Warner Theatre, Huntington Park

 Overview

The Warner Huntington Park is the sister theatre to the Warner Grand in San Pedro and the Warner Beverly Hills (demolished). Renowned theatre architect B. Marcus Priteca designed the theatres, all of a similar size, under a single contract with Warner Bros. The Warner Huntington Park closed in the mid-1990s however reopened in late 2018, adaptively reused as a Blink Fitness gym.

The theatre first opened in November 1930 with capacity for 1,468 patrons. Priteca designed the theatre in an Art Deco style, similar to its sister theatres the Warner Beverly Hills (demolished in 1988) and the Warner Grand in San Pedro (still in active use as an arts venue and owned by the City of Los Angeles). The Warner Huntington Park was built with organ chambers but, like its sister theatres, never received an organ.

Priteca’s other notable works in Los Angeles include the Hollywood Pantages and the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. He also designed every theatre for the Pantages chain from 1911 onwards.

Sometime in the late 1940s / early 1950s management transferred to the Stanley Warner Corporation, and in 1968 Pacific Theatres took over.

In the 1980s Pacific Theatres redeveloped the theatre into a two-screen “twin”, renaming it Pacific’s Warner 2. Many Spanish and Spanish-subtitled films ran at the theatre, supporting the local community well.

In the 1990s the theatre was closed and remained vacant for an extended time. The City of Huntington Park declared it a historic landmark in 2007, then in 2013 it was sold for $1.6 million to Pacific Blvd. Holdings / Retail Management Corp. Although a live entertainment tenant was sought, none who were willing to pay the anticipated rent were found. Despite robust objections from preservationists and some of the local community, the City of Huntington Park granted variances allowing the theatre to be converted to retail use.

In 2015 work commenced on removing the twinning, leveling the auditorium floor, opening up the wall separating the auditorium from the lobby, and chopping off the front section of the balcony.

In late 2018 the theatre reopened as a gym operated by Blink Fitness .