The uniquely atmospheric Los Angeles Theater

Built in 1931, the lavish Los Angeles Theatre recalls the glories of the French Baroque and France's "Sun King", Louis XIV. Its majestic six-story main lobby overwhelms audiences with a three-tiered fountain in a hall of mirrors, crystal chandeliers, a grand sweeping stairway, and gold-gilt sunbursts. And that's just the lobby. The Baroque auditorium teems with golden angels, cherubs, and flowery swags. From the rich restaurant space to the glass-ceiling ballroom, from the marble-lined ladies room to the circus-motif playroom, the amenities of the Los Angeles give theatregoers a full entertainment experience.

Entrepreneur and film exhibitor, H.L. Gumbiner constructed the Los Angeles Theatre in the midst of the Depression at an estimated cost of more than $1 million. Intent on exceeding existing standards of extravagance, he hired architect S. Charles Lee, who became the City's most prolific theater architect, and one of Los Angeles' most gifted technological innovators. Lee believed that "the show starts on the sidewalk" and he designed every element of the building to lure the patron inside.

Completed in less than six months, the theater opened on January 30, 1931 with the premiere gala screening of “City Lights”, the landmark film of Charlie Chaplin, who helped cover the cost of finishing the building when Gumbiner ran short of funds. Among celebrities of the era in attendance that evening was Mr. Albert Einstein.

This 1931 movie palace retains its original French Baroque decor throughout, its opulence reflects the glories of Versailles. The narrow lobby space is illusionistically widened by the use of mirrors, flanked by colossal marble columns and gilt ornament, set off with bronze bannisters and sumptuous crystal chandeliers.

The central staircase culminates in a crystal fountain and Heinsbergen mural. Designed as a grand sequence of spaces encased in rich ornament, the theater abounds with decorative extravagances including colorful marble bathrooms, a restaurant, and a downstairs ballroom paneled in walnut resembling a ship’s lounge.

The auditorium ceiling is crowned by a lunette containing Heinsbergen trompe l'oeil murals. Tall arches along the sidewalls resemble those in the lobby, while the plaster decorative is backlit for colorful effects. Seating 1800 in rows originally no more than five seats across, the Los Angeles was a grand finale to the movie palace era on Broadway.