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Moscow cinemas
The heyday of the film industry in Los Angeles came in the 1920s and 1930s, when it became the main city-forming industry, displacing the growing of oranges and oil production. During these years, the largest film studios were built and expanded: Fox, Universal, MGM, Paramount. At the same time, hundreds of cinemas are opening in the city, the exact number of which today is difficult for even experts to name.
In a competitive environment, cinema owners - both private entrepreneurs and film companies - strive to make them unusual and attractive to the public. Architects try to give originality not only to facades, but also to interiors. Each cinema strives to be different from the others. The whole arsenal of historical styles, reworked with Hollywood fantasy, is used: Italian Renaissance, Spanish Baroque, Ancient Egypt, Aztecs and Maya, hot-fashionable Art Deco. It is, of course, difficult to imagine, knowing about the synchronous development of constructivism and functionalism in the USSR and in Europe. But in California during these years, the "modern movement" is only taking the first timid steps in the field of private architecture, and will reach the level of public buildings only in the 1950s.
In the 1920s, going to the cinema was a secular exit, many halls are equipped with a stage and organ, and watching a film is complemented by musical numbers, performances by comedians and a variety show. In structure, they are more like theater halls: with a balcony, boxes, stucco and gilding, painted ceilings, chic chandeliers. The Los Angeles Theater featured innovative features such as an electric seating indicator, soundproof rooms for families with crying children above the main bed, and a luxurious ladies room in 16 compartments, trimmed with 16 different types of marble. The gigantic, Mexican-Atzec-inspired San Gabriela cinema featured side boxes for vehicle entry.
The popularity of going to the cinema has gradually declined throughout the twentieth century. In the 1930s, 70% of Americans went to the movies at least once a week. In the 1950s, the expansion of television began to decline. From the 1960s until the end of the century, only 10% of Americans go to the movies once a week, and after 2000 this figure is still declining.
Numerous cinemas in Los Angeles have weathered this difficult time in different ways. Many were closed, used for various temporary needs, some were demolished. After the demolition, larger structures were built in their place - office buildings or hotels.
In the 1960s, hinged aluminum facades came into vogue (similar to those that were used to close the Volga Region and Azerbaijan pavilions at VDNKh in order to turn them into Radio Electronics and Computing Equipment). Many cinemas, like the elegant Regent Theater (1914) or the Spanish Colonial-style Hollywood El Capitan Theater (1926, arch.
Stiles O. Clements, interior G. Albert Lansburgh) were “modernized” with these false facades, hiding for many years and often damaging the rich relief decor.
Luxurious halls for 1000-2800 people began to be divided into small rooms, fencing off the spaces for bars, nightclubs, shops. Cameo Theater in Downtown (1910, architect W. H. Clune, H. L. Gumbiner), was one of the oldest and longest operating cinemas in the city. It closed in 1991 and its neoclassical façade is still effectively boarded up. An electronics store is located in the foyer and lobby, the auditorium is used as a warehouse. The Highland Theater (1926, architect L. A. Smith) in the poor area of Highland Park, where gentrification had just begun to reach, retained the function of a film screening, but was divided into three halls. Moorish details have been painted over with layers of oil paint, the balcony is covered with a false ceiling, the stairs are covered, but restoration is still possible. Many buildings were literally mutilated by such alterations, but only in exceptional cases can these injuries be considered irreversible.
Many movie theater buildings have been reassigned in completely unpredictable ways. Some of them have retained the hall and "public" function, becoming venues for performances, concerts, celebrations or church services. LincolnTheatre (1927, architect John Paxton Perrine) was one of the rare cinemas built specifically for black audiences. It was converted into a church in the 1960s, a mosque in the 1970s, and today it belongs to the Hispanic Catholic Church, Iglesia de Jesucristo Ministerios Juda. Another religious organization, Mosaic Church, known as the "hipster mega-church" with concerts and discos instead of services, recently rented the Rialto Theater in South Pasadena (1925, architect Louis A. Smith). The main attraction of the small town, Rialto has retained its luxurious interior with Baroque and Egyptian influences. It operated until 2010, was closed at the request of the fire services, was awaiting restoration, and last year it appeared in the film LaLaLand as one of the “calling cards” of Los Angeles.
In less successful cases, cinemas were used simply as a "box". In another Rialto Theater in Downtown (1917, architect Olive rP. Dennis, William Lee Woollett), closed since 1987, the flagship store Urban Outfitters opened in 2013. Located outside the wealthiest East Los Angeles (1927, architects William and Clifford Balch), the Golden Gate Theater with striking Spanish Baroque décor has been empty for many years, and in 2012 it was converted into a CVS pharmacy. The Raymond Theater in Pasadena (1921, architect Cyril Bennett) underwent an even more unusual transformation: the facade in the spirit of French classicism was carefully restored and cleaned of late layers, but the volume of the building itself was partially cut off, and an apartment building was added to it at the back.
Interest in historic cinemas began to emerge simultaneously with the process of their destruction. In 1988 there is
Los Angeles Historic Theaters Foundation. Along with the study and inventory of cinemas, members of the Foundation met with cinema owners, convinced them of the value and commercial potential of their property, introduced them to architectural restorers, sought city grants, and attracted patrons of art to restore remarkable buildings. Since the 1990s, the process of renaissance of Los Angeles cinemas begins, from isolated cases it has become an urban trend.
One of the first to renovate the Wiltern Cinema was built into the Pellissier Building in Wilshire. The building, built in 1931 (architect Stiles O. Clements, interior by G. Albert Lansburgh), is considered one of the most striking examples of Art Deco in Los Angeles. The cinema fell into disrepair in the late 1950s. In 1979, the entire building was closed and the owners seriously discussed the possibility of demolition - this forced measure for empty buildings was often used to reduce property tax. Fortunately, a public committee was formed to save the monument. It has been included in the highest protected list in the United States - the National Register of Historic Buildings (not protection against demolition, but demonstrating a degree of public recognition). A series of actions attracted the attention of developer Wayne Ratkovich, who bought and restored the building, turning the former cinema into a popular concert venue - it was there that Zemfira gave the final concert on her world tour.
In the early 2000s, Los Angeles underwent a wave of large-scale restorations in cinemas. The interiors of the Hollywood Pantages Theater (1930, architect B. Marcus Priteca) were stripped of the wall panels and suspended ceilings that hid the Art Deco decor in the 1960s. The restoration has won the Conservancy Preservation Award and is now being used as a Broadway-inspired playground. More than three million dollars were invested in the restoration of the famous Orfeum Theater in Downtown in the typical Beaux Art style (1926, architect G. Albert Lansburgh). The renovation of the premiere Chinese Theater (1926, architect Meyer & Holler) cost twice as much: this chinoiserie-style fantasy was decorated with original bells, pagodas, stone sculptures of lion dogs brought from China, so the restoration required an almost museum approach. One of the most recent projects is the restoration of the United Artists Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown (1927, architect C. Howard Crane), initiated by actors Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and filmmaker David Work Griffith. The tower itself is Art Deco, but the cinema is full of flaming Gothic reminiscences of Segovia Cathedral.
Some of these cinemas are open for regular film screenings, while others have become venues for private events. You can get into them, for example, thanks to the annual Last Remaining Seats program organized by LA Conservancy, an analogue of Arhnadzor. Within the framework of this festival, legendary films are shown in historical cinemas that are inaccessible to the public for a month. Another opportunity is the Night on Broadway festival, which opens the doors of historic buildings on Downtown's main street. The annual conferences of the Theaters Historical Society of America, held in different cities across the country, will help expand the geography. Historic cinemas have become fashionable in the United States, and especially in Los Angeles. If you look closely at Hollywood films of the last decade, you will notice how directors send greetings from one cinema to another. ***
We asked representatives of ADG group - Sergey Kryuchkov and Nikolay Shmuk - to comment on the results of Marina Khrustaleva's research.
Sergey Kryuchkov: From Marina's article and her research of historic Los Angeles cinemas, three key factors can be identified that have had a decisive impact on their fate and gave them a new chance.
First, that a strong public interest was primary for the revival of cinemas. We have no movement, not so much in defense of Soviet cinemas, but at least in the direction of understanding that there is a subject for protection. What specialists are beginning to see and appreciate in the architecture of the 70s is absolutely not convincing for the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens. The only motivation for preserving these buildings is not aesthetic or architectural - it is nostalgia.
Nikolay Shmuk: For example, I remember very well that it was in the “Kyrgyzstan” cinema that I tried Pepsi-Cola for the first time. And now, already as a professional, I can say that from the urban planning point of view of that time, it was a very competent structure, and functionally - it was a full-fledged, cultural, regional center. Reconstruction of this very function of buildings - the center of district life - is the main task of our project.
S. K.: Second, as follows from Marinina's article, in the United States, public interest was institutionalized. All city protection activities were and are being carried out absolutely legitimately, with the money of special funds created using private funds attracted through crowdfunding. These funds function officially, have a staff, a budget and report to their members on the work done.
Third, the study mentions various government incentives for developers who preserve historic properties. We have none of this. All issues with the reconstruction or implementation of a project in general, which in terms of its quality parameters surpasses the average level in the market, is always the result of the developer's personal, personal motivation, a consequence of the super task that he has set for himself. Without this motivation, in a situation where it all comes down to making quick profits, we get endless construction of panel housing and shopping centers in the aesthetics of the wholesale market.
In the case of the program for the reconstruction of cinemas by the ADG group, this is the highest motivation and it needs support from the expert community and city authorities.
Thank you for your research assistance and article preparation by Marina Khrustaleva Escott Norton, Head of the Los Angeles Historic Theater Foundation and The Friends of Rialto.
