The Million Dollar Theater

307 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013

The 1920s were a time of racism and discrimination across America, and the entertainment industry was especially affected by segregation.  When people of color were looking for a theater where they could watch a show or a performance, they usually had to sit in poorly located seats—sometimes they were completely kept out of theaters.  Movie palaces became popular during the early 1900s because they could be a place where working class people of color could spend time being treated with a certain level of respect.

 

One of the largest movie palaces was the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles, which was built by Sid Grauman in 1918.  It is located at 307 South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles.  The name of the theater comes from the fact that it cost Sid Grauman one million dollars to build it.  Famous for its front architecture, which is in a style called Churriqueresque, the theater has seating for 2,345 guests. 

 

The Million Dollar Theater has often responded to what has been going on in the city, especially socially and economically.  When the businesses on Broadway and Spring Street started to close up and leave during the Depression, the theater suffered and the office suites were abandoned.  In the 1940s, the theater became a popular place for Jazz performers like Billie Holiday.  When Metropolitan Theaters leased the theater in the early 1950s, they hosted movie premiers and stage shows.

It was during the 1960s and throughout the 1980s that the Million Dollar Theater became a favorite place for Spanish language movies, Mexican theater, and live musical performances.  Over time, as Los Angeles has changed, so has the theater’s purpose.  In the 1960s, the Million Dollar Theater featured huge movie premiers, and also became a popular place for Mexican stars to perform.  Outside of the Million Dollar Theater are plaques that identify all of the Mexican stars that performed at the theater from the 1960s to the 1980s.  Some of the most famous performers, actresses, and actors who performed at the theater were Dolores Del Rio, Maria Felix, Mario Moreno Cantinflas, Celia Cruz, Vicente Fernandez, and Antonio Aguilar.  The success of these stars and of the theater gave a man named Frank Fouce the inspiration to create some of the first Spanish language television stations in the United States.

In the 1990s, the suites above the theater were turned into apartments.  In 2006, a Spanish-language church took over ownership of the theater.  The theater was recently renovated and used again for movie screenings.  Today, the theater is vacant and owned by The Yellin Company, which also owns Grand Central Market and the Bradbury Building.

For more information:

"Historic Los Angeles Theatres -- Downtown." Historic Los Angeles Theatres -- Downtown. https://sites.google.com/site/downtownlosangelestheatres/

 

Macìas, Anthony. "Latin holidays: Mexican Americans, Latin music, and cultural identity in postwar Los Angeles." Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies 30, no. 2 (2005): 65-86.

 

Ross, Steven Joseph. Working-class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1998. 

Wallach, Ruth. "Million Dollar Theater (Los Angeles)." Public Art Works in the Los Angeles Historic Core. http://www.publicartinla.com/Downtown/Broadway/million_dollar_theater.html