"Abandoned"

We get a view north on Broadway in "Abandoned" (Universal-International, 1949). Newspaper reporter Dennis O'Keefe is meeting Gale Storm, who is trying to uncover what happened to her murdered sister. Along the way they investigate a baby broker racket and more. The film also features Raymond Burr, Jeff Chandler, Marjorie Rambeau, Jeanette Nolan and Meg Randall. Joseph M. Newman directed. The cinematography was by William H. Daniels. 

Thanks to Don Goldberg for spotting the theatre in the movie and getting the screenshot. We're supposedly in the coffee shop of the "Fenwick Hotel." Beyond the window on the left it's the marquee of the United Artists Theatre, 933 S. Broadway. The vertical for the Eastern Columbia store can be seen up in the 800 block with a fuzzy view of the Orpheum's marquee across the street. We're looking north from just south of Olympic, where Broadway Place once headed diagonally off to the east from Broadway. 

 

 

A moment later in the coffee shop with a streetcar coming along. This scene is about ten and a half minutes into the film.  

 

Back at the coffee shop for another conference seventeen and a half minutes in. We get a murky view of the "ARTISTS" on the bottom of the UA vertical sign on the left through the Venetian blinds. 

 

A moment later with the UA as well as the Eastern Columbia building visible.  

See the pages about the United Artists Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for many photos of all areas of the building. It's now known as the Standard Theater on Broadway. Also see the pages about the Orpheum. 

 

There was no hotel at the location where the background footage was shot, only a two story building called the Triangle Building. In this c.1935 photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection we're looking south on Broadway with Broadway place curving off to the left. The taller building beyond is the Los Angeles Railway Co. building, now the Hoxton Hotel. Beyond that, on the southeast corner of Broadway and 11th, is the Case Hotel Building, now the Proper Hotel. Across the street it's the Herald Examiner building. See Nathan Masters' piece about the now unused Broadway Place on the KCET website.

 

A little more than 28 minutes into the film Dennis and Gale take a walk north on Grand Ave. On the left just the other side of 5th we see the stage end of the Biltmore Theatre. They're heading to a Turkish Baths place and trying to get information from a guy there by posing as a couple that wants to adopt a baby.

The theatre, adjacent to the Biltmore Hotel, opened in 1924. See the Biltmore Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site for some photos and data.

On IMDb: "Abandoned"   The full film can be seen on YouTube.