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Olympic Theatre

Olympic Theatre – September 2017

The Olympic Theatre, originally opened in 1927 as the Bard’s 8th St Theatre,  and has for the last many years been used as a furniture store. It closed a few years ago, and was recently leased to COS, a high end clothing store under the H&M brand.  When the announcement was made,  LAHTF attempted multiple times to contact the brand to offer our consulting services. Our hope was to protect and preserve as many of the original theatre details as possible. Unfortunately, we were not able to make contact and the majority of the interior was removed.  On a more positive note, the Blade sign, dating back to 1934 when the theatre name was changed in honor of the Olympics, has been restored and relit, and the facade of the building has been restored.  

The Olympic was not originally a theatre however. The building was built as the Crillon Cafe, and was remodeled following a design by architect L.A. Smith into a theatre in 1927. The Theatre went through a number of remodels since then, the COS remodel is only the latest.   

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