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Apple: Bringing the iPhone to the Roaring 20s

Los Angeles | No company has shaped the digital age quite like Apple. Yet, in its flagship stores, the tech powerhouse often embraces not just the futuristic but also the historic. A look at Apple’s most stunning stores in LA.

A large MicroLED as a centerpiece, long wooden tables for iPhones, Macs, and iPads, and themed corners on the walls for the sub-brands Apple Music, Apple Health, and Apple TV. No cash desk, but plenty of employees readily available on the floor. This basically describes what all of the 500 or so inner-city Apple stores worldwide look like.

Over the past 20 years, Apple has perfected this distinctive but highly consistent customer experience. However, for some of its flagship stores, Apple has taken a slightly different approach: The familiar set-up stays the same, but the building’s architecture takes center stage. In a few major cities, the brand powerhouse has selected historic buildings known for their iconic architecture and turned them into showcase locations.

Flagship store in LA’s oldest movie theater

In downtown Los Angeles, Apple renovated the Tower Theater to create one of its two flagship stores in the city. This historic theater, one of twelve movie palaces built in the Broadway district during the Roaring Twenties, originally showcased LA’s first sound films. Since its closure in 1988, however, the building, designed by renowned theater architect S. Charles Lee, stood empty. Until before the pandemic, when Apple started renovating the building, recreating the original interior design but then filling it with all the traditional Apple store elements. The result is a visually stunning merge of high-tech shimmer and Hollywood glamour:

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Inside the old movie theater, iPhones, iPads and Macbooks are now displayed on long wooden tables. A MicroLED wall now occupies the space where the movie screen once stood, showcasing the iPhone 16 promotion on repeat.

Where the movie screen once stood, the iPhone 16 promotion now runs on a MicroLED wall. The balconies have been converted into an auditorium for Apple-hosted community events or for visitors to relax. Despite these changes, the exterior façade and interior walls have been meticulously restored to their original glory.

Apple has previously adopted this approach in Rome’s Via del Corso, where a historic palazzo was transformed into a stunning destination for Apple enthusiasts.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

A completely different approach was taken in the second flagship store in LA, located in the outdoor shopping center The Grove in Beverly-Fairfax. Without historical architecture to work with, the company created a unique experience in another way. They installed a mirrored ceiling and arranged 16 fig trees around the wooden tables, resulting in a fresh store design that still retains Apple’s signature elements.