401-421 W 7th St
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Theatre Jewelry Bldg · Property For Lease

Opened in 1920 as a vaudeville house, the Pantages Downtown was part of the very successful Pantages circuit, the second of the chain to be built in Los Angeles (the first, now called the Arcade, opened on Broadway in 1910). The Pantages Downtown was the work of B. Marcus Priteca, who designed well over 150 theatres (including the Pantages Hollywood, 1929) for many different theatre chains. The Pantages Downtown, later known as the Warner Bros. Downtown, is a rich ornamented Beaux Arts structure built to house a theatre and shops, with offices above. The white terra-cotta façade is covered with decorative details, including beautifully sculpted female herms (posts topped with busts of divinities) on the Seventh Street façade. Located at the intersection of Seventh and Hill Streets, the theatre entrance faces the corner, at the base of a rounded tower crowned by a dome. Although converted to a jewelry mart in the 1980s, much of the theatres original ornamentation survives, including elaborate plasterwork on the walls and ceilings of the former auditorium, balcony, and lobby. Original Corinthian columns flank the stage, which is framed by an elaborately decorated proscenium. At the center of the proscenium, an enormous torch projects from a shield with cornucopias to either side. The Ceiling features a mural of a sunburst surrounded by Egyptian, Oriental, Greek, and Roman Figures. Los Angeles has the second-largest jewelry district in the nation, after New York. In the heart of downtown's jewelry district stands the Pantages Theater. It was once one of the city's most prestigious vaudeville houses. Theater manager Alexander Pantages built the nine-story structure in 1919, the 16th in a nation-wide chain of over 80 theaters. Pantages also built theaters on Broadway and on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. In the 1940's, Warner Brothers bought the theater and named it "Warner's Downtown". Although it still has it's "WB" shield, it has been sold many times. A church in the 50's, the building was bought in 1988 for 16 million dollars and turned into the Jewelry Center.