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Tower Theatre, Compton, façade, day

Description:
Designed for a working class community in Los Angeles, the Tower Theater is a modest design which presents a stylish black and white Deco exterior (62701). The night view shows the effective use of neon and spotlighting to illuminate the fluted Moderne tower (62702). The box office is surrounded by circles of light bulbs on the lobby ceiling and a sunburst design on the lobbyýs terrazzo floor (62703). Poster cases are framed by scrolled pediments and simulated columns. The interior uses exaggerated columns, mirrors, white traditional-style furniture, and gilt to suggest a palatial elegance that is distant from the lives of the theatreýs clientele (62704-62705). Hanging lanterns and striped upholstery in the auditorium impart a subdued elegance (62706-62707).
Date:
1935-36
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Tower Theatre, Compton, façade, day

Tower Theatre, Compton, façade, night

Description:
Designed for a working class community in Los Angeles, the Tower Theater is a modest design which presents a stylish black and white Deco exterior (62701). The night view shows the effective use of neon and spotlighting to illuminate the fluted Moderne tower (62702). The box office is surrounded by circles of light bulbs on the lobby ceiling and a sunburst design on the lobbyýs terrazzo floor (62703). Poster cases are framed by scrolled pediments and simulated columns. The interior uses exaggerated columns, mirrors, white traditional-style furniture, and gilt to suggest a palatial elegance that is distant from the lives of the theatreýs clientele (62704-62705). Hanging lanterns and striped upholstery in the auditorium impart a subdued elegance (62706-62707).
Date:
1935-36
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Tower Theatre, Compton, façade, night

Tower Theatre, Compton, auditorium, front

Description:
Designed for a working class community in Los Angeles, the Tower Theater is a modest design which presents a stylish black and white Deco exterior (62701). The night view shows the effective use of neon and spotlighting to illuminate the fluted Moderne tower (62702). The box office is surrounded by circles of light bulbs on the lobby ceiling and a sunburst design on the lobbyýs terrazzo floor (62703). Poster cases are framed by scrolled pediments and simulated columns. The interior uses exaggerated columns, mirrors, white traditional-style furniture, and gilt to suggest a palatial elegance that is distant from the lives of the theatreýs clientele (62704-62705). Hanging lanterns and striped upholstery in the auditorium impart a subdued elegance (62706-62707).
Date:
1935-36
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Tower Theatre, Compton, auditorium, front

Hopkins Theatre, Oakland, auditorium

Description:
The simple interior design illustrates the Streamline theme with the use of painted curves on the walls and semicircular ceiling panels that conceal lights, creating indirect lighting of the ceiling. Instead of a balcony, the rear of the auditorium is raked and separated from the main floor by a low partition and steps.
Date:
1938-41
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Hopkins Theatre, Oakland, auditorium

Vern Theatre, Los Angeles, street elevation

Description:
Lee developed a simplified design which relied on the porthole motif to evoke the streamlined character of the great ocean liners of the era. Note on reverse: "Exterior, surfaced form concrete. Modern in appearance, it is three tones in color. The ribbed portion was created by casting concrete against corrugated forms."
Date:
1939-41
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Vern Theatre, Los Angeles, street elevation

Vern Theatre, Los Angeles, auditorium

Description:
Two strips of neon, one blue and one white, in the ceiling cove, illuminate the auditorium. Neon is on a dimmer, which creates a theatrical atmosphere as well as controlling the light during picture operation. Pairs of buxom nudes painted in shiny metallic paint fly along the wall toward the screen.
Date:
1939-41
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Vern Theatre, Los Angeles, auditorium

Tumbleweed Theatre, Five Points (El Monte), street elevation, night

Description:
Lee illuminated the "barn" to highlight its forms in light and dark. The windmill tower with its illuminated revolving wheel attracted attention from afar, while the tower structure was used to display the name of the theatre. For good measure, a standard box sign on a pylon was added at the street frontage.
Date:
1939
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
P.A.C Photographers
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Tumbleweed Theatre, Five Points (El Monte), street elevation, night

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

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, 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

Picwood Theatre, Los Angeles, rendering

Description:
The Picwood was designed as a neighborhood theatre on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. The design epitomized the modern post-war aesthetic, which required simple lines, inexpensive building materials and quick construction to satisfy the post-war boom. The simple curved pylon was a landmark in the flat landscape of one- and two-story buildings.
Date:
1946
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Hoffman-Luckhaus
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Picwood Theatre, Los Angeles, rendering

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

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