Detailed Information

Architect B. Marcus Priteca was contracted in 1930 to design three theatres for Warner Bros, to be located in San Pedro, Huntington Park, and Beverly Hills. All three theatres were executed in an Art Deco style. For the San Pedro theatre Priteca partnered with interior designer and muralist Anthony Heinsbergen, a followup to their previous collaboration on the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

The Warner Grand’s Auditorium

All three theatres opened within six months of each other in the early 1930s, however in the fullness of time the Beverly Hills and Huntington Park theatres did not fare as well as the San Pedro theatre. The Beverly Hills Warner was demolished in 1988, and the Warner Theatre in Huntington Park closed in the mid-1990s, reopening in 2018 adaptively reused as a gym.

Although built with a stage, in its early years the Warner Grand served mostly as a movie house. Whereas the proscenium arch is both wide and high, the stage depth is very shallow. Basic hemp-line flying facilities were included when built and were upgraded to a counterweight flying system in 2007. Organ chambers were included in the build however the theatre never received an organ.

In 1937 the theatre was renamed as the San Pedro Theatre. It prospered during the years of WWII, drawing customers from military-based operations at the nearby port and shipyards.

Stage of the Warner Grand

In 1953 the Stanley Warner Corporation took over management of the theatre, heralding the start of a series of different names for the theatre starting with the Stanley Warner San Pedro Theatre. Pacific Theatres took over the property in 1968.

In the 1970s, the theatre was sold to Arnulfo Estrada and was subsequently run as a Spanish-language film house called Teatro Juarez. The theatre changed hands again in 1984 when it was sold to Raymond Howell and Clay Colbert who changed the theatre’s name to the Warner Grand and started a refurbishment program in addition to running classics, organ concerts, and other programming. Successive operators purchased the theatre in 1986 and 1991.

In 1996 the theatre was purchased for $1.2 million by the City of Los Angeles, and the Grand Vision Foundation  was formed with the aim of preserving the building rather than let it be demolished or re-developed. Grand Vision envisioned the theatre as a center for the community, and raised funds for ongoing restoration and upgrades as well as booking and promoting events at the theatre.

Art Deco detail

HVAC systems were upgraded in 2004, new seating was installed in 2006 along with a major interior renovation, and in 2014 the theatre’s original fire curtain, painted by Armstrong Studios of Los Angeles, was “rediscovered”. In 2018 an appeal was launched called “Love the Lobby”, with the intent of restoring the original painted Art Deco designs of the main lobby ceiling.

In Spring 2019 it was announced that SPF:architects  would be designing a $4.5 million renovation which was scheduled to commence in Summer 2019, tentatively due to be completed in Summer 2020. Upgrades and improved facilities will hopefully persuade promoters to bring bigger acts to the theatre. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the project did not commence. The theatre closed in January 2024 for a two-year $15 million renovation.

The Warner Grand has featured in many television shows and movies, examples being Melrose Place (1992-1999) , Feud: Bette and Joan (2017) , What’s Love Got To Do With It (1993) , Pearl Harbor (2001) , Seabiscuit (2003) , Live by Night (2016) , and has a starring role in Showdown at the Grand (2023) .