In the late 1960s, New York’s theater scene was going bust. Hollywood had allured the eyes of the public toward 12’’ televisions that now littered the living rooms of every household in America. These tubes of static imagery now kept the spectators of the past on the couch instead of in the seats of the illustrious palaces of the theater. Times Square, the center of Manhattan, once the entertainment epicenter of the east coast had spiraled into a den of adult film houses and gang shootings. The theater industry of the golden age that employed tens of thousands of entertainers and sustained an economy in the billions on tourism alone, was being destroyed and soon to be forgotten. Until the idea of a ticket booth arose.

A savvy group of theater producers got together and created the Theater Development Fund (TDF), and later, Broadway Cares and the Actor’s Fund, a group of nonprofits that specifically raised money to help fund the production of new Broadway works and to help save, revitalize, and spark the theater district in New York again. “We cannot permit the worthy play to become extinct,” remarked its first (TDF) president, John E. Booth, in 1968. “The time has come to acknowledge the fact that the commercial theater is an indispensable wellspring of activity for the American theater,” he said. “The architects of the Theatre Development Fund decided from the very beginning that the way to help plays was to give them an audience.” Reducing the economic barriers of entry for theatergoers would get more people talking about the shows, and help develop a sustainable audience for the future.” TDF would purchase a block of tickets from each of their new works and offer them to the public at its booth at half price. 

The essence and story of the TKTS booth isn’t a legacy that has to end. The spirit that was created by that first group of producers must live on and has inspired us at Broadway West to now take the torch. This is why today we are introducing our first exciting project to continue our vision of bringing Broadway West: The Broadway West Ticket Booth.

Since launching my vision for Broadway West on DTLA Rising last year, the response from the Downtown LA community was enormous and inspiring. Because of this, I was able to attract and assemble some incredibly talented and passionate people together to form our official nonprofit, Broadway West. We have grown our board to 13 members and have inspired the downtown theater community to join our vision and make it a reality.

An idea first proposed to me by DTLA Rising blogger Brigham Yen, and with the help of the brilliant minds at Pfeiffer Partners Architects, we have envisioned a plan to bring our ticket booth to life. Finding a central location in the city that is easily accessible and connected to multiple entertainment nodes is vital.  Our research has lead us to three locations: 7th Street Metro Center Station, 7th and Figueroa and Pershing Square. 

All of these locations are surrounded by office towers, shopping, hotels, retail, and nightlife, these locations are already some of the busiest locations in all of Downtown Los Angeles and an exciting public amenity.  By locating the ticket booth at one of these locations, we hope to capitalize on its close proximity to the Broadway Theater District, offering theatergoers easy access to the sprawling district. Visitors can purchase their tickets and get to the Music Center or LA live in two metro stops, the Pantages and Dolby theaters, (who we hope to add in the future) as part of the Broadway West Extension, in under 30 minutes, and around all of downtown via the Broadway West Express shuttle (we’ll get to that later) to visit DTLA’s stunning theaters sitting along 10 blocks of Broadway.

Once we are off the ground, we will expand our ticketbooth to become an icon of DTLA.  Similar to the TKTS booth in New York’s Times Square, the Broadway West Ticket Booth will be a public spectacle for Los Angeles, drawing crowds to come visit DTLA and buy a ticket for a show.  Our master vision places giant steps at Metro Plaza to create a spectacle and gathering place while locating ticketing windows below.

The Broadway West Express

Once the Ticket Booth is in place and we are in full operation, we will then launch the start of the Broadway West Express Shuttle! This downtown transit project, as an ode to the red streetcars of the Pacific Electric Company, will conveniently transport ticket holders from the ticket booth to the entire Broadway Theater District, Music Center, LA Live, Grand Park, and many other locations.  An electric streetcar project is currently planned for a similar route in DTLA, however, the implementation is stalled and costs are running high; we see the Broadway West Express Shuttle as a more convenient and cheaper alternative to transporting visitors around our entertainment and shopping nodes.

Can this be a reality for Downtown? The answer is yes! Will it be easy? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Nothing this bold comes easily, which means we need the support of everyone to make this a reality. This is why we are turning to you, the residents of Los Angeles to help us get our Ticket Booth project kick-started. We are raising $50,000 that will help us get past the first funding hurdle to bring on our fundraising team and raise the final $200,000 to make our ticket booth a reality.

Will you donate toward making the Broadway West ticket booth a reality? We have many awesome perks included with your donation like engravings, plaques and even getting your name or business placed above the booth’s marquis for life. All of this will help us bring Broadway to the west, spark a vibrant theater community and start an incredible transformation this city has never seen. Harvey Fierstein once said, “When there’s a question too big to answer, usually art is there first at least to ask the question.” And our question to you today is, will you be part of the magic?