Vox Lumiere – Silents you can hear®

An electrifying new form of entertainment. Vox Lumiere (voices of light) is “rock concert meets silent film” – an award-winning mashup of musicians, singers and film that transport you, transform you and leave you breathless.

With an eclectic mix of original rock, pop and classic Hollywood film scoring, Vox Lumiere brings silent film classics to three-dimensional, high-decibel life, offering a fresh take on timeless stories for music geeks, film lovers and anyone who likes a little heavy metal served up with their classical music.

Innovative productions blend old movies, new songs and powerful live performances into a showstopping spectacle that will have you on the edge of your seat. Singers and musicians play off each other, the audience and the onscreen story in a magical exchange. It’s a riveting new kind of storytelling that will inspire you and haunt your dreams long after the credits roll.

Vox Lumiere is a unique entertainment experience – an immersive, multimedia extravaganza that smashes the walls between audience and artist. With dazzling visuals, iconic stories and soul-pumping original music from creator and award-winning film composer Kevin Saunders Hayes, Vox Lumiere is a genre- busting new art form unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

A captivating fusion of old Hollywood and modern music, Vox Lumiere redefines what it means to go to the theater.

Drama. Excitement. Passion. Fantasy.

Vox Lumiere
Silents you can hear®

LINK TO GOOGLE MAPS: https://maps.app.goo.gl/oXmrPYjZBtUSgco1A

Parking locally is easy.

There is a structure at 9100 Wilshire Blvd.
Parking Rates . . .

$3 each 15 minutes
$27 daily maximum
$10 flat rate (Monday-Friday after 5pm) (Saturday & Sunday all day)
* Cash or credit accepted

There is a structure at 140 South Doheny Drive
Parking Rates . . .

Every hour $5
Daily Max $25
* Scan the QR code to pay with your cell phone

Meanwhile, on Wilshire Blvd. itself?
Monday through Friday/ All the meters on Wilshire are free after 7 p.m.
Saturday: All Meters on Wilshire are free after 3PM
Sunday: All Meters on Wilshire are free all day!
What about the Side Streets?

Monday-Saturday: All Side street meters are free after 6PM
Sunday: All side street meters are free all day.

Opened: 1936 as the Elite Theatre. It’s between Doheny Dr. and Wetherly Dr. on the south side of the street. The Writers Guild Theatre is around the corner on Doheny and the AMPAS Samuel Goldwyn Theatre is just two blocks east on Wilshire. Photo: Bill Counter – April 2021

In 1956 it again was a movie house. During the 60s and into the 70s it was operated by the Walter Reade circuit of New York as one of L.A.’s premiere art houses. Reade also operated the Beverly Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills and the Granada Theatre in West Hollywood. Major films in the 60s at the Music Hall included “La Dolce Vita,” “La Strada,” and “War and Peace.”

A 1970 ad for the Walter Reade circuit. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for sharing the ad as a post for the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. Walter Reade ran into troubles and the circuit ended up in bankruptcy in 1978. They had dropped the Music Hall earlier.

Laemmle triplexed the Music Hall in the 90s. When the circuit’s 15 year lease was up in April 2011 there was discussion of closing as the landlord wanted to explore other options for the building. They succeeded in getting a lease extension. In 2019 the circuit decided to end their 45 year tenure and their last day of operation was November 21.

In an article in the Beverly Hills Courier, Greg Laemmle said: “It’s not about ticket sales being up or down and not specifically about rent increases. The theater just didn’t quite fit for us anymore given the direction of wanting to be our own landlord. It’s just time.” Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting the story. See the Laemmle blog post “After a 45-Year Run, Lemmmle To Leave Music Hall.”

When Laemmle announced their exit, the the building owner started showing the premises to other theatre operators as well as potential non-theatrical tenants. Deadline’s November 22, 2019 story “Why Laemmle Theatres Decided Not To Sell…” was about the circuit as a whole no longer being up for sale and also discussed the Music Hall’s fate. See the page about the Royal Theatre for links to other stories about the circuit.  

New operators: Three veterans of the Laemmle circuit took over the theatre and reopened November 29, 2019 as the Lumiere Music Hall. They formed a new company with the intention of offering programming similar to what had been done under Laemmle management.

The Lumiere management team: Luis Orellana at the left, Lauren Brown, and Peter Ambrosio. It’s a photo by Allen J. Schaben that appeared with Gary Goldstein’s lovely December 31, 2019 L.A. Times article about the trio’s ambitions for the theatre. The article noted that they had a one-year lease plus four renewal options. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting the story. A message from the team:

“We are very excited to announce that the Laemmle tradition will be kept alive at the Music Hall. We are three Laemmle Theatre employees (two former and one current) and we are opening a new company, Lumiere Cinema…It is our intention to honor the Laemmle family’s commitment of bringing the best of independent cinema to the big screen in Los Angeles. Each of us has worked at the Music Hall and we are proud to be able to grant it a new lease on life. We would like to thank Greg Laemmle and the entire Laemmle team for enabling us to make this dream a reality…”

The theatre shut down in March 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. Films continued to be offered virtually via the lumierecinemala.com website. The theatre had also been open in the evenings for the sale of drinks, popcorn and merchandise.

A Variety story on February 17, 2021 by Pat Saperstein had the news that it had been leased out from under the Lumiere team by indie distributor Blue Fox Entertainment. The story discussed a renovation including an expanded lobby, upgraded food and drink options, new screens and recliner seats. The company, headed by James Huntsman, said at the time that it would book their own product as well as that of other distributors and will also make the theatres available for screenings and special events. An opening was expected in October. The renovation was to be designed by Fred Dagdagan. Well, that deal fell apart.

The Lumiere Music Hall reopened March 19, 2021. See a post about the event on their Facebook page. The Music Hall was one of several theatres profiled in “Movies and theaters are coming back. But what about L.A.’s treasured art houses?,” a July 13, 2021 L.A. Times article by Ryan Faughnder and Mark Olsen. The story featured several photos taken at the theatre.