Saban Theatre

8440 Wilshire Boulevard,
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

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Showing 51 - 75 of 103 comments

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 21, 2007 at 2:35 pm

Carolyn C.: Yes, the tower of the Fox Wilshire building contained offices, leased to a variety of businesses.

bunter
bunter on March 21, 2007 at 1:52 pm

Does anyone know if there were various offices in the upper reaches of the theatre building? I was adopted (1942)and today I received my birth certificate. The certificate has a Dr. Haworth as the attending doctor and his address: (Fox Wilshire Theatre Bldg.). Out of curiosity I wonder if this is where my parents took my brother and me to all our doctor appointments. I remember Dr. Haworth and the inside of his office but never knew where it was.
Thanks in advance.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 3, 2007 at 3:10 pm

This a new photo from the LAPL, circa 1930, but the cars make me think it’s a later date:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics35/00067285.jpg

fantum48
fantum48 on February 16, 2007 at 10:09 pm

Though Nederlander does not own the Wilshire Theatre anymore…the three year contract will keep the Broadway shows coming into the Wilshire. A two week run of the show, Legends, just ran there in January. A future show is in the works.

Temple of the Arts is working on raising $20million to restore the theatre which was neglected by Nederlander. After the Theaters rigging upgrade, and very upsetting interior paint job in 1981, very little care and money was put into the building to keep it in good shape. But with new owners, comes new life, and the theatre is slowly being brought back to a smoother working order to attract interested clients.

On Dec. 4th, the Wilshire brought back the movies by hosting the premier of Dreamgirls(the Wilshire’s first premier in 30 years). With that, the theatre now has a cinemascope screen again. Oasis Christian Center holds their services in there every Sunday and they are supplying a small lighting rig and a full scale rock and roll audio system. Commercials, theatre, tv shows and musical acts have all come in, and more frequently. With this gain in interest…we will all hopefully see the restore sooner than later. The owners say that the first step in restoring will be a facelift to the exterior.

If anyone happens to know what happened to the chandeliers…please let me know.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on February 14, 2007 at 7:41 pm

The Fox Wilshire is no longer being operated by the Nederlander organization. This means they are severing their connection to the venue two years earlier than was arranged in the three year lease-back agreement they made with the owners last year, noted in this article in the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Somehow I missed the announcement of the transfer of ownership of the building from Nederlander to the Temple of the Arts synagogue at the time it happened last year.

I also don’t know what this latest development means for the future of the building or the type of events that will be presented there, but with Nederlander out of the picture it seems unlikely that there will be any more Broadway shows among those events. They will probably be going to the Pantages and the Henry Fonda Music Box in Hollywood, both of which Nederlander still operates.

eshade
eshade on February 7, 2007 at 6:38 pm

Vanda – I tried to email you but the email bounced. Can you email me? Thanks,
erin

William
William on February 7, 2007 at 11:31 am

Erin: the theatre your looking for is the Boulevard Theatre, that once stood at 1615 W. Washington Blvd. @ Vermont. The Boulevard Theatre served as the Home Office for Fox West Coast Theatres and had the penthouse and a pool. I will see if he is mentioned in any of the material and memos from FWC that I have from Carthay Circle Theatre & the area district.

vkrefft
vkrefft on February 7, 2007 at 6:17 am

Erin: I’m a writer doing research on a related subject and have some info about Howard Sheehan. Please email me and I’ll be glad to share what I’ve learned.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 4, 2006 at 2:59 am

erin: I can’t find any references to a Howard Sheehan in connection with Fox-West Coast Theatres, but there was a producer of that name working at 20th Century-Fox studios in 1947. There was also a Howard Sheehan mentioned in connection with the Vogue theatre in Hollywood in 1935. See comments by CT user vokoban on October 6, 2006 on the Vogue Theatre page.

eshade
eshade on November 3, 2006 at 7:19 pm

Hi. I was doing some research into my family history & found this website when trying to find out more about my great-grandfather, Howard Sheehan. He was either the president or vice-president of Fox West Coast Theaters. I don’t know much about him but would like to learn more. Unfortunately, my grandmother (his daughter), Claire Sheehan, has dementia & can’t communicate any longer. When I was a child, she had told me that her dad had lived in the penthouse of a theater that he’d built but I never had any idea what a grand theater it was! I’m finally learning about this at age 35 & when the people who could have told me about it are mostly gone. If you know anything about my great-grandfather, please let me know how to find out more. Thanks!

William
William on November 2, 2006 at 6:13 am

This is the new web site for the Wilshire Theatre.

http://www.wilshiretheatrebeverlyhills.com/

William
William on November 2, 2006 at 6:08 am

Don’t forget the Wiltern Theatre too as a Art-Deco treasure, that’s still in use.

BhillH20
BhillH20 on October 15, 2006 at 7:20 pm

The Warner-Hollywood Theater is still standing, only it has been renamed Pacific-Hollywood the last forty years! Also take a look at the Hollywood Pantages Theater as it is the most beautiful art deco theater…

Patsy
Patsy on October 15, 2006 at 4:55 pm

After reading many of the above posts I am so pleased to learn that the Wilshire is still standing and that it is the Warner in Beverly Hills that is gone though a theatre with the name WARNER especially in the Hollywood area should never have been demolished!

Patsy
Patsy on October 15, 2006 at 4:49 pm

The Fox Wilshire is definitely one of the most beautiful art deco theatres that I have ever viewed in the many photos posted on 12/28/06 by “ken mc”.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on September 10, 2006 at 3:26 am

From the Los Angeles Times, 12/14/61: a groundbreaking gay movie:

View link

William
William on September 8, 2006 at 6:45 am

The theatre has a 50' proscenium. And was a good house to see a show and movie.

Here is their site.

View link

William
William on September 8, 2006 at 6:43 am

Here is their site.

View link

It a nice size house to see a show and a movie.

loulou
loulou on September 8, 2006 at 5:57 am

does anyone know how big is the theatre? Do the seats on the rear balcony have a good view of the stage and a good sound?

William
William on June 22, 2006 at 8:03 am

What I remember of the house was that it had a flat screen during that time. The only curved screen in that house was when “This is Cinerama” was reissued in 1973 and was a move-over from the Cinerama Dome. It played from May 23 to June 12 1973. They installed a curved screen in front of the flat screen.

VincentParisi
VincentParisi on June 22, 2006 at 6:13 am

Can anybody tell me who visited this theater during its roadshow 70mm heyday if there was a flat screen in the proscenium or if there was a curved screen in front of it.

haineshisway
haineshisway on February 12, 2006 at 8:32 pm

One of my all-time favorite theaters, I grew up ten minutes from there. I saw many wonderful shows there, including Let’s Make Love, Birdman of Alcatraz, To Kill A Mockingbird, Exodus, Sound of Music, The Five Pennies, Sand Pebbles, Madding Crowd, and hundreds of others.

kbp619
kbp619 on October 27, 2005 at 2:04 pm

I grew up around the corner from this theatre and vaguely recall seeing “The Goodbye Girl” back in the late 70’s. Also in the early 80’s saw the band Spandau Ballet and in 1996 saw Penn & Teller live.