Rich in history, North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre has furnished much-needed entertainment and community support from the day its doors opened 100 years ago. As vital now as it was then, the El Portal demonstrates the strength of Valley residents in overcoming obstacles while enriching the fabric of everyday life through the power of artistic expression.
When it opened in 1926, the El Portal, along with the bank across the street, represented the small business district of Lankershim, ready to make its mark on the world. First named Toluca by the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water Company in 1887, the small hamlet had been renamed Lankershim in 1896 in honor of the syndicate’s co-founder, Isaac B. Lankershim. Trying to attach itself to a star, the community took advantage of neighboring Hollywood’s booming film and real estate business to officially rechristen itself North Hollywood in 1927.
Looking to turn Lankershim into a business hub, Guy Weddington (son of Wilson Weddington, the landowner who helped found the area) rushed to construct an elegant film/vaudeville theater in 1925. After months of discussion with Hollywood Theatres, Inc. — a subsidiary of West Coast Theatres, Inc., owned by theater chain executives Sol Lesser and brothers Michael and A.L. Gore — Weddington signed a 99-year lease in late December 1925 to construct a state-of-the-art, 1,300-seat, Class A house at 5269 Lankershim Boulevard, the site of his home. The chain’s chief architect, Lewis A. Smith, sketched a striking Spanish Renaissance Revival house, including office space upstairs for additional revenue. Before construction began in January 1926, the Weddington home was moved to the corner of Bakman Avenue and McCormick Street.
The $250,000 El Portal Theatre celebrated its grand opening October 18, 1926, with film stars Alberta Vaughn, Esther Ralston, Paulette Duval, Lionel Belmore and Tom Murray, manager B.W. Garrett and Councilman Charles Randall in attendance. The assembled guests heard a special performance by its 20-piece orchestra and its Van Nuys–constructed Robert W. Morton organ, played by organist Thelma Hays, before the screening of the Ralph Graves film Blarney. The theater operated as an upscale roadshow house: two shows a day preceded by prologue or vaudeville acts with all seats reserved.
Realizing the importance of serving its community, the El Portal immediately opened itself to rentals by outside groups, especially when helping those in need. Several civic groups combined forces in May 1927 to raise money for Mississippi River flooding victims. The 65-piece Van Nuys–Owensmouth High School Band, the largest in Los Angeles, threw a benefit mid-May raising money to purchase uniforms.
Like every theater across the country, the El Portal suffered during the early years of the Great Depression. Management turned over quickly. Slow to convert to sound, the El Portal turned to double features, continuous shows, celebrity appearances and sometimes preview screenings in the 1930s, all trying to fill seats. It remodeled with some Art Deco touches in 1934, replastering the lobby, moving the ticket booth out front and laying down terrazzo tile. Decorative and bas-relief details illustrating California history were added by Works Progress Administration (WPA) artists, led by muralist Anthony B. Heinsbergen.
Genial manager C.S. “Doc” Crews turned things around in 1937, increasing community involvement as well. The El Portal hosted several local church choirs at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve in 1938 to sing carols. On Thanksgiving morning in 1939, the theater presented a cartoon show for fathers and children while mothers cooked. It hosted cooking shows, as well as events raising money for Greek war relief, the Red Cross, flood and fire victims, and starving Russian children. In November 1941, it added midnight shows for Lockheed and other defense plant workers. Local resident Bob Hope arrived unannounced on September 28, 1943, helping to sell $370,000 in war bonds that night.
By the 1950s, however, the El Portal saw declining revenue as theater chains dissolved and exhibitors constructed smaller houses adjacent to shopping malls. The theater remodeled in 1950, adding Charles Skouras–style decorative flourishes inside and out before turning to second-run films, as well as more diverse programming. Children’s matinees were added on Saturdays, with schedules approved by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), featuring cartoons, Disney travelogues and adventures, shorts and sometimes Westerns. Midnight shows occurred regularly, as did Disney features. The theater held concerts and game shows like Queen for a Day, hosted regular worship services with a variety of churches and co-sponsored programs with local businesses.
As the decades evolved, so did the theater’s operators. West Coast Theatres gave way to National General, itself purchased by Mann Theatres. Eventually Metropolitan Theatres ran the house. Shifting programming included Spanish-language movies, art and foreign films, Bollywood movies, repertory cinema, live concerts and occasional theatrical presentations. Even the name changed for a time to “North Hollywood Theater.”
The early 1990s witnessed a slow return to the El Portal’s glorious roots. In 1991, it reverted to its original name and reopened as a live house. The Actors Alley group leased it in 1992, obtaining $250,000 grants to restore and convert the theater into two stages. The City of Los Angeles named the El Portal Theatre Historic-Cultural Monument #573 in 1993, with David Cameron, acting president of the Los Angeles Theatre Foundation, calling it “possibly the most architecturally significant suburban theater in the Valley.”
Just as the rebirth was underway, the January 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake struck, causing extensive damage, including the collapse of the main auditorium’s ceiling. Yet the El Portal stood strong and supporters rallied behind it. FEMA grants enabled a $6 million seismic retrofit and renovation by R.F. McCann & Co. Architects of Pasadena. In his 1996 State of the City address, Mayor Richard Riordan called the El Portal a phoenix rising from the ashes.
After years of rebuilding, the revived dowager was reopened in 2000 by Actors Alley in partnership with building owners Bernard and Judy Kaufman and Gary and Shari Goodgame. The space was converted into three venues: the 360-seat Main Stage, the 99-seat Circle Forum (now the Monroe Forum) and the 49-seat Storefront (now the Studio Theatre, the permanent home of Stuart Rogers’ Theatre Tribe). Actors Debbie Reynolds and John Saxon headlined one of the first fundraising productions, Love Letters, drawing many other celebrities over the years to offer their own support. A former Burbank resident who recalled riding her bicycle to the theater to see movies when she was a child, Reynolds performed at the El Portal 46 times between 2003 and 2015, including several productions of her one-woman show, and in 2017 the Main Stage was dedicated in her honor.
The El Portal Theatre is as popular as ever, continuing to draw local residents through its open doors to popular plays, one-person shows, concerts and musicals, like its 2008–2009 production of Smokey Joe’s Cafe, which was nominated for 10 Ovation Awards. Former NBC weatherman and honorary Toluca Lake mayor Fritz Coleman performs a fan-favorite monthly comedy show, loving to work in what he calls one of “the greatest midsize performance spaces in Los Angeles.”
Audiences walk in the footsteps of film and stage greats when they visit the El Portal, soaking in its impressive ambiance and atmosphere. As Coleman says, the El Portal is “like a temple. It’s rich with history.”
For more insights about the theater’s past, present and future as it celebrates its centennial, read “The El Portal Theatre Reflects on a Milestone.”
