Million Dollar Re-Opening

(Flickr pic by Mr. Littlehand.)

The movement to rehabilitate the beautiful old movie palaces on Broadway has been slow going, beyond the fantastic rebirth of the Orpheum (now the star of countless car commercials, if you've been watching TV recently).

I'm still hoping that the rough-around-the-edges Los Angeles Theatre, my favorite of the downtown palaces, finally gets a makeover. In the meantime, the Downtown News shares the news that the Million Dollar Theatre (located next to the Grand Central Market), built in 1918, will finally get an overhaul. Granted, a pretty modest one, but an overhaul nonetheless:

When Sid Grauman's movie palace at Third Street and Broadway opened in 1918, the price tag for which it's named was considered exorbitant. This month, the Million Dollar Theatre will undergo relatively meager renovations - a dash of gold paint here, a new red carpet there - that "will cost $1 million, easy," joked Robert Voskanian, one of the managers.

The Broadway gem, which preceded Grauman's Chinese and other prominent Southern California theaters, is expected to reopen as a 2,200-seat space within three months, said Voskanian.

The building's renovation marks one of Downtown's most anticipated entertainment revivals after decades of less glitzy uses, including as the headquarters for two different church congregations. Another longtime tenant, the Metropolitan Water District, was housed in offices above the theater.

For the last two years, however, it has lingered in mild disrepair while the owner, the Yellin Company - which also owns the neighboring Grand Central Market - negotiated with Voskanian over plans to return the building to its original use: a grand theater for film and stage productions.

The main lobby, currently in a state of decorative limbo, could hold a concession cafe and a bar. Rock shows, high-profile movie premieres and public speaking events may be in the cards as well, said Voskanian, who pointed out the theater's past as a playground for early stars like Charlie Chaplin.

Designed by movie house luminary William L. Woolett and one of Downtown's early influential architects, Albert C. Martin, the building was a red carpet hot spot for nearly a decade. But when Grauman completed Hollywood theaters like the Egyptian and the Chinese, they stole the limelight from Broadway theaters. Most closed, though a handful continued showing films until the 1990s.