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Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Description:
A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:
October 15, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction detail

Description:
A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:
October 15, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction detail

Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Description:
A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:
October 15, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction, pouring concrete

Description:
A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:
October 5, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction, pouring concrete

Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Description:
A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:
October 5, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Description:
A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:
October 4, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, construction

Drive-in theatre, San Diego, screen, street view

Description:
The Rancho Drive-In in San Diego was built in the same year (1948) as the Edwards Drive-In in Arcadia. Although no construction photos survive, the construction technique was presumably similar. In this example, Lee used the street side of the screen structure to feature a colorful mural-like scene of the Mexican landscape illuminated from behind, a cultural reference appropriate to the border city of San Diego.
Date:
April 10, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, San Diego, screen, street view

Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, photograph of bird's eye rendering

Description:
The drive-in theatre concept was first tried in the mid-1930s but only after World War II did the idea gain widespread acceptance. Lee designed several drive-in theaters, a type especially suited to the mild climate and car-dependent economy of Southern California. The drive-in allowed the whole family to go to the movies in the family car, with no need for a baby-sitter. It also proved especially popular with dating teen-agers, who found drive-ins the ideal refuge from watchful adult eyes. The drive-in was also cheap to build. A large piece of land, a structure to display the screen and smaller buildings for tickets, refreshments and the projector were all that was needed. The parking lot was usually graded to provide the parked cars with a good angle for viewing the screen, and each space was equipped with a speaker that could be hooked to the dashboard to bring the sound into the car.
Date:
1948
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Hoffman-Luckhaus
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Drive-in theatre, Arcadia, photograph of bird's eye rendering

La Tijera Theatre, Los Angeles, exterior, day

Description:
In the late 1940s and 1950s architects combined the fluid forms of the Streamline Moderne style with the square modules favored by International Style architects. In California a new form of modernism was developing that favored the use of natural materials, especially stone and wood, in architecture, foremost in residential building. These influences, however, were also felt in commercial buildings, especially in the suburbs. Hence La Tijera Theatre, on Sepulveda Boulevard in a growing suburban area near the airport. A streamlined automobile is entering the porte-cochere on the left.
Date:
1948-49
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Blakeslee, Alpheus A.
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
La Tijera Theatre, Los Angeles, exterior, day

La Tijera Theatre, Los Angeles, auditorium

Description:
The auditorium walls curve towards the screen, interrupted in each side by a scalloped wall edge where the screen curtain, lit by indirect lighting begins. The effect is further enhanced by the continuation of a vine pattern on the walls in cut-out form over the front exit openings. Globes of light at the center of grilles concealing the ceiling fans neatly combine two functions. The ceiling is further decorated by a scalloped design painted around the light and ventilation fixtures.
Date:
1948-49
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Todd, L. A.
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
La Tijera Theatre, Los Angeles, auditorium

La Tijera Theatre, Los Angeles, exterior, night

Description:
Lee designed his theatres to be most effective at night. The tall neon sign seems to hang in the air above the building. A grid of round lights underneath the canopy forms a high marquee and illuminates the entrance. Translucent panels on the lobby walls glow invitingly and the aluminum frames reflect the light. The poster cases are illuminated internally and outlined by neon strips.
Date:
1948-49
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
La Tijera Theatre, Los Angeles, exterior, night

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

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

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

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

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

Miami Theatre, Miami, Huyler's sweet shop, counter

Description:
Transparent glass walls facing the sidewalk and the lobby integrate the shop with the activity going on outside. The display counter and its cabinets and drawers are sleek and cleanly designed, as are the curving lunch counter and its simple chairs. The traditional forms of the glass chandelier lend a touch of historicist elegance to the otherwise stark interior.
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Lee, S. Charles, 1899-1990
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, Huyler's sweet shop, counter

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, 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, crying room

Description:
The crying room, a feature of many theatres of the period, was a soundproof glass-walled viewing room for mothers with small children. Here the model demonstrates the audio device that transmitted sound to individual viewers. The acoustic tile on the walls began to be widely used in the 1940s and soon became ubiquitous.
Date:
1946-47
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Miami Theatre, Miami, crying room

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

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