According to the presentation prepared by Ed Kelsey, the Belasco switched to film in 1932. He has an ad for the German film “Maedchen in Uniform” playing there (even though the title “Schoolgirls in Uniform” has undertones of exploitation, it isn’t. “Maedchen” in a serious film that offended the Nazis and they attempted to destroy it. Fortunately, they failed). It doesn’t seem to have stuck with films for long. Eventually they came back when the theater became a burlesque house, alternating with the live acts.
No one knows if the projection booth was added, or a part of the original design. It might have been a follow-spot platform. The fact that the design is so well integrated suggests that it’s original; the half-assed access ladder at the top of the mezzanine level suggests that it was added later. Nowadays it’s used as an office.
There is no film projection equipment remaining in the building. They recently held the premiere of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar documentary “On The Shoulders Of Giants.” It was presented digitally on a rented screen, with folding chairs on the main floor, but the owners plan to buy a screen in the future.
There are eight huge video projectors mounted on either side of the proscenium; these will be used to project special effects on the ceiling.
According to the presentation prepared by Ed Kelsey, the Belasco switched to film in 1932. He has an ad for the German film “Maedchen in Uniform” playing there (even though the title “Schoolgirls in Uniform” has undertones of exploitation, it isn’t. “Maedchen” in a serious film that offended the Nazis and they attempted to destroy it. Fortunately, they failed). It doesn’t seem to have stuck with films for long. Eventually they came back when the theater became a burlesque house, alternating with the live acts.
No one knows if the projection booth was added, or a part of the original design. It might have been a follow-spot platform. The fact that the design is so well integrated suggests that it’s original; the half-assed access ladder at the top of the mezzanine level suggests that it was added later. Nowadays it’s used as an office.
There is no film projection equipment remaining in the building. They recently held the premiere of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar documentary “On The Shoulders Of Giants.” It was presented digitally on a rented screen, with folding chairs on the main floor, but the owners plan to buy a screen in the future.
There are eight huge video projectors mounted on either side of the proscenium; these will be used to project special effects on the ceiling.
Monika, I was looking for you to say hello, but there were a lot of women with cameras at the event today and I decided to stop pestering them. Hope you were there and had fun. We had a great turnout.
The Los Angeles has two, apparently one for crying babies, the other for cigar smokers; the Fox Inglewood has one. I think a lot of them were taken out during remodels/updates.
There’s going to be a big celebration on Broadway this year as two theaters turned 100 in 2010, and the Palace turns 100 this June (the day of the Conservancy’s screening of “Sunset Boulevard,” in fact).
The Million Dollar holds frequent events, but still needs quite a bit of restoration work.
The Palace and Los Angeles are both available to rent for film shoots and events, and also need to be restored. The family that owns those two theaters wanted the city to build a parking structure near the Los Angeles, which they would control, and in return they would restore the theater. That deal fell through.
The only other theater in the area that rivals the Belasco in terms of the restoration work done, is the Orpheum, which will celebrate its 85th birthday this year.
I also recommend the LA Conservancy’s walking tours, which are $5 for members, $10 for the general public. They’re a great way to get familiar with the Broadway theaters, and to get a glimpse inside a few of them. For the full treatment, however, you need to attend one of our “All About” events…
Yes, the Belasco does have a projection booth, which should put that question to rest. I haven’t bothered to go inside it, but my guess is that there is no film equipment left. Last week they were working on some video projectors that apparently project special effects on the ceiling.
The set-up reminds me of The Music Box and the Wiltern: seats in the balcony, main floor leveled with a bar in the back…
I’ll try to remember to get the info you’re interested in at the All About (usually I’m running around with my camera, shooting the event and not really listening to the presentation).
They’re going to turn the Westlake back into a theater (live theater, performing arts type place). In general, they’ve spent a lot of energy cleaning up the park. The area is not as bad as it used to be. It’s all part of a plan to revitalize that neighborhood.
My guess is that’s not the real El Rey; it looks like they dressed up some street and recreated the El Rey. For one thing, the street looks too narrow to be Wilshire Blvd. There’s an island at that point as well, planted with trees, that’s been there since the early 90s, I believe. I also think this is closer to downtown: that skyscraper in the background looks like the Aon Center. If this was the El Rey, there’d be another building down the street with the address 5455 on it (see Ken MC’s photo of 1/16/2009). It would block the view of those other buildings.
@Simon: that’s how a number of LA’s old movie houses stay profitable, as filming locations. Some get 10-15k per day. Even if your commercial features just the outside of a building, you’d better pay the owner or you’re likely to get sued.
@Howard: yes, you’re right about Brown’s involvement with the Fox. But I don’t know anything about where the money came from or how the deal was put together. If Brown’s relying on private money to save more theaters, then we all need lots of pizza-empire millionaires.
And I’ve also heard that CRA money tends to be badly spent. The theaters that I’ve seen with the best economic life are the ones with a strong individual with substantial financial resources to make things happen.
@CWalczak: thanks for the info, most of those theaters you listed I only knew as live venues. I remember seeing Leonard Nimoy play Sherlock Holmes at the Fisher back in the 1970s.
@Howard: part of the vibe I got from that piece was “see what Detroit managed to do, and you know what bad shape they’re in.” Well, they didn’t do it recently.
Yes, theaters get restored, but it’s tough going if you don’t have a pizza-empire millionaire footing the bill. Here in California, the new governor is talking about closing down the CRA to help reduce the budget deficit, which would probably put an end to plans to restore the Westlake and the Leimert.
1) “one of Detroit’s restored movie palaces” — as far as I know, this is Detroit’s only “restored” movie palace; admittedly, I have not lived in the area for quite a while. It’s not like the city has a great reputation for preserving its theaters (see the Michigan for what happens when a theater runs into the need to park cars! cars! cars!).
2) “When will Philadelphia join Detroit and the rest of the nation and restore and reopen our surviving movie palaces” — to be fair, the Fox was restored way back in the 1980s when the economy was a whole lot stronger.
It’s probably time to update the description, which claims that plans to convert the building to a nightclub “came to nothing.” In the past few years around $10 million has been spent renovating this building.
It’s not going to be a nightclub, but a multi-purpose venue similar to the Music Box in Hollywood. They have the large ballroom upstairs, the theater with leveled floor, dance floor, stage, bar, and in the balcony tables and seating, restaurants, a small bar, and a proposed jazz club downstairs.
I’ve been inside and they’ve done a wonderful job with the place, with many references to its rich heritage in their planning and design. Everything’s pretty much done (except the jazz club) and they’re preparing for a February opening.
The LAHTF will be presenting an All About soon, so stay tuned for details.
Maybe trivial, Ray, but important nonetheless (at least to me, as a member of the LAHTF). Mistakes happen, things are misremembered, bad info is reported. It takes sharp-eyed people to weed out the mistakes and keep everything accurate. Thanks.
I suspect that’s only true for evening/weekend shows. I’ve sat in the center section for weekday performances and haven’t paid anywhere near that (and still got some pre-show entertainment).
According to a poster in another thread on another forum far, far away, Econ 101 logic is that people will always seek out the lower priced product. After all, it’s in their best interest to do so.
And yet, people are paying a premium to see shows at the El Cap. Why? Obviously people see the experience at the El Cap is being of a higher order than the experience at the local multiplex.
Now apply this logic to the Chinese, and you’re in business!
Correction: apparently Disney had not yet found a buyer for the El Cap. That doesn’t mean they trying to dump it however, since they plan to stay in the building and keep programming the theater.
“I don’t know how much the stage shows at the El Cap contribute to the gross.”
I don’t think it’s an issue of contributing to the gross, it’s about contributing to the experience. Once people perceive the added value, they’re willing to pay a premium ticket price.
According to the presentation prepared by Ed Kelsey, the Belasco switched to film in 1932. He has an ad for the German film “Maedchen in Uniform” playing there (even though the title “Schoolgirls in Uniform” has undertones of exploitation, it isn’t. “Maedchen” in a serious film that offended the Nazis and they attempted to destroy it. Fortunately, they failed). It doesn’t seem to have stuck with films for long. Eventually they came back when the theater became a burlesque house, alternating with the live acts.
No one knows if the projection booth was added, or a part of the original design. It might have been a follow-spot platform. The fact that the design is so well integrated suggests that it’s original; the half-assed access ladder at the top of the mezzanine level suggests that it was added later. Nowadays it’s used as an office.
There is no film projection equipment remaining in the building. They recently held the premiere of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar documentary “On The Shoulders Of Giants.” It was presented digitally on a rented screen, with folding chairs on the main floor, but the owners plan to buy a screen in the future.
There are eight huge video projectors mounted on either side of the proscenium; these will be used to project special effects on the ceiling.
According to the presentation prepared by Ed Kelsey, the Belasco switched to film in 1932. He has an ad for the German film “Maedchen in Uniform” playing there (even though the title “Schoolgirls in Uniform” has undertones of exploitation, it isn’t. “Maedchen” in a serious film that offended the Nazis and they attempted to destroy it. Fortunately, they failed). It doesn’t seem to have stuck with films for long. Eventually they came back when the theater became a burlesque house, alternating with the live acts.
No one knows if the projection booth was added, or a part of the original design. It might have been a follow-spot platform. The fact that the design is so well integrated suggests that it’s original; the half-assed access ladder at the top of the mezzanine level suggests that it was added later. Nowadays it’s used as an office.
There is no film projection equipment remaining in the building. They recently held the premiere of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar documentary “On The Shoulders Of Giants.” It was presented digitally on a rented screen, with folding chairs on the main floor, but the owners plan to buy a screen in the future.
There are eight huge video projectors mounted on either side of the proscenium; these will be used to project special effects on the ceiling.
Monika, I was looking for you to say hello, but there were a lot of women with cameras at the event today and I decided to stop pestering them. Hope you were there and had fun. We had a great turnout.
Simon, my understanding is that the Last Remaining Seats series name was indeed inspired by Best Remaining Seats…
Yes, that’s what the bio says.
The Los Angeles has two, apparently one for crying babies, the other for cigar smokers; the Fox Inglewood has one. I think a lot of them were taken out during remodels/updates.
Crying rooms were pretty standard features back then.
There’s going to be a big celebration on Broadway this year as two theaters turned 100 in 2010, and the Palace turns 100 this June (the day of the Conservancy’s screening of “Sunset Boulevard,” in fact).
The Million Dollar holds frequent events, but still needs quite a bit of restoration work.
The Palace and Los Angeles are both available to rent for film shoots and events, and also need to be restored. The family that owns those two theaters wanted the city to build a parking structure near the Los Angeles, which they would control, and in return they would restore the theater. That deal fell through.
The only other theater in the area that rivals the Belasco in terms of the restoration work done, is the Orpheum, which will celebrate its 85th birthday this year.
I also recommend the LA Conservancy’s walking tours, which are $5 for members, $10 for the general public. They’re a great way to get familiar with the Broadway theaters, and to get a glimpse inside a few of them. For the full treatment, however, you need to attend one of our “All About” events…
Yes, the Belasco does have a projection booth, which should put that question to rest. I haven’t bothered to go inside it, but my guess is that there is no film equipment left. Last week they were working on some video projectors that apparently project special effects on the ceiling.
The set-up reminds me of The Music Box and the Wiltern: seats in the balcony, main floor leveled with a bar in the back…
I’ll try to remember to get the info you’re interested in at the All About (usually I’m running around with my camera, shooting the event and not really listening to the presentation).
They’re going to turn the Westlake back into a theater (live theater, performing arts type place). In general, they’ve spent a lot of energy cleaning up the park. The area is not as bad as it used to be. It’s all part of a plan to revitalize that neighborhood.
All About the Belasco
February 26th, 10:30 a.m. (doors open at 10)
Free to LAHTF members; $5 to the general public
Hope to see you there!
This theater can be seen in the TV show American Greed (s2 e15) from 2008. The owners lost some money in a car-buying scam.
My guess is that’s not the real El Rey; it looks like they dressed up some street and recreated the El Rey. For one thing, the street looks too narrow to be Wilshire Blvd. There’s an island at that point as well, planted with trees, that’s been there since the early 90s, I believe. I also think this is closer to downtown: that skyscraper in the background looks like the Aon Center. If this was the El Rey, there’d be another building down the street with the address 5455 on it (see Ken MC’s photo of 1/16/2009). It would block the view of those other buildings.
What does everyone else think?
@Simon: that’s how a number of LA’s old movie houses stay profitable, as filming locations. Some get 10-15k per day. Even if your commercial features just the outside of a building, you’d better pay the owner or you’re likely to get sued.
@Howard: yes, you’re right about Brown’s involvement with the Fox. But I don’t know anything about where the money came from or how the deal was put together. If Brown’s relying on private money to save more theaters, then we all need lots of pizza-empire millionaires.
And I’ve also heard that CRA money tends to be badly spent. The theaters that I’ve seen with the best economic life are the ones with a strong individual with substantial financial resources to make things happen.
@CWalczak: thanks for the info, most of those theaters you listed I only knew as live venues. I remember seeing Leonard Nimoy play Sherlock Holmes at the Fisher back in the 1970s.
@Howard: part of the vibe I got from that piece was “see what Detroit managed to do, and you know what bad shape they’re in.” Well, they didn’t do it recently.
Yes, theaters get restored, but it’s tough going if you don’t have a pizza-empire millionaire footing the bill. Here in California, the new governor is talking about closing down the CRA to help reduce the budget deficit, which would probably put an end to plans to restore the Westlake and the Leimert.
I have a couple of quibbles with this article.
1) “one of Detroit’s restored movie palaces” — as far as I know, this is Detroit’s only “restored” movie palace; admittedly, I have not lived in the area for quite a while. It’s not like the city has a great reputation for preserving its theaters (see the Michigan for what happens when a theater runs into the need to park cars! cars! cars!).
2) “When will Philadelphia join Detroit and the rest of the nation and restore and reopen our surviving movie palaces” — to be fair, the Fox was restored way back in the 1980s when the economy was a whole lot stronger.
The El Rey is featured in CSI as a burlesque club, season 11, episode 12 “A Kiss Before Frying.”
It’s probably time to update the description, which claims that plans to convert the building to a nightclub “came to nothing.” In the past few years around $10 million has been spent renovating this building.
It’s not going to be a nightclub, but a multi-purpose venue similar to the Music Box in Hollywood. They have the large ballroom upstairs, the theater with leveled floor, dance floor, stage, bar, and in the balcony tables and seating, restaurants, a small bar, and a proposed jazz club downstairs.
I’ve been inside and they’ve done a wonderful job with the place, with many references to its rich heritage in their planning and design. Everything’s pretty much done (except the jazz club) and they’re preparing for a February opening.
The LAHTF will be presenting an All About soon, so stay tuned for details.
I kind of doubt it. She divorced him several years ago.
Maybe trivial, Ray, but important nonetheless (at least to me, as a member of the LAHTF). Mistakes happen, things are misremembered, bad info is reported. It takes sharp-eyed people to weed out the mistakes and keep everything accurate. Thanks.
If you know something definite, you should say so. Otherwise, you’re just blowing smoke, like with that “Disney dumping the El Capitan” stuff.
They do tours, but other than opening the forecourt up for free, yes, they’re lagging.
It would also be interesting to know what percentage of El Cap’s ticket sales are to tourists.
Interesting article on long-long footprint slabs from the Chinese…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41167127
I suspect that’s only true for evening/weekend shows. I’ve sat in the center section for weekday performances and haven’t paid anywhere near that (and still got some pre-show entertainment).
According to a poster in another thread on another forum far, far away, Econ 101 logic is that people will always seek out the lower priced product. After all, it’s in their best interest to do so.
And yet, people are paying a premium to see shows at the El Cap. Why? Obviously people see the experience at the El Cap is being of a higher order than the experience at the local multiplex.
Now apply this logic to the Chinese, and you’re in business!
Correction: apparently Disney had not yet found a buyer for the El Cap. That doesn’t mean they trying to dump it however, since they plan to stay in the building and keep programming the theater.
“I don’t know how much the stage shows at the El Cap contribute to the gross.”
I don’t think it’s an issue of contributing to the gross, it’s about contributing to the experience. Once people perceive the added value, they’re willing to pay a premium ticket price.