SoCal Landmarks

SoCal Landmarks

A Photography Project

Art Theatre of Long Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles County

Art Theatre of Long Beach

The Art Theatre originally opened as The Carter Theatre in 1925 as a single screen silent movie house, complete with an orchestra pit, and pipe organ. After the earthquake in 1933, the theatre was remodeled by Schilling and Schilling in an Art Deco streamline moderne style and renamed The Lee Theatre. Additions included the ticket booth, terrazzo floor and zigzag elements like the stepped piers, vertical fluting and the central-stepped vertical tower. In 1947, the theater was remodeled again with a mid-century design, and renamed The Art Theatre. In 2008, Dr. Mark Vidor led a group of local investors to purchase the theatre and “retrovision” it to its former Art Deco style using the original blueprints from 1933.

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Long Beach, Los Angeles County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt