Glendale Theatre

122 S. Brand Boulevard,
Glendale, CA 91210

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milanp
milanp on December 11, 2018 at 9:23 am

Is this the same Glendale Theater briefly seen in the 1954 noir “Crime Wave”?

DENNISMAHANEY1
DENNISMAHANEY1 on October 14, 2018 at 4:29 pm

FACT OR FICTION I DO NOT KNOW BUT WAS TOLD AS A YOUNG ACTOR JOHN WAYNE LIVED AT THIS THEATER GUESS IT HAD ONE APT. OR A ROOM TURNED INTO ONE

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on April 18, 2018 at 8:06 am

1926 photo added credit C.C. Pierce.

rivest266
rivest266 on March 23, 2018 at 5:47 pm

Reopened as the Glendale Twin on June 13th, 1980. Grand opening ad in the photo section.

Nathan
Nathan on November 7, 2015 at 9:34 pm

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/743/22873486851_69d260ba4a_o.jpg

mr70homers
mr70homers on May 7, 2010 at 1:53 am

I worked here in late ‘79 thru the early 80s. I began as an usher, worked my way up to assistant manager and temporary acting manager. When I was hired on it was still a single screen. I worked there thru the 1980 remodel (see pic in ken mc post above dated 4/23/09), when it became the first multiplex in Glendale. I recall the theatres on Brand Blvd at the time being some of the last single screen theatres in Southern California. Now only the Alex Theatre remains as a vestige to those times.

hazzmatt
hazzmatt on October 25, 2009 at 6:26 am

I worked there in 83/84. I remember the ghost upstairs and the creepy feeling I would get when I was up there alone. I remember ‘Dollar Tuesdays" and was working there for the opening of Ghost Busters and Foot loose. It would get sooo packed on those Tuesdays. It was a job I had during high school and really enjoyed it. It was demolished and they put a Tower records in its place (which since has closed). I wish the city of Glendale would stop tearing down all of those great old buildings and replacing them with new stale looking ones. A lot of Brand Blvd has lost its classic past. Bummer.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 25, 2009 at 9:16 pm

Here is a 1940 photo from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/coowye

William
William on June 19, 2008 at 10:37 am

During the last years that Mann Theatres had it. It was used in part to train and certify chiefs of staff and Asst. Managers in the art of projection. When select Mann theatres would opt to run limited service with the projectionist union in Los Angeles.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on September 25, 2007 at 6:48 am

A few additional bits about the Glendale Theatre have turned up. The L.A. Times announced the theatre’s opening on October 31, 1920. The project was financed by a Dr. W.C. Goodno. A few years later, at the time of the theatre’s 1924 expansion, the owner was named as Louise Goodno.

The theatre’s organ was dedicated early in 1921, according to an article in The Verdugo Foothills Record on January 22 of that year. The organist was Maude Moore Clement.

At the time the Glendale Theatre was wired for sound, its seating capacity was 1231, according to the item published in Exhibitor’s Herald & Motion Picture World on December 28, 1928.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on September 25, 2007 at 12:58 am

The photo to which Bryan Krefft linked on June 22, 2005, has been moved to a different URL. There’s just a glimpse of the theatre’s marquee and blade sign in the background of this view north along Brand Boulevard in the (judging from the cars visible) mid-1950s.

About half of the theatre’s facade can be seen at extreme right in this 1920s photograph.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 21, 2007 at 2:39 pm

From the LA Times, 8/8/95:

Historic Theater Slated to Be Razed Glendale: Site built in the 1920s, now a target for vandals, is scheduled to make way for $25-million downtown shopping center next year.

But today, the Glendale Theater is a dilapidated, stripped-down building frequented by vandals. City officials said Monday that the theater and several other aging buildings are tentatively slated to be razed early next year to make way for a $25-million redevelopment project.

Several years ago, when the Glendale Redevelopment Agency began planning the project now known as the proposed Glendale Marketplace, the historical society asked city staffers to consider saving the theater and other old buildings and incorporate them into the development. But because the Glendale Theater’s architectural features had been drastically modified over time, the society instead focused its efforts on a well-preserved nearby office building, which it helped save from the wrecking ball.

JuliaHuggins
JuliaHuggins on May 3, 2007 at 5:51 am

I was an assistant manager at the Glendale Twin in the early 80’s, and I remember the spooky upstairs apartment very well. Part of it was made into dressing rooms for us and, with the exception of an usher who used to nap there from time-to-time, none of us wanted to be anywhere near it. I also remember that there were a few of the old-style make-up mirrors found in a crawl space behind the theatre screen in the #2 house. I have fond memories of my time there — I’m so sorry it’s gone.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on August 22, 2005 at 6:35 pm

At the L.A. Public Library’s regional history database, I’ve come across cards which refer to a “Glendale Theatre #1”(no address given, alas), and this theatre on Brand Boulevard is sometimes referred to as “Glendale Theatre #2”, so it’s possible that your photo is of that first Glendale Theatre. As this second Glendale Theatre was opened in 1920, someone who is familiar with the course of women’s fashion in the era might be able to tell from the way the women in this picture are dressed whether or not the photo dates from an earlier year.

jennrl
jennrl on April 1, 2005 at 8:23 am

Not only did John Wayne once live in the apartment upstairs, his “ghost” resided there, randomly turning on and off lights on a nightly basis. I spent a good deal of my life working in this theatre. Breaks my heart that it’s gone.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 26, 2004 at 1:39 am

This was the second theater in Glendale to bear this name. It opened in 1920. According the Southwest Builder and Contractor, issue of 2/13/1920, the architect was Alfred F. Priest. The cost of the theater was $60,000.

SWB&C issue of 6/26/1924 announced a $20,000 dollar extension at the rear of the theater, for a larger stage and the addition of dressing rooms etc to accomodate stage productions.

SWB&C issue of 7/7/1939 annouced the remodeling of the theater, by then operated by Fox, to include a concrete floor, acoustic plaster, carpets, a plastic veneer ticket booth and new poster cases. The architect for this remodel was (not surprisingly) Clifford A. Balch.

FriendsOfTheRaymondTheatre
FriendsOfTheRaymondTheatre on January 16, 2004 at 11:35 pm

Just some history on the Glendale Theater. John Wayne used to live in the upstairs apartment.

HarryLime
HarryLime on October 25, 2003 at 2:10 pm

This theatre was located at 122 South Brand Boulevard.