A dozen blocks of 1910s and 1920s movie palaces survive here. The Bradbury Building and Grand Central Market are on the same stretch.
What Broadway looks like
Broadway between 3rd and 9th has the largest concentration of pre 1930 movie palaces left in the United States. Twelve of them are still standing on about six blocks, most built between 1910 and 1931.
Some are restored and running. Some are churches. Several are retail on the ground floor, with the auditorium empty behind and above the shop. The fronts are terra cotta and heavily ornamented. Several still have their original vertical signs and marquees.
The at 615 is the last of them and the most ornate. It opened in 1931 for the premiere of City Lights. The Palace at 630 is one of the oldest surviving Orpheum circuit theatres in the country.
At street level the shops are mostly discount retail and jewelry. The signage is in Spanish and English, which is a different look from the buildings above them.
The is on the corner of Broadway and 3rd. From the street it is a plain brick office building. The building was finished in 1893. Inside it is a five story court under a glass roof, with open cage lifts, tiled stairs and a lot of cast iron. It has been filmed many times, including for Blade Runner.
has been running since 1917. It runs through the block from Broadway to Hill Street. Angels Flight, a funicular of two counterbalanced cars, runs up the hill from Hill Street a block west.
Films shot on Broadway
The has been used on screen for decades, most often for its light court.
Two productions, one interior
304 South Broadway. One made the court a derelict future, the other left it an office lobby.
Blade Runner, 1982
Inside the light court, where the film shot. Street View
J.F. Sebastian's apartment is the Bradbury's interior. The building is a plain brick office block from the street and the whole of its character is inside, a five story court under a glass roof with open lift cages, cast iron stairs and tiled floors. Ridley Scott shot it dressed and lit as a ruin, with rain and shafts of light coming through the roof. The scene on YouTube
(500) Days of Summer, 2009
The Broadway front and the Third Street flank. Street View
Tom's job interview is in the Bradbury, shot bright and plain, close to how the building actually looks on a working day. The contrast with Blade Runner is the useful part. The court and the ironwork are the same in both. One production made it a derelict future. The other left it as an office lobby. The film also uses a good deal of the surrounding downtown. The scene on YouTube
What Broadway can double for
Broadway can stand in for any American downtown from 1920 to 1960, a future city at night and New York in wide shots.
