The Life magazine photographer who took this slice-of-life shot was standing on the streetcar stop at Broadway and 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles. The view is looking south toward the Loew’s State Theatre, MGM’s main movie house, where “Woman of the Year” starring Katharine Hepburn was playing in 1942. I’ve ever seen that sign three stories up: “There’s Always a Better Show at Loew’s State.”
Roughly that same view in December 2020. Normally this intersection would be a lot busier but, well, you know, Covid and all…
The Loew’s Theatre is still there. Last time I walked past it had become, like many downtown theaters, a church, but in this December 2020 photo, it looks like it’s empty again.
I can’t quite read what it says on the top of the building, farther down the street on the right. Mahoney Center?
I’ve had a chance to see almost all of the downtown theaters, thanks to the LA Conservatory’s Last Remaining Seats program. But the Loew’s either hasn’t been used, or I wasn’t able to attend whatever might have been shown there. The building itself is beautiful, though. According to Wikipedia, Judy Garland appeared there with her sisters in the 1920s when they were a vaudeville act known as the Gumm Sisters.