Skip to main content

Search

Advanced Search

Find results with:

Add another field

Search by date

Search by date:
from:
to
to:

Searching collections:

Changing Face of Southern California

Add or remove collections

Home

Changing Face of Southern California

World premier, Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles, California

Reference URL

Share

To link to this object, paste this link in email, IM or document
To embed this object, paste this HTML in website

World premier, Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles, California

View Description

Loading content ...

you wish to report:

Your comment:

Your Name:

...

Back to top

Powered by CONTENTdm®

Identifier	clloy_169
Title	World premier, Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles, California
Creator	Unknown
Date Published	circa 1940
Subject (Topic)	Motion picture theaters--California--Los Angeles; Motion picture industry--California--Los Angeles;
Subject (Name)	Carthay Circle Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.);
Subject (Place)	Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.);
Type	image
Form/Genre	Postcards
Physical Description	1 postcard : Color ; 9 x 14 cm.
Institution	Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University
Country of Creation	US
Copyright Status	public domain
Copyright Statement	https://library.lmu.edu/policies&procedures/librarycopyrightpolicy/
Publisher	Tichnor Art Company
Place of Publication	L.A. [i.e. Los Angeles]
Language	eng
Description	A nighttime view looking across the street at Fox's Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California during a premier. The building facade is brightly lit, and several colored searchlights point in various directions. Crowds of people stand on either side of the road.
Historical Background	The Carthay Circle Theater, built in 1926 and located just off of San Vicente Boulevard near Fairfax, was part of an area developed by J. Harvey McCarthy during the 1920s. McCarthy developed 136 acres just south of Wilshire Boulevard with an emphasis on aesthetics, and thematic elements drawn from California history. When McCarthy encountered difficulties in luring merchants away from Wilshire's Miracle Mile shopping district, he instead built the Carthay Circle Theater, an iconic building with its whitewashed mission revival style architecture, tall bell tower and bright neon sign. The interior featured bronze busts of Native American leaders, photographs of famous actors and actresses, forty-foot paintings of historic scenes, and the curtain in its auditorium was decorated as an homage to the Donner Party. The theater became a prime location for movie premiers, including Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Fantasia" and MGM's "Gone with the Wind." By the 1960s, business was waning due to competition from multi-screen theaters. The Carthay Circle Theater was demolished in 1969.
Publisher's Identifier	Publisher's serial number: 62697; Series number: T-376
Additional Notes	Printed on linen textured paper.
Source	Werner von Boltenstern Postcard Collection