Tower Theatre
H.L. Gumbiner moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in the early 1920s with the goal of operating theaters “so enticing that the major studios would feel obliged to give him their pictures to satisfy public demand.” He acquired two theatres on Broadway, the Cameo and the Garrick, and gave up-and-coming theater architect S. Charles Lee his first independent commission to design the Tower Theatre to replace the Garrick at 8th and Broadway. It was designed in the French Renaissance style with Spanish, Romanesque and Moorish influences. Its interior was loosely modeled after the Paris Opera House. Closed since 1988, the building was restored and opened as an Apple retail store in June 2021. It is listed as a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument and a contributing structure of the Broadway Theatre and Commercial District on the National Register of Historic Places.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Photographer: John Bare