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Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, waltercolor

Description:
Lee's rendering of this small-town theatre on a corner site in Visalia shows a simple Streamline Moderne two-story building with glass block, tile, curved glass windows and butt-jointed glass box office windows. The flat marquee shows recessed downlights, almost the only feature retained in the final design.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Hoffman-Luckhaus
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, waltercolor

Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, night

Description:
This night view is a simplified design for a one-story building, retaining the downlighting in the lobby area, but eliminating the curved Streamline effects of the daytime view. Here the sign at the corner becomes the principal element of the design. Lee uses a series of recessed frames highlighted by indirect lighting, around the entire entrance, the poster cases, the false windows on the façade, and above the box office as a unifying motif.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, night

Visalia Theatre, Visalia, exterior

Description:
The finished theatre conforms closely to the design of the night-time rendering. The box office and sign focus attention on the corner. The use of artificial brick cladding was fashionable for both commercial and residential building of the period. (See also the Garmar Theatre in Montebello 30301-30305 for similar treatment of the exterior.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, exterior

Visalia Theatre, Visalia, auditorium

Description:
The auditorium interior reveals Lee's use of the inexpensive Quonset hut truss system, also used in the Puente Theatre (51101-51110) and the Garmar Theatre ((30301-30305) from the same period. In the immediate post-war period the system was used to build housing, commercial and factory buildings to satisfy the pent-up demand for new construction.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, auditorium

Ricardo's 5th birthday at Laguna Park

Description:
Laguna Park was later re-named Ruben Salazar Park after the L.A. Times journalist Ruben Salazar who was killed at the August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium. The Moratorium took place at Laguna Park and extended into the community of East Los Angeles. Rosalio, Maria Rosalia, and Ricardo all attended the Moratorium.
Date:
22 December 1947
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Los Angeles Latino Families Photo Project
Ricardo's 5th birthday at Laguna Park

Reforma Theatre, Mexico City, rendering

Description:
This theatre and office complex, perhaps taking its name from the Avenida de la Reforma in Mexico City, may be one of Lee's concepts for the Chapultepec Theatre (see 12401-12408) in Mexico City, which was located on the Avenida de la Reforma. The collection contains no photographs of the exterior of the Chapultepec.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Luckhaus Studio
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Reforma Theatre, Mexico City, rendering

Puente Theatre, Puente, rendering

Description:
Lee's sketch offers a prototype for a theatre that could be built cheaply and quickly. The simplest means of quickly constructing a theatre-sized space was to build a Quonset hut, a method devised in the late 1930s using small wood members to create an arched truss frame, which was then often clad in metal for warehouse purposes. A number of motion picture theatres were built in this way. They offered inexpensive rapid construction of theatre spaces in small towns such as Puente, an agricultural community east of Los Angeles.
Date:
1947-48
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Puente Theatre, Puente, rendering

Newsreel Theatre "Rio," photograph of rendering

Description:
This design makes good use of a small urban lot by maximizing the advertising space. The design above the marquee is one unit, the design below another. The projecting marquee attracts the attention of both Driver and pedestrian. The exterior could be of concrete, plaster, terra cotta, glass or plastic, the lettering in copper or white metal.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Newsreel Theatre "Rio," photograph of rendering

Newsreel Theatre "Park," photograph of rendering

Description:
This theatre is designed with a glass front. The box office has an automobile entrance to the parking lot with an automobile exit on the other side of the building. At night varicolored lights play on the façade and the building forms its own reflective background. This design marks a transition to the drive-theatre type.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Newsreel Theatre "Park," photograph of rendering

Newsreel Theatre "Correa," photograph of rendering

Description:
Lee produced a number of designs for newsreel theatres, a type of theatre that would show newsreels on a continuous basis. All the renderings describe in this archive as Theatre Design Concepts are newsreel theatres. The newsreel had been introduced as a short shown before the feature during the 1930s. World War II heightened interest in the newsreel, giving rise to the idea of small theatres showing newsreels only. As technology allowed, Lee began to increase his use of glass and later plastic, both transparent materials that could be used to great effect for buildings whose primary use was at night. Lee's renderings for these designs all show the buildings at night. By using transparent materials, Lee was creating illuminated sculptures that were their own advertisements for the film.Note on reverse: This modern idea has been designed to be inviting, entertaining and smart, to stand out in a busy location. The name on the theatre indicates the design was prepared for Mexico, probably in early 1940s.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Newsreel Theatre "Correa," photograph of rendering

Miami Theatre, Miami, ticket booth

Description:
The recessed lobby draws the moviegoer into the space with neon tube strips on the ceiling focussing on the entrance and with the walls of floor to ceiling glass. The glass walls allow a view of the interior which glows at night. The box office with its curvilinear shape, also illuminated, and its sleek walls, plays to the fantasy of the moviegoers.
Date:
1946-1947
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, ticket booth

Miami Theatre, Miami, rendering, foyer stair

Description:
See 40816,40817. The curving lines and delicate tracery of the stair railing contrast with the heavily embellished stairway arch. Porthole windows, typical of the Streamline Moderne style, open up the staircase walls. A mural with sea-life motifs decorates the curved wall to the right of the staircase. The recessed lighting panels in the ceiling and the diamond-patterned mirrored walls echo similar features in the foyer.
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, rendering, foyer stair

Miami Theatre, Miami, rendering, candy counter

Description:
The design for the refreshment or candy counter includes and overhanging canopy with scalloped edges, a curved counter with a diamond-patterned base, and porthole windows in the wall above. A mural with ocean motifs was part of the original concept. The final design evolved into a cleaner Streamline Moderne design in both the foyer candy counter (40810) and the mezzanine drink bar (40815).
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, rendering, candy counter

Miami Theatre, Miami, poster case

Description:
Set right on the sidewalk, the poster cases are large and sleek. They provide a glimpse of the show within to every passerby. Titles in both English and Spanish reflect Miamiýs Latin American population, which is also depicted in the mural in the foyer. (40812,40813).
Date:
1946-1947
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, poster case

Miami Theatre, Miami, mural

Description:
The focal point of the foyer is the mural at the auditorium entrance. The peoples and the flags of the countries of the Americas are ranged around a map of the continents. Even fruits and pets are included. It is clear that the theatre intended to attract Miamiýs Latin American community as well as English speakers.
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, mural

Miami Theatre, Miami, foyer: mural and seat

Description:
All the elements in the rendering (40802) were realized in the building, although the spaces are necessarily compressed and the elements appear crowded. The scale and drama of each feature, the lighting panels, the entrance arch, the mezzanine walls and railing, the mural, and the giant cartouche above. Mirrored walls above the banquettes to the left and the right, with the mirrors set in a diamond pattern, enhance the complexity of the space, while at the same time enlarging it.
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, foyer: mural and seat

Miami Theatre, Miami, foyer

Description:
The curved shapes, the treatment of the staircase, the poster cases, and the recessed lighting panels correspond closely to the rendering (40801). A focal point of the space is the mural of the Western hemisphere framed by the national flags and figures representing its peoples.(40813) Banquettes with mirrored walls above them, flank the auditorium entrance.
Date:
1946-1947
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, foyer

Miami Theatre, Miami, façade

Description:
The Miami Theatre in downtown Miami, Florida, was Leeýs last major motion picture theatre in the grand tradition of the movie palaces of the 1920s and 1930s. After 1950, smaller neighborhood theatres and drive-ins became more popular with the development of the suburbs. The Miami, however, was one of Leeýs largest and most all-encompassing designs executed in the United States. The complex included not only a motion picture theatre, which included a legitimate stage but also a restaurant and a candy store, all in a downtown urban setting. In the design, which was largely executed as shown in the renderings, Lee married Baroque and Rococo elements with Streamline Moderne features, producing an unusually eclectic design. The renderings show murals with sea-life motifs, suggesting that Lee drew inspiration from seashell and wave forms for many aspects of the design, which may account for the Baroque and Rococo-appearing design elements. Although demolished, the theatre is one of the most extensively documented in the S. Charles Lee Collection at UCLA.The design of the façade, with its diamond-patterned panels and ornate cartouche is echoed in the interior. On the left is Huylerýs, a candy shop and restaurant that was part of the theatre complex. The narrow site and the height of the building to the rear reflect the two-tier balcony and the long narrow plan of the auditorium, a scheme that Lee had used in his first major theatre, the Tower Theatre in Los Angeles.
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, façade

Miami Theatre, Miami, auditorium, front

Description:
The simple lines of the long narrow auditorium, its shape dictated by the urban lot, all lead the eye toward the proscenium,, which is framed by bands of indirect lighting and flanked by large scale designs in relief. A sumptuous curtain hung in swags fills the upper portion of the proscenium, scaling the immense arch down to cinema size.
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, auditorium, front

Helix Theatre, La Mesa, photograph of rendering

Description:
A later concept drawing shows a scaled-down design which is more conventional in massing. Streamline forms can still be seen in the sign area and in the porthole window on the right wall. However, the chief design elements have evolved from the smooth to the angular, with walls, marquee and canopies project out and up at angles.
Date:
1947-48
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Hoffman-Luckhaus
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Helix Theatre, La Mesa, photograph of rendering

Helix Theatre, La Mesa, entry doors and marquee

Description:
The design evolved into a storefront remodel using every device to capture attention from the passerby. The strong diamond pattern applied to the upper story, the series of vertical posts applied at street and the paneled entry doors draw attention to the centerpiece, the curving neon-outlined marquee. A curved box office at the sidewalk and poster cases framed in wavey edged box frames are overwhelmed by the other design elements. Here the chief purpose of the design is to draw attention to the storefront, using a variety of cheap applied elements without regard for design integration.
Date:
1947-48
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Lee, S. Charles, 1899-1990
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Helix Theatre, La Mesa, entry doors and marquee

Drive-in theatre, Ventura, photograph of rendering

Description:
This earliest-known concept for a drive-in theater by Lee, the Ventura Drive-In, shows a sophisticated use of illuminated triangular forms massed alongside the large illuminated screen structure and along the edges of the parking lot, creating an advertising sign for the theater out of the drive-in form itself. The sharp-edged forms are clearly Art Deco in character, a style that is sometimes called Zig-Zag Moderne. The design vocabulary was adapted from usage current in theatre design at the time.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Morris & Monroe
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Ventura, photograph of rendering