Grand Opera House, originally Child's Opera House, also known as Grand Theater, Orpheum Theatre, Clune's Grand, and Teatro Mexico, was a theater located in

downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

. It was the first home of the

Orpheum Circuit The Orpheum Circuit was a chain of vaudeville and movie theaters. It was founded in 1886, and operated through 1927 when it was merged into the Keith-Albee-Orpheum corporation, ultimately becoming part of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) corporatio ...

in Los Angeles and also the first theater in Los Angeles to exhibit

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

's motion picture technology.

History

Grand Opera House was built by Ozro W. Childs and opened on May 24, 1884, at which point it became the largest theater in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It was designed by Ezra F. Kysor and

Octavius Morgan Charles Octavius Swinnerton Morgan DL, JP, FRS, FSA (15 September 1803 – 5 August 1888), known as Octavius Morgan, was a British politician, historian and antiquary. In 1840, in his capacity as a JP he served on the Grand Jury at Monmouth ...

and had a seating capacity of 1,311. The theater was renovated by James M. Wood in 1887-1888. In December 1894, the

made this theater their first home in

, where they would remain until 1903. After the Orpheum Circuit left, the theater struggled to compete with the nearby Burbank Theatre, Hippodrome, and Mason Opera House, and by 1910, this theater had been converted to a moviehouse. By 1920, it was showing

second run A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. The two types of reruns are those that occur during a hiatus and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word "repea ...

movies, then Mexican movies and stage shows. The theater closed on April 5, 1936 and was demolished soon after.

Architecture and design

Grand Opera House featured a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

design that combined elements of

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

, and "artistic" decorations that included pointed

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

ed windows and a facade made of

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

. Inside, the theater featured a large balcony and side boxes, while the building itself featured

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...

and a fashionable lobby and lounge.

References

{{Movie theaters in Los Angeles Former cinemas and movie theaters in Los Angeles Demolished theatres in Los Angeles Theatres completed in 1884 1880s architecture in the United States 1884 establishments in California 1936 disestablishments in California Buildings and structures demolished in 1936