LA Broadway history (#0950)

When I took this picture, my focus was on one theater, the Roxie. At the time I was somewhat curious about the Cameo that was next door, but only when processing the photos did I notice the third, the Arcade – I’ll focus on the Roxie in the next photo. All three theaters were part of a much larger cluster of theaters that opened on Broadway in the early 1900’s when vaudeville and early cinema were booming parts of the increasing urbanization that accompanied industrialization.

The Cameo (the big pink billboard on top) opened in 1910 as Clune’s Broadway, in 1924 it was remodeled and opened as the Cameo. It closed as a theater in 1991 and all of the seats have been removed, though the 1910 décor is intact. It, along with the adjacent Arcade (below) and Roxie (next picture) are all now owned by the same person and there have been multiple plans to redevelop the area. The source listed below provides quite a bit of detail about the Cameo and links to discussions of the redevelopment plans.

The Arcade, only partially visible on the right side of the picture, opened in 1910 as the Pantages, a vaudeville theater. At some point it was renamed as Dalton’s Theatre, and was renamed the Arcade in 1928. The theatre closed in 1992 and has since been used as retail space; like the Cameo, the seats have been removed from the auditorium and the space used as storage, with the décor apparently remaining intact.

Sources:
Cameo: sites.google.com/site/downtownlosangelestheatres/cameo
Arcade: sites.google.com/site/downtownlosangelestheatres/arcade