January 19, 1931 was an auspicious moment for San Pedro. Old Beacon Street was just about to enter its prime, boasting several movie theatres including the Globe and the Strand. Dance halls and restaurants, such as the Chateau Gardens and Shanghai Red, were sprouting like daisies, and numerous cafes dotted the downtown San Pedro landscape.

     This was also a time when Warner Brothers, in an effort to expand the market to showcase their films, stepped into one of the liveliest districts in America by opening one of three movie palaces in the Los Angeles area.
     On the day of the grand opening, Jack Warner, Jr. stood on Sixth Street, between Pacific and Mesa, and shared his vision of the Warner Brothers Theatre (now known as the Warner Grand Theatre) as the premiere entertainment venue in the Los Angeles Harbor Area. He dubbed the theatre “The Castle of Your Dreams” and for many years the theatre was just that as generations of San Pedro locals experienced the sights and sounds of the world through the velvet curtains of this art-deco masterpiece. The old saying, “they don’t make ‘em like they used to,” certainly applies to the Warner Grand.
     On opening day, the Warner Grand featured the Warner Brothers newly released comedic hit “Going Wild.” A slew of movie stars and directors, watched by adoring fans, attended the lavish opening, a kind of usually reserved for huge red carpet Hollywood affairs. The glitz and glamour of this era faded away like the rest of Old Beacon, but unlike the others, the theatre remained, waiting patiently for the hum of the crowd, the whir of the projector, and the clatter of the ticket box.
     The movie-going experience during the early the age of American cinema, when films were just beginning to introduce sound, was an outing that required the movie-goer to put on their Sunday best. Little boys wore slacks and spit-shined shoes and little girls wore their newest dresses and gloves.
     My grandmother, Dolly Grilli, an 85-year San Pedro resident remembered that, “...going to the movies was a big treat.” Grandma Dolly recalled the excitement of going to the theatre, describing how the crowd would line up outside and “everyone dressed up.” According to grandma, “There would be comedians or chorus girls before the movie.”
     She said, “It was nice entertainment and people enjoyed that too. Some of the acts would have to return because people would want to see more.”
     White-gloved ushers escorted patrons to their seats, candy girls served refreshments, and waiting room maids were at the ready to provide any assistance needed in the restroom. In short, the moviegoer was made to feel like royalty in a palace for two hours. Entrance cost 25 cents.
     Today’s movie experience at the multiplex is a far cry from that golden era of castles and dreams. Today, visitors are treated no better than a cash cow, milked of their dollars and good sense. A trip to the theatre nowadays means breezing through a nondescript, cookie-cutter mall past the popcorn stand into the rectangular sloped seated room with a giant screen. There’s no pampering amidst all the modern conveniences of help-yourself dispensers. There’s no waiting room staff or usher to be found.
     The Warner Brothers had initially planned to build and operate six theatres throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area but succeeded with only three: San Pedro, Beverly Hills and Huntington Park. The Great Depression halted the building of any further endeavor. Today, San Pedro’s Warner Grand Theatre is the only Warner movie palace standing.
     At a cost of $500,000 the Warner Grand was spared no expense, that’s $5.5 million in today’s dollars, although according to the Executive Director of the Grand Vision Foundation, Liz Schindler-Johnson, the cost would be much higher.
     “Taking into account current material prices and modern wages, it has been suggested that the Warner couldn’t be built for less than $50 million,” Schindler-Johnson explained.
     Max Shagrin, the then district manager of Warner Brothers Pacific Coast chain of theatres declared in a January 19, 1931 edition of the San Pedro News Pilot that, “…the finest in motion pictures will be shown here.”
     Shagrin boldly assured San Pedro residents “...that they will find at this theatre at all times, first run, interesting and entertaining pictures, most of them from the fine studios of Warner Bros.”
     Only the best were hired to work on the Warner Grand. Renowned architect Benjamin Marcus Priteca was enlisted as chief architect of the new theatre. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1881, Priteca designed over 150 theaters. Some of his work on the West Coast includes the Seattle Coliseum (1916), the Pantages Tacoma Theatre (aka “The Roxy,”1918), and the famed Pantages Hollywood (1920) where for years the academy awards were held.
     Renowned designer, Anthony B. Heinsbergen, was charged with creating the murals and architectural ornamentation of the Warner Grand. During his career, Heinsbergen captured an impressive array of commissions and worked with some of the most celebrated architects of his day. Other notable work included the Wiltern Theatre and the Los Angeles City Hall.

Life After Near Death

     With the advent of the television and the breaking of the Studios’ lock on the exhibition of movies in the 1940s, the multiplex in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the VCR in the ‘80s competing for the attention of the viewing public, wonderful theatres like the Warner Grand became forgotten relics of a bygone era. When the Warner Grand experienced a drop in attendance as did theatres throughout the country in the 1950s, they installed a large 45-foot screen and instituted new games and gimmicks to keep their dwindling audience entertained.
     For the Warner Grand, at least, increased competition by other media outlets was not the only problem. In 1948, the nation’s largest studios, including Warner Brothers, agreed to divest themselves of their theatre ownership after losing a nearly decade long anti-trust battle with the government. Studios made a great deal of their money from the box office and it made sense to open their own theatres. However, independent theatre operators complained they were being locked out of the film exhibition industry.
     For the Warner Grand, this meant a passing through the hands of a succession of owners who were unable to recapture the theatre’s former glamour. During its many incarnations, the Warner Grand was a Spanish language theatre as the Teatro Juarez and briefly, an adult theatre.
     The Grand Vision Foundation was founded in 1995 by a group of locals seeking to preserve the Warner Grand rather than to be sold to a disinterested party or destroyed like Old Beacon Street. In fact, efforts to save the theatre had already been in existence for about a decade before gaining the critical mass to form the foundation. In 1996, the Grand Vision incorporated into a 501(c)3 charitable corporation and began attracting political and community support. In the same year, the City of Los Angeles purchased the building, which has since been managed by the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
     The Grand Vision’s main purpose is to raise funds to preserve the Warner Grand. The group’s big effort lately has been the “Save Your Seat Campaign,” whose goal is primarily to refurbish the theatre’s 1,560 seats, now faded and torn with their springs sprung. Grand Vision intends to recover the loudly colored gold, red and green seat-covers (a byproduct of the last time the seats were refurbished during its incarnation as the Teatro Juarez) with art deco styled upholstery created from the original pattern.
     The latest fundraising effort is intended to raise $800,000 to restore the stage and seats to mint condition.
     “What we first thought was a $450,000 project, then turned into $700,000 and is
finally turning out to be $800,000,” says Schindler-Johnson. “We initially budgeted to just redo the seats then we expanded the project to include new stage rigging and sound that are also so desperately needed.”
     From the start, the effort to save and restore the Warner Grand Theatre has been a San Pedro led and driven effort. Community members can get involved by sponsoring the refurbishment of one of the theatre’s seats in the Grand Vision Foundation’s Save Your Seat campaign. Seat donations start at $350 for one or $1000 for four in a row. Patrons who adopt a seat will have their name engraved on a plaque affixed to the armrest acknowledging their contribution to the preservation of San Pedro’s cultural history.
     “The more I have become involved in this project the more I understand the sentimental significance of the Warner Grand to many long-term San Pedro residents,” Schindler-Johnson explained.
     The Grand Vision hopes to fill the theatre with plaques that record the names of San Pedro citizens and families who have loved and patronized the theatre over the years.
     When the Warner Grand first opened, there once was a plaque dedicated to Roy A. Moore, the first San Pedran to die in World War I. That plaque has since been lost to history. This time around, the plaques that will be attached to the Warner Grand’s seats will not be forgotten and will not disappear with the sands of time.