Paramount Theatre, formerly Metropolitan Theater or Grauman's Metropolitan Theater, also known as Paramount Downtown, was a

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is a large, elaborately decorated movie theater built from the 1910s to the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. Wi ...

and office building located at 323 W. 6th Street and 536 S. Hill Street, across the street from Pershing Square, in the historic core of

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 had an additional entrance connecting it to the Broadway Theater District and it was the largest movie theater in Los Angeles for many years.

History

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 ...

's Paramount Theatre opened as Grauman's Metropolitan Theatre on January 26, 1923. The building was financed by the Hill Street Fireproof Building Company, designed by

George Edwin Bergstrom George Edwin Bergstrom (March 12, 1876 – June 17, 1955) was an American architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California. He also designed The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. Biography George Edwin Bergstrom was born in ...

with the theater and building interior designed by William Lee Woollett, all for impresario

Sid Grauman Sidney Patrick Grauman (March 17, 1879 – March 5, 1950) was an American entrepreneur and showman who established two of Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood's most recognizable and visited landmarks, the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Chinese The ...

, known at the time for the

Million Dollar Theatre The Million Dollar Theatre at 307 S. Broadway (Los Angeles), Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles is one of the first movie palaces built in the United States. It opened in 1917 with the premiere of William S. Hart's ''The Silent Man (film), The S ...

and best remembered today for his two

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

movie palaces: the Chinese and

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

theaters. The theater's first screening was the

film premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic ...

Gloria Swanson Gloria Mae Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for h ...

's '' My American Wife'', with the actress in attendance.

Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, choral director, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to ...

and his Pennsylvanian Orchestra accompanied the film on stage, as did three

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

acts. Upon opening, Metropolitan Theater sat more than 3,600, making it the largest movie theater in Los Angeles for many years. The theater also featured an orchestra lift, one of the largest balconies ever built, the longest projection throw in Los Angeles, and the theater was one of the first to be

air conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

in the United States. The building itself featured two entrances, a main entrance on 6th Street and a small entrance on

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

. These entrances quickly proved inadequate, and so a third entrance was added on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, connecting the theater to the Broadway Theater District. In 1924, Grauman sold all his downtown holdings to Paramount Publix, who then employed

Fox West Coast Theaters Fox Theatres was a large chain of movie theaters in the United States dating from the 1920s either built by Fox Film studio owner William Fox, or subsequently merged in 1929 by Fox with the West Coast Theatres chain, to form the Fox West C ...

to operate this theater. In 1929, the theater was renamed Paramount Theatre, and was informally known as Paramount Downtown to distinguish it from the other Paramount Theatres in Los Angeles. In 1950, Cabart Theaters Corp took over the theater, and two years later

United Paramount Theatres American Broadcasting Companies (originally United Paramount Theatres, and American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc.) was the post-merger parent company of the American Broadcasting Company and United Paramount Theatres. History United Par ...

took it over from them, after which they modernized the building with a new marquee and updated

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians * Lobby (food), a thick stew made in Leigh, Greater Manchester and North Staffordshire, like ...

. The theater closed in 1960 and the building was demolished in 1962. It was replaced by a parking lot, which itself was replaced by sixteen story tower in the early 1980s. The tower currently houses the International Jewelry Center.

Metropolitan Annex

Metropolitan Theatre originally featured two entrances but they quickly proved inadequate and so a third entrance was added on

. This entrance, located in the Metropolitan Annex at 551-555 S.

, connected the theater to the Broadway Theater District. Metropolitan Annex was built of

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

with

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

detailing in 1923, and was remodeled by Hal Pereira in 1941. It was not demolished with the rest of the building in 1962, and was instead converted to a commercial/office building with ground floor retail. It was also listed as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the Broadway Theater and Commercial District when the district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979. The Metropolitan Annex was sold for $700,000 in 1999. It is all that remains of Paramount Theatre today.

References

{{LABTCD Movie palaces Former cinemas and movie theaters in Los Angeles Demolished theatres in Los Angeles Theatres completed in 1923 1920s architecture in the United States 1923 establishments in California 1960 disestablishments in California Buildings and structures demolished in 1962 Historic district contributing properties in California Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Broadway (Los Angeles)

History

Metropolitan Annex

See also

References