Seating 1,200 at the time, it was the first Broadway-style legitimate theater venue in Los Angeles.

The first production was Patrick Kearney's adaption of Dreiser's An American Tragedy which had opened on Broadway in 1926.

This popular anthology show featured radio adaptations of stage plays and film scripts performed by well-known actors in front of a live audience; Cecil B. DeMille was for many years its producer and host.

Hartford ran the theater successfully for ten years, with high-profile productions featuring the biggest stars of the era.

[1][3][5][6] Productions staged at The Montalbán have included Zorro in Hell (2007), An Evening Without Monty Python (2009), and the enra show PROXIMA (2016).

Artists aren't happy about it but, at the same time, Nike is helping the theater to pay its bills".