By 1927, Los Angeles had an Egyptian Theatre and a Chinese Theatre, so what came next? A Mayan Theater of course, because when you think theaters, you naturally think the Mayan aesthetic. Or at least, that’s what oil magnate Edward Doheny thought when built his Mayan Theater at 1038 S. Hill St. in downtown LA, between 10^th and 11^th and opened it on August 15, 1927 starring Elsie Janis in the Gershwin musical “Oh, Kay!” This photo and the one below were taken not long after the opening.

Andie says: I know a little about this. I was at a dog show sometime in the ’60s and I was sitting with some people and Dickey Doheny Washington came and sat with us. I mentioned that I had been to a foreign film event at the Mayan and someone had told me that it was built by her father. She admitted that it was and he got the idea when he was on a business trip to Texas and had seen the Aztec theater in San Antonio which had just opened. He wanted his theater to be bigger, more elaborate and more colorful.

This photo was taken not long after the opening. Unfortunately, black-and-white photos don’t do it justice because it’s really quite a colorful venue, so when I was in downtown L.A. yesterday, I took some photos (it’s now a nightclub):