Ken – no, I mean a schedule of films printed a month or two in advance; this includes regular flyers for midnight film showings at various theatres in the Landmark chain.
The discovery of a handbill touting the opening of this theatre, named the Fox West Coast at inception, reveals that the grand opening took place Thursday October 12, 1950.
Saw “Barton Fink” here when it first came out but never went back, much to my endless regret. It’s now an art gallery; not much of the original interior is intact but the acoustics are still great, reminiscent of the basement ballroom of the Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway.
Was this a twin theatre called the Eros 1 and 2? If so, there’s some footage of its marquees in a new filmed addendum to the revival of “Deep Throat”. Apparently the film itself was too short, so the releasing company filmed some reminiscing by adult film star Eric Edward to tack on when the film had ended.
On one of the Conservancy Tours in autumn 2003, this theatre was in fact open to the public as part of the package. All the seats except the balcony ones are gone – in fact, many illegal alterations were done to the theatre by previous tenants before they were caught and evicted – but the guy (Jon Olivan?) who was just closing the Tower up for the day was gracious enough to let me and a visiting Australian friend inside. The chandeliers are absolutely beautiful and the whole thing could really succeed as a concert venue if interesting booking were put in place much like the Orpheum’s latest batch of rock concerts.
They’re kind of hit-and-miss when it comes to lighting the marquees – the Orpheum is on most of the time, with the Los Angeles marquee lit occasionally and the Palace marquee lit rarely. There’s a few letters in the word “State” at Loew’s State that seem eternally lit, though.
On the Globe, for a while the letters spelling “Globe” had been removed but they’re back up now. I thought it was the dastardly doing of the techno club that’s in there now but perhaps it was the L.A. Conservancy, cleaning them up.
Ken – absolutely. I might add that, for all the progressiveness and banality sex sports these days, seeing a pornographic film in a theatre is a jarring experience to say the very least. I think it has something to do with the proximity of others to a private, personal act. Maybe that’s just this reporter’s sensibility…then again, I wholeheartedly support a mass influx of guys with cravats, monocles, pince-nezes, top hats and tuxedoes into so-called “gentlemen’s clubs”.
Then why not remove all entries for adult theatres, regardless of their historical import or academic value? I went into the Front Door down in Long Beach with my girlfriend a few nights ago and it was purely an exploratory trip for us. Future generations will be exceedingly curious about us puny humans stuck in the past precisely because of our garbage…
Ken – no, I mean a schedule of films printed a month or two in advance; this includes regular flyers for midnight film showings at various theatres in the Landmark chain.
Having edited much of the copy on Landmark Theatre calendars, I respectfully beg to differ.
By extension, all Landmark Theatres (Rialto, NuArt) print calendars, as does the Garden Cinema in Gardena.
Images of the Plaza can be seen here: http://cougartown.com/plaza.html
Located at 126th Street and Acacia. In the 1940s, it cost 25¢ to see films here.
Possibly you mean “Hercules Unchained”.
I thought it was, Bryan. Sure looked like it to me.
Its marquee can be seen in the “destruction of Los Angeles” sequences at the end of “War of the Worlds” (1953).
The discovery of a handbill touting the opening of this theatre, named the Fox West Coast at inception, reveals that the grand opening took place Thursday October 12, 1950.
Saw “Barton Fink” here when it first came out but never went back, much to my endless regret. It’s now an art gallery; not much of the original interior is intact but the acoustics are still great, reminiscent of the basement ballroom of the Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway.
It’s now an art gallery – http://www.galerieelektra.com/about.html
This theatre was located at 668 Bridgeway; a photograph of the facade as it stands today can be found here: View link
Egotism?
Only marginally more attractive than the new Ricardo Montalban Theatre. Nice neon at night on the Culver, though.
The lettering spelling “CULVER” has been completely removed.
Was this a twin theatre called the Eros 1 and 2? If so, there’s some footage of its marquees in a new filmed addendum to the revival of “Deep Throat”. Apparently the film itself was too short, so the releasing company filmed some reminiscing by adult film star Eric Edward to tack on when the film had ended.
On one of the Conservancy Tours in autumn 2003, this theatre was in fact open to the public as part of the package. All the seats except the balcony ones are gone – in fact, many illegal alterations were done to the theatre by previous tenants before they were caught and evicted – but the guy (Jon Olivan?) who was just closing the Tower up for the day was gracious enough to let me and a visiting Australian friend inside. The chandeliers are absolutely beautiful and the whole thing could really succeed as a concert venue if interesting booking were put in place much like the Orpheum’s latest batch of rock concerts.
They’re kind of hit-and-miss when it comes to lighting the marquees – the Orpheum is on most of the time, with the Los Angeles marquee lit occasionally and the Palace marquee lit rarely. There’s a few letters in the word “State” at Loew’s State that seem eternally lit, though.
On the Globe, for a while the letters spelling “Globe” had been removed but they’re back up now. I thought it was the dastardly doing of the techno club that’s in there now but perhaps it was the L.A. Conservancy, cleaning them up.
Gene Scott just died today. What does that mean for this theatre?
Ken – absolutely. I might add that, for all the progressiveness and banality sex sports these days, seeing a pornographic film in a theatre is a jarring experience to say the very least. I think it has something to do with the proximity of others to a private, personal act. Maybe that’s just this reporter’s sensibility…then again, I wholeheartedly support a mass influx of guys with cravats, monocles, pince-nezes, top hats and tuxedoes into so-called “gentlemen’s clubs”.
Well, so just don’t invite Moviemanforever when you run porn. Those semen rivers can be so annoying…
I’m going to go there next weekend and have some tea just to snub all the nay-sayers. Neener.
Then why not remove all entries for adult theatres, regardless of their historical import or academic value? I went into the Front Door down in Long Beach with my girlfriend a few nights ago and it was purely an exploratory trip for us. Future generations will be exceedingly curious about us puny humans stuck in the past precisely because of our garbage…
Of course we don’t judge! We’re theatre nerds. We have no place to judge!