APARTMENTS SECOND FLOOR LANDING
APARTMENTS GROUND FLOOR LOBBY
INTERIOR WITH 900 SEATS
AUDITORIUM DECORATIVE TAPESTRY PANEL WITH ORIGINAL LIGHTING SCONCES
FROM THE STAGE LOOKING TO THE REAR OF THE AUDITORIUM
AUDITORIUM SEAT DETAILS
THEATRE LOBBY WITH CONCESSION STAND
TERAZZO ENTRANCE FOYER WITH TICKET BOOTH
DECORATIVE ORGAN SPEAKER GRILLE WITH EXIT ARCH BELOW
PROSCENIUM MASK ABOVE SCREEN
As of Monday night, April 12, 2010, the Washington Theatre, located in Lake Washington Village, is now an official Pasadena landmark, having been designated such by the Pasadena City Council, and this has been a long time coming. Here are photos of the interior from a long ago tour by the City assessing the remains of the archaeology of the once proud entertainment venue.
Here from Altadena historian Michele Zack, her letter to the Editor of the Pasadena Star News:
How about a "Walk-To" cinema?
In reading of the hopes the Washington Theater complex's renovation and possible landmark status are inspiring, I must question the premise that reviving its use as a theater is all but impossible. My goodness, we did have cars way back in the 1950s and 1960s when I was a regular attendee and the theater was flourishing.
What has changed so very much since then? Well, let's see. . . besides becoming fatter and losing much neighborhood commercial vibrancy, we seem to have developed fear of walking as a transportation mode. I don't know if this condition is related to hardening of the zoning arteries — but I do see a possible cure.
If city planners could become more nimble in responding to community needs, instead relying so much on thousands of pages that tell us what we CANNOT possibly do, they could creatively encourage many beneficial outcomes. Things like increased walkability and sense of place, and the renewal of vibrant commercial nodes outside the center to reduce car tripsThere are literally thousands of people living within a 10-minute stroll of Washington Theater!
People who would welcome the chance to avoid the parking basement horror of the Plaza Pasadena when all they want is to see a movie. And what about the thousands more who could hop a bus up or down Lake Avenue?
As a child, I regularly walked to the Washington Theater from Holliston Avenue to see matinees, and my family had two cars. At night my parents joined me and our pedestrian commute was closer to 20-25 minutes (they were kind of slow.)
We have Bungalow Heaven, Historic Highlands, and all the other people living to the west, north and south who could be encouraged to take in a movie and perhaps patronise a local restaurant or other business.
Actively encouraging the use the Washington Theater as a cultural anchor would lure people out of their armchairs, make our neighborhoods more people-friendly and vibrant — as well as spur economic development and fuel conservation.Pasadena Planners don't have far to look for examples (including some within their own city).
Eagle Rock Boulevard became cool when that city thought out-of-the- box in terms of parking. Other areas within Los Angeles have applied "creative zoning" to reach specific results.
If we want to transform neigborhoods and achieve agreed-upon benefits, we must stop parking from being the perrenial obstacle before which we throw up our arms and admit defeat.
Michele Zack
And here from PSN Editor Larry Wilson's column:
Larry Wilson: We insist on parking beneath the marquee
Posted: 04/08/2010 05:06:20 PM PDT
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Few people who recall when north-central Pasadena's Washington Theater was a silent-flick venue featuring vaudeville-style variety are still around.
But lots of us who enjoyed the literally cheap thrills of the renamed Cinema 21 in the 1960s and `70s still are.
By the time I started going there with my crowd from Eliot Junior High School, it was a second-run house offering the best deal in town: 50 cents for a double feature. Teens packed the place, not overly stringent about checking IDs, every Friday night for years for great ones like "The Wild Bunch" just a few months after they played at the expensive spreads down on Colorado Boulevard.
There were nights when there was not an adult in the place. The smoke from countless Marlboro reds filled the auditorium. Fun was had.
Years ago, I mentioned in this space a night when at least one adult was in the house. The feature was Zefferelli's "Romeo and Juliet," starring the comely Olivia Hussey. Because we had to pretend we didn't find Shakespeare's tragic love story affecting, kids were tittering at the loud sobs coming from one girl sitting up front. Apparently, her father had accompanied her. He stood up, turned around to face us, and called out in the dark, "Have you no feelings?"
The business and the neighborhood changed. For a time the theater became the Cinema Veinte y Uno, showing only Spanish-language flicks, before it closed entirely. It last hit our news pages when Rolls Royce-driving former owners from San Diego didn't take much care of the apartments above, drawing the ire of city inspectors.
I agree with Pasadena Heritage - the 1925 building should get landmark protection, which will help with taxes and restoration. I understand the pickle the new owners are in - movie-going habits have changed in a Netflix age. Restoring the theater part of the building would be a big gamble.
But I really hear the words of Altadena and Sierra Madre historian Michele Zack, who grew up just east of the theater and used to walk there, with friends and family, all the time. Like me, she cringed when reading assertions that the place "needs" its own dedicated parking.
"My goodness, we did have cars way back in the 1950s and 1960s when I was a regular attendee, and the theater was flourishing," Zack writes. "What has changed so very much since then? Well, let's see. . . besides becoming fatter and losing much neighborhood commercial vibrancy, we seem to have developed fear of walking as a transportation mode. . . . If city planners could become more nimble in responding to community needs, instead of relying so much on thousands of pages that tell us what we CANNOT possibly do, they could creatively encourage many beneficial outcomes. Things like increased walkability and sense of place, and the renewal of vibrant commercial nodes outside the center to reduce car trips. There are literally thousands of people living within a 10-minute stroll of the Washington Theater!"
So we hope and pray the Washington Theatre will be saved and restored. It's the most important historical, cultural and entertainment venue on Avenue to the Sky and Lake Washington Village. Please focus your best will and intentions on this location and support the owners' and community's efforts to bring back this much loved attraction to Avenue to the Sky!
See you at opening night! Black tie formal dress required! Look for the marquee announcement and the revolving searchlights in front lighting up the Lake Washington Village sky.
What movie should be booked for opening night? Let's hear some suggestions!
Devil's Lake, 1922 - Now known as Hahamongna
