The California Theatre was a Beaux-Arts cinema at 810 S. Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It opened December 24, 1918 by Fred Miller as Miller's California Theatre. It originally housed 2,000, later capacity was lowered to 1,650. The architect was Alex B. Rosenthal, who also designed the Granada Theatre in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...

bought the cinema in 1919 and hired Samuel L. "Roxy" Rothafel to manage it. From 1935 till 1983 it operated as Teatro California, showing Spanish-language films. As the

Historic Core The Historic Core is a district within Downtown Los Angeles includes the world's largest concentration of movie palaces, former large department stores, and office towers, all built chiefly between 1907 and 1931. Within it lie the Broadway Theate ...

district no longer was the shopping and entertainment center of the city after the 1950s, it became more and more difficult to make a profit. After 1983 it operated as a

grind house A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a fi ...

and afterwards showed pornographic films as a branch of the

Pussycat Theaters The Pussycat Theaters were a chain of adult movie theaters, operating between the 1960s and the 1980s. Pussycat Theaters had 30 locations in California and were known for their cat-girl logo. To date, only one exists. History David F. Friedman and ...

. The theater closed in 1987 and despite objections was demolished in 1990.

References

1918 establishments in California 1987 disestablishments in California Adult movie theaters Beaux-Arts architecture in California Beaux-Arts cinemas and movie theaters Demolished theatres in Los Angeles Main Street (Los Angeles) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Movie palaces Buildings and structures demolished in 1990 {{LosAngeles-struct-stub