The Steve Allen Playhouse

The Steve Allen Playhouse was a historic entertainment venue in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The building stood at 1228 North Vine Street, at the corner of La Mirada Street, and passed through several identities during its long history. It opened in 1906 as the La Mirada Theatre, later becoming the Filmarte Theatre before adopting the Steve Allen Playhouse name in the early 1960s. The venue's initial role was as a theater serving local performance and film audiences. Under the Filmarte name, it became known in 1929 as a movie house specializing in films made outside the United States. Contemporary descriptions associated the theater with Los Angeles's foreign-language communities, including Russian immigrants living in Boyle Heights. This programming gave the venue a distinctive niche within Hollywood's broader theatrical and cinema landscape. The building also had connections to notable American entertainment figures. Bob Hope performed his first stand-up act there, while the television program The People Are Funny, hosted by Art Linkletter, was filmed at the site during the 1950s. These uses reflected the building's flexibility as a performance, film, and television-production venue rather than its being limited to a single entertainment format. From 1962 through 1964, the building operated as the Steve Allen Playhouse. The name was associated with Steve Allen's attempt to recreate the style and atmosphere of his earlier late-night television work, particularly his tenure as the first host of NBC's Tonight program from 1954 to 1957. Productions connected with Allen used not only the theater but also La Mirada Street and the neighboring Hollywood Ranch Market as extensions of the studio environment. This street-level approach became part of the show's comedic and production identity. The venue's Steve Allen era ended in 1964 after Allen and Westinghouse Broadcasting ended their relationship. The facility was then used for That Regis Philbin Show, a short-lived nationally broadcast program that represented Regis Philbin's first national television program. The building therefore served as a link between several phases of American broadcast entertainment: vaudeville and film exhibition, foreign-language cinema, variety television, and early national talk-show production. The structure was severely damaged during a renovation in 1990 when its entire interior burned. It was subsequently demolished. The former theater site is now occupied by a mental health clinic. Because the Steve Allen Playhouse name applied only during a short period of the building's broader history, it is best understood as a historical venue identity rather than as a continuing entertainment company or active commercial brand.

The building associated with The Steve Allen Playhouse opened in 1906 at 1228 North Vine Street in Hollywood, at the corner of La Mirada Street. Its first documented name was the La Mirada Theatre. The venue belonged to the early twentieth-century entertainment infrastructure of Los Angeles, when theaters commonly accommodated a mixture of live performance, film exhibition, and other public entertainments. By 1929, the building was operating as the Filmarte Theatre. In that phase it specialized in non-American films and served foreign-language audiences in the Los Angeles area. The theater was particularly associated with immigrant communities, including Russian residents of Boyle Heights. Its programming distinguished it from mainstream American movie houses and gave the site a cultural role connected with the city's diverse population. The venue also became part of the careers of important entertainers. Bob Hope performed his first stand-up act there. In the 1950s, Art Linkletter's television program The People Are Funny was filmed at the theater, demonstrating that the building could function as a television studio as well as a cinema and live-performance venue. From 1962 to 1964, the building was known as the Steve Allen Playhouse. Steve Allen used it in connection with a television format intended to evoke his earlier work as the first host of NBC's Tonight, then known as Tonight! Starring Steve Allen. The production style extended beyond the building itself: La Mirada Street immediately to the north and the adjacent Hollywood Ranch Market were incorporated into the studio and program environment. These outdoor and neighborhood locations supported comedy routines and gave the production a more open, street-level character. The Steve Allen name was short-lived. In 1964, Allen and Westinghouse Broadcasting ended their association. The studio was subsequently used for That Regis Philbin Show, a brief successor program and Philbin's first national television series. This transition linked the site to another stage in American television history, even though the venue no longer operated under Allen's name. During a renovation in 1990, a fire destroyed the building's entire interior. The structure was later demolished. The site is now occupied by a mental health clinic. As a result, The Steve Allen Playhouse survives primarily as a historical name for one period in the life of a much older Hollywood theater building, rather than as a continuing venue or active brand.

• 1990

  Fire damages the building during renovation

  [1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  A fire destroys the theater's entire interior during renovation; the building is later demolished.

• 1964

  The venue transitions to That Regis Philbin Show

  [1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  After Steve Allen and Westinghouse Broadcasting part ways, the studio is used for the short-lived That Regis Philbin Show.

• 1962

  The Steve Allen Playhouse era begins

  [1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  The building adopts the Steve Allen Playhouse name and becomes associated with Allen's recreation of his earlier Tonight television style.

• 1950

  The People Are Funny is filmed at the theater

  [1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  Art Linkletter's television program The People Are Funny is filmed at the venue during the 1950s.

• 1929

  The venue becomes the Filmarte Theatre

  [1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  Operating as the Filmarte Theatre, the venue specializes in films from outside the United States and serves foreign-language communities in Los Angeles.

• 1906

  La Mirada Theatre opens

  [1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  The building opens at 1228 North Vine Street in Hollywood as the La Mirada Theatre.

A Hollywood entertainment venue whose identity shifted from live theater and foreign-film exhibition to television production, with the Steve Allen name representing its short 1962–1964 broadcast-studio period.

• Performing arts · 1906

  Live theater and vaudeville

  The building began as a live-entertainment venue and was associated with vaudeville and stage performance. Bob Hope performed his first stand-up act there, making the theater part of the early performance history of a major American comedian.

• Cinema · 1929

  Foreign-language film exhibition

  As the Filmarte Theatre, the venue presented non-American films and catered to foreign-language communities in Los Angeles. Russian audiences from Boyle Heights were identified as among its regular customers.

• Broadcast entertainment · 1950

  Television production

  The site served as a television production location, including filming for The People Are Funny in the 1950s and later programming associated with Steve Allen and Regis Philbin. Productions also used nearby streets and businesses as extensions of the studio.

• 1964

  Transfer the studio to a successor television programStrategy

  Background

  The end of Steve Allen's relationship with Westinghouse Broadcasting left the production facility available for another national television project.

  Action taken

  The studio was used for That Regis Philbin Show, Philbin's first national program.

  Aftermath

  The successor show was short-lived, and the venue no longer continued as an active Steve Allen-branded television facility.

  Source

• 1962

  Recast the venue as a television studio associated with Steve AllenStrategy

  Background

  Steve Allen sought to recreate the style of his earlier Tonight work in a production environment that combined an indoor studio with nearby streets and businesses.

  Action taken

  The building operated under the Steve Allen Playhouse name, while La Mirada Street and the adjacent Hollywood Ranch Market were incorporated into the program's production setting.

  Aftermath

  The arrangement lasted until 1964, when Allen and Westinghouse Broadcasting ended their relationship and the studio was used for a successor Regis Philbin program.

  Source

• 1990

  Fire destroys the theater interior during renovation[1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The building's entire interior burned during renovation. The structure was later demolished, ending the site's existence as a theater.

• 1964

  That Regis Philbin Show uses the former Steve Allen Playhouse[1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  Product generation

  Following the end of Steve Allen's relationship with Westinghouse Broadcasting, the studio was used by the short-lived That Regis Philbin Show, Philbin's first national television program.

• 1962

  The theater operates under the Steve Allen Playhouse name[1]The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The Hollywood venue adopted the Steve Allen Playhouse name as Steve Allen developed a television production environment modeled on his earlier Tonight work.

1. 1The Steve Allen Playhouseen.wikipedia.org