Regular viewers of this site will know that I do enjoy an atmospheric night shot, and this one ticks all the boxes: A towering blade sign glowing in the dark, a huge marquee filled with the very packed shows that movie houses used to offer back then, the neon sign of Frank Fink’s Intimate Apparel, and—my favorite detail—the automobile parked out front caught in silhouette. This photo was taken during the run of MGM’s Norma Shearer vehicle “Let Us Be Gay” which came out in August 1930.
Gary H says: “Photo taken two months after The Pantages opened. When construction began in 1929 they were making it as a 12 story building, but when the stock market crashed, they changed the plans and made only two stories.”
Bill C says: “And let’s not forget that the readerboard letters seen here were not run-of-the-mill back-lit milk glass. These were changeable neon letters.”
This is how the Pantages Theatre looked in August 2022.
When the theater opened, someone put signage in the windows of the big restaurant area to the right reading “Effie Dean Cafe Ltd.”. Sir Walter Scot’s character is Effie Deans, not Dean. So what was the meaning if this name? To compound the matter, when the CB&Q original streamliner Pioneer Zephyr was given to a Chicago museum they only had room for three of the cars (numbered, not named) so the fourth car was sold off along with the train set for the Mark Twain Zephyr. During a succession of owners who failed to restore the cars, this fourth car was repainted with the name Effie Dean. No one seems to know why or when. Does anyone have a clue as to who Effie Dean was and what the relationship to food service or hospitality may have been? And what happened to the cafe? (The spot was later on occupied by the Italian Kitchen.)
When this shot was taken, was the Frolic Room located one storefront to the left of this photo’s left edge? I imagine it opened a little later, but it would be fun to know it was there when the Pantages opened.
It opened on June 4, 1930.
https://martinturnbull.com/2015/06/17/opening-night-of-pantages-theatre-hollywood-blvd-june-4-1930/
Bill, I watched a little you tube video on the Frolic Room, called oldest dive in La. Under 5 min. Narrator said it opened as a bar in 1934 and there was back stairs in the building that led into the theater. The stairs are still there. Interesting little video. I am going to check out that bar when I take a trip down.