Highland Theatres

5604 N. Figueroa Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90042

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Showing 26 - 40 of 40 comments

arriano
arriano on March 29, 2006 at 12:40 pm

It’s fun to see these photos of how it looks now. I grew up in Montecito Heights and this was our closest theater when I was a kid. Looks pretty much the way I remember it, other than being a triplex now.

KatChong
KatChong on September 1, 2005 at 7:04 pm

I just drove by today and couln’t believe what a gem this place is. It’s cheap, it’s a historical monument, and it’s beautiful. I used to go to a $2 theater in San Diego, but it didn’t do so well and mysteriously shut down. I really hope that this place stays charming, low priced, and open! Hopefully, if and when it starts getting more business, the prices won’t go up and bum people out. That would suck, so don’t do it! Poor people want to watch movies too. Power to the people! We should all boycott pricey theaters and only go to this one. ke ke ke.

pamelajean
pamelajean on June 29, 2005 at 9:07 am

reneei44:

I went to Monte Vista Elementary from 1963-66.
I grew up in Highland Park from 1960-1966.
I still have fond memories of when I lived in the
area, on Aldama Street above 54th.

commonground
commonground on June 20, 2005 at 5:31 am

With the financial assistance of the Highland Park Heritage Trust, the Highland Theatre¹s magnificent rooftop sign will burn brightly once again, after the replacement of more than 750 incandescent light bulbs. Originally restored and lit in the late 1990¹s through a collaboration of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Neon Program and the Targeted Neighborhood Initiative Program, the sign is one of only three incandescent bulb signs still in use in the city. Declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1991, the Highland Theatre was constructed in 1924, from a design by the noted theater architect L.A. Smith (he also designed South Pasadena’s Rialto.) from 2003 press release by Highland Park Heritage Trust

MRY886
MRY886 on January 27, 2005 at 11:31 am

I grew up on Mt. Washington and now live in Highland Park, just a few yards from the Highland. The Highland, as well as the Rialto in South Pasadena, were built for Clyde M. Church, who was a local banker. They were both then set up on lone term leases with a predicessor to the Mann corporation. I know that Church’s heirs still own the land under the Highland and I believe they also own the land under the Rialto. I wrote the Los Angeles City Monument nomination for the Highland in 1990 and also participated in the nomination for El Portal, in North Hollywood. When I was 10, several friends and I walked down the hill and went to the Highland to see the James Bond thriller, “Thunderball”. That was my first experiance in the original Moorish interior of the theatre. It was very impressive. I was extremely disappointed when the later operators butchered the interior around 1980. At the time of the nomination, the original chandaleir was lying on the upper balcony which is not used at this time. I’ve heard rumors that it has since been sold. Ah, that someone with both money and vision could restore this wonderful venue.

-Charlie Fisher, , 323-255-2849

naniquez
naniquez on January 26, 2005 at 3:48 pm

The Highland Theatre is a wonderful place to watch a movie. Why spend big bucks at a comercialized movie theatre, when you can enjoy the same movie (& save cash) at the Highland. It’s unfortunate that many residents in Highland Park seek entertainment elsewhere. Highland park is a gem community that i believe is slowly starting to be discovered. Be good to your community and your community will be good to you. -Nani

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on December 5, 2004 at 4:26 pm

The Highland Theater opened on 5th March 1925 and Norma Shearer made a personal appearance.

William
William on September 22, 2004 at 2:06 pm

The plexing of this theatre was done after Mann Theatres dropped the house. So some of those early plexings in Southern California were done cheaply. Like this theatre, the California Theatre in Huntington Park, Culver Theatre in Culver City and the Academy in Pasadena.

RobertR
RobertR on September 22, 2004 at 12:39 pm

Thats odd they put no cinemas in the balcony?

MagicLantern
MagicLantern on September 22, 2004 at 12:36 pm

Slightly Moorish in style, this theatre seated 1450 before its triplexing. If you go past the projection rooms (which are nearly always open due to how hot they get) and up the stairs to the second-story bathrooms, there’s a doorway leading into what must have been the balcony, which may be used as storage space or some other such.

LABILL
LABILL on April 23, 2004 at 11:43 am

Am I the only person in LA on a fixed income? I regularly see first-run films here for $4 in the afternoon. The place is clean. The staff is civil. The neighborhood is unpretentious but safe. The parking is easy. What are you waiting for?

renee
renee on March 22, 2004 at 3:02 pm

I used to go to this theater faithfully every week-end with friends(Hey, Robert Whittle and Joey M…Where are you now?)This theater could have rivaled any theater in Los Angeles or Hollywood at the time. I have not been back to the area in over 35 years, but have many fond memories of growing up on Monte Vista and Ave 52.

trooperboots
trooperboots on February 17, 2004 at 1:25 am

My mom lived in Highland Park in 1950 and in September of that year went into labor for me while watching the program. The show on the night of 9-13 was “The Furies” with Barbara Stanwick and “Treasure Island”… there was also a cartoon and a short subject called “In Beaver Valley” by Disney. By 5 a.m. I arrived at U.C. (called L.A. General in those days) Hospital.

Blofeld
Blofeld on November 12, 2003 at 12:29 pm

This was my neighborhood movie theater when I was a kid—James Bond revivals, Billy Jack, Gone With the Wind…I was really happy to see its rooftop marquee a-blazing in the new version of The Singing Detective.
As Mr. Melnick notes, this neighborhood has been pretty rough and tumble over the years, but now Highland Park has a reputation as an artist’s ghetto, and everyone knows that artists are the yuppie shock troops, so perhaps the really beautiful old houses around here will start being rennovated…and maybe this great old theater with it.

JustOldBob
JustOldBob on September 14, 2002 at 5:14 pm

This theatre is located not far south of Avenue 57, on North Figueroa Street, which used to be Pasadena Avenue until sometime in the 1920’s.