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Silent Era Home Page  >  Theatres  >  United States  >  California  >  Los Angeles  >  Morosco
 
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Morosco Theatre
President Theatre
 
Address 744 South Broadway
Opening Night Seating Capacity 1300
Original Theatre Owner Oliver Morosco
Original Theatre Architect Morgan, Walls and Morgan (Garland Building)
A.F. Rosenheim (Morosco Theatre)
Years of Operation Opened 6 January 1913
Operated as Morosco Theatre: 1913-1928?
Operated as President Theatre: 1928-1930
Type of Musical Accompaniment unknown
Current Status Operating (in 2017)
The Morosco Theatre was built in the Garland Building in downtown Los Angeles and was operated as a live theatre venue in 1913. In subsequent years, motion pictures were presented in the theatre. In May 1928, the venue was renamed the President Theatre and presented theatre plays produced by the Henry Duffy Players. It is unlikely that motion pictures were shown in the theatre through the end of the silent era.

In July 1930, the venue was leased to Fox West Coast Theatres and renamed the Newsreel Theatre, which presented programs of exactly that but the business model didn’t work and the theatre was closed in September 1930. The venue name reverted to the President Theatre and reopened in late September 1930 with a presentation of the synchronized sound version of The Birth of a Nation (1915). In 1935, Metropolitan Theatres leased the venue from Fox West Coast and by 1938 the theatre was again operating as the Newsreel Theatre through at least 1939.

In 1949, Metropolitan Theatres did not renew their lease with Fox West Coast Theatres and the Newsreel operations were moved to a new venue. Under Fox West Coast control, the theatre was renamed the Globe Theatre and was operated as a motion picture venue through the 1950s. In the 1960s, Metropolitan Theatres acquired the theater when they bought the Garland Building. The theatre closed in the Fall of 1986 when Metropolitan sold the building.

In later years, the theatre’s lobby space was utilitzed as a retail space. The auditorium floor was leveled and used as a swap meet venue, but was soon developed into a night spot known as the Orion Nightclub, which used an alley doorway for an entrance to the space. The auditorium was remodeled and reopened as the Club 740 nightclub, which eventually closed in 2011 amid continual complaints of late night noise and violence.

The theatre was remodeled beginning in 2013 by French entrepreuneur Erik Chol, renamed and reopened as the Globe Theater in July 2015 as a motion picture, live music and events venue.

References: Website-LATheatres : with information provided by Lars Hedlind.

 

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