Broadway

The Broadway theater district at one time had the highest concentration of movie palaces in the world, from 3rd street down to 9th these amazing theaters were built from 1910 to 1932. Starting with the glory years of Vaudeville through the early decades of Hollywood film making all the major film studios had their movie premiers open in downtown Los Angeles along Broadway which at that time was also the terminus for Route 66. As the emphasis of the movie business shifted to Hollywood in the years after World War II the district started to slowly decline and no longer showed first run films. By the late 70’s and into the 80’s many of these movie palaces showed Spanish language films or porn while others were closed or gutted for swap meet style retail stores. Starting in the late 80’s a move was made to preserve and restore Broadway and some of its classic movie palaces by the Los Angeles Conservancy. The Broadway Theater District is now in the midst of a full scale gentrification process and now some of the surviving theaters have been renovated or maintained for live performances and film screenings. The photographs in this book were taken before and during this latest resurgence of the downtown Los Angeles Broadway Theater District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.