Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin financed the United Artists Theatre/Texaco Building located at 933 S. Broadway, which was completed in 1927 by architects Percy A. Walker & Albert R. Eisen with interior design by C. Howard Crane. The Spanish Gothic style building included an ornate 50-foot high "dummy tower" to circumvent the local height restriction of the time, and all of the offices were leased to the California Petroleum Co. In 1979 Texaco Oil moved operations to Wilshire Blvd. In 1991 the building was designated as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument # 523. Dr. Gene Scott's University Cathedral leased the building until Greenfield Partners bought it in 2011 for conversion to an Ace Hotel. Photograph caption dated February 7, 1931 reads, "Limit-height store and office structure at 939 South Broadway, details of which were closed this week by owners." "The Bat Whispers" with Chester Morris on Magnifilm is billed at the theater, right. The terrazzo sidewalk extends to Benson Hosiery Shop (right). Parking is available across the street at the Texaco sign and is run by System Auto Parks.
United Artists Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.) System Auto Parks (Los Angeles, Calif.) Texaco, Inc Motion picture theaters--California--Los Angeles Marquees--California--Los Angeles Streets--California--Los Angeles Office buildings--California--Los Angeles Stores & shops--California--Los Angeles Automobiles--California--Los Angeles Electric railroads--Cars--California--Los Angeles Street-railroads--California--Los Angeles Signs and signboards--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Central business districts--California--Los Angeles Terrazzo--California--Los Angeles Broadway (Los Angeles, Calif.) Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Cityscape photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs Walker & Eisen
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