Diversions : Organs on Parade

The big lush sounds of the theater organ are still alive in the Los Angeles area:

* Old Town Music Hall, 140 Richmond St., El Segundo, (213) 322-2592.

The hall’s Wurlitzer was moved here in 1968 from Long Beach Fox West Coast Theater and is played for full-length features (silent or talkie). Show times: 8:15 p.m. Fridays, 2:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Admission: usually $4.50 matinees, $5 evenings.

Next screening of “Phantom of the Opera,” Oct. 25. All seats $7.50.

* The California Theatre of Performing Arts, 562 W. 4th St., San Bernardino, (800) 228-1155.

The resident Wurlitzer is one of five original theater pipe organ installations in California. Humorist Will Rogers made his last state appearance here--June 28, 1935--in a star-studded stage benefit for the Salvation Army. A “Phantom of the Opera” stage production Nov. 1-17 may feature the Wurlitzer.

* “Gee Dad! It’s a Wurlitzer,” KPCC-FM (89.3).

Hosted by Hal Sanguinettie, this weekly radio show--7-8 p.m. Sundays--features performances on the theater pipe and discusses upcoming theater organ events.

* Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society, P.0. Box 1913, Glendale 91209, (818) 792-7084.

LATOS presents world-famous artists at the consoles of organs in the Wilshire Ebell Theater, the Orpheum Theatre, San Gabriel Civic Auditorium and the Sexon Auditorium at Pasadena City College.

* Los Angeles Conservancy, 727 W. 7th St., Suite 955, Los Angeles, (213) 623-CITY.

The Conservancy’s Broadway Theatre tour includes several Broadway movie palaces, including the 65-year-old Orpheum Theater, where a handful of LATOS members meet to maintain and play the theater’s Wurlitzer, the last original theater organ installation in Los Angeles. The tour also passes 814 S. Broadway, where the Wurlitzer Co. opened a showroom in 1923. The showroom is now an apparel center, but the word Wurlitzer and musical symbols made of terra cotta remain on the facade. Reservations are a must for the tour, which starts at 10 a.m. on Saturdays. $5.

* Arlington Theater, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara, (805) 963-9589.

The flagship of Bruce Corwin’s Metropolitan Theater chain, the 2,007-seat Arlington opened in 1931 as an atmospheric theater (complete with twinkling sky and Spanish village) and is one of only eight surviving in the United States. Although the chambers were built during the original construction, the Wonder Morton organ was not installed until 1988. John Oien of the Santa Barbara Organ Society, (805) 682-1604, leads private tours. The organ, which still rises out of the orchestra pit, is regularly featured through a computer playback system about 7:30 p.m., before the feature film.

* Avalon Theater, Catalina Island, (800) 428-2566.

A guided walking tour includes the Avalon Theater’s Page organ, an original installation that weighs 16 tons and contains 250 miles of wire. The organ is played by computer for tours, but Bob Salisbury adds the human touch on Fridays and Saturdays at 6:15 p.m. before the feature film. The tour is weekdays at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.; a noon tour is added on weekends. $5.

* San Sylmar Tours Merle Norman Cosmetics, 15180 Bledsoe St., Sylmar, (818) 367-2251.

This Wurlitzer, originally installed in the Roxy Theater in Atlanta in 1926, can be operated manually, automatically by perforated paper roll or digitally by computer. Two-hour free tours, by reservation, are offered at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Tours end with a computerized version of Merle Norman’s theme song, “Stairway to the Stars.” Dress code: no jeans or shorts.