGING BACK BROADWAY
Bringing Back Broadway is a public-private partnership initiative led by Los Angeles City Councilmember
José Huizar with Executive Director Jessica Wethington McLean, focused on an ambitious ten-year plan to:
revitalize the historic Broadway district between 2nd Street and Olympic Boulevard;
activate inactive theatres; re-activate more than a million square feet of vacant commercial space; assist
retailers and prevent further retail vacancies; increase parking and transit options to serve Broadway;
encourage cultural, entertainment and retail uses on Broadway that will sustain generations; create a sense
of place and history through urban planning, design and lighting guidelines and streetscapes; and make
the dream of once again riding a streetcar downtown a reality. As a link between the past and the future,
the revitalized historic Broadway corridor will ensure that the vibrant, cultural character of Broadway
remains, while helping Broadway provide something for everyone, day and night by complementing and
connecting
new
large-scale
downtown
entertainment
and
cultural
destinations,
as well as galleries, restaurants, and cultural activities throughout Downtown. BringingBackBroadway.com
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