This post has been on the back burner for a while now, and I can no longer remember why I didn't post it earlier.
I was watching some old videos of Los Angeles on YouTube a while ago when I came across a color film of downtown LA in 1946. Wondering if we'd seen its brief shots of Coffee Dan's before, I searched NLA.
Post #17336 by
Martin Pal had one view Coffee Dan's and a link to an L.A. Daily Mirror article which in turn linked to
a better quality version of the color film on archive.org. The screengrab below is from later in the film, and shows Coffee Dan's from a different angle as the camera car retraces its route.
archive.org
This is the Coffee Dan's at 406 West 8th Street. The location is given away by the fact that it's in the RKO Theatre building (its entrance is seen on the film a couple of seconds later). I did another quick search of NLA and found that after
sopas ej's post back on page 10, the RKO Theatre only seems to have been mentioned a few times, mainly when its dome appeared in wider shots. The picture below comes from
sopas ej's post, but it's the best I could find.
LAPL
The caption for the picture above says;
"It was originally built by the Orpheum Circuit and opened in 1922. It reopened as the RKO Theatre in 1929 but popular usage of its earlier name led to it being renamed the RKO Hillstreet Theatre. The original architect was G. Albert Lansburgh." Here's the view from Hill Street (previously seen in
post #2435 by
e_r and
post #17116 by
CityBoyDoug).
USC Digital Library
This is the entrance in 1931. The hanging 8s are a promotion for their 8 RKO vaudeville Acts program.
Huntington Digital Library
USC has a billboard for the same promotion.
USC Digital Library
I found some more interior shots at LAPL. They all seem to date from around the opening in 1922. The first shows the mezzanine.
LAPL
This is how the stage looked.
LAPL
And the view from the stage.
LAPL
The LAPL captions say
"It closed in 1963 and was demolished not long after." Today you'll find a bunker-like nightclub and a parking garage in its place. I guess that's progress!
GSV