Nuart Theatre
11272 Santa Monica Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90025
11272 Santa Monica Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90025
59 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 69 of 69 comments
SEXBEATLE: What did you lose at that show?
I saw “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” here.
Tonight was my first time at the Nuart since the recent renovation, and it was a very sad experience. They’ve given the auditorium a black and gray color scheme, widened the aisles, and installed new, high-backed seats that rock back and forth. First off, I found the seats incredibly uncomfortable. The armrests are too high, and the high backs and extended width between the aisles means that you can no longer slouch back and put your feet up on the next aisle (somthing that you used to be able to do without disturbing anyone, considering that the Nuart is seldom packed). And the rocking doesn’t do it for me, particularly since the wide aisles make it difficult to anchor your feet to the floor.
But beyond the reduced comfort, the whole aesthetic of the place is incredibly disappointing. It seems like they’ve decided to “Arclight” the place, meaning that they’ve gone for a modern, all-black look, I guess in an attempt to make it look more hip and “arty.”
The red color scheme that they used to have was perfect. For me, the color red signifies “old-time movie house” for some reason. And even though I don’t know how the Nuart originally looked (I only started to go in the late-80’s), it definitely seemed like it could have been the original decor, or at least quite similar to it.
And what was wrong with the old auditorium, anyways? The seats were comfortable and in good shape, and the place always seemed pretty clean. Over years of going there, I never once thought, “The Nuart is getting kind of run-down.”
They’ve also changed the lobby and box-office, although these parts are still being worked on. The biggest change so far is that they’ve gotten rid of the old-style, stand alone box office and built it into the rest of the theatre (I guess I didn’t take all that good of a look, but I think they’ve achieved this by building a wall that extends into the lobby, reducing the width of the space under the marquee).
The outside decor,particularly the box office, reminds me of the Film Forum and the new IFC Center in New York. And here, again, I’m incredibly saddened. The Film Forum and IFC Center play a lot of the same programming as the Nuart (they’re basically the NY equivalents), and for years I used to claim to my NY friends that one of the advantages of LA over NY is that the primary revival theatre/art house in the city is an actual old-style movie theatre, instead of some cramped, crappy “film center.”
Which leads me to my last point—At least they didn’t split it! I guess if Landmark wanted to bring in more revenue (although they’ve lost at least 100 seats, which they’ll surely miss if they get another Blair Witch Project or Blade Runner), we should be thankful they’ve decided to make it look more like the Arclight rather than completely destroy it by cutting it up. So curse you/thank you Marc Cuban.
And we former patrons (1977 – 1987), do love the Nuart! Thanks for the note on the trailers (I still remember the NO SMOKING trailer).
RE: Gary Meyer on Dec 14, 2003 at 5:56am John Waters did not create the now renowned NO SMOKING trailer – he starred in it, as he is a star. I produced and directed three trailers in a New York City loft in support of the SHOCK VALUE FILM FESTIVAL that was marketed nationwide through Landmark Theatre Corporation in the early 1980’s to assist in marketing John’s book SHOCK VALUE. The SHOCK VALUE trailer was kicked back by the Texas censors with an orange obscenity band due to the use of the words masturbation and coprophagy. (John wanted to change the script to use more common terms for anatomy and excretions but I insisted on sticking to the script – little good it did) The THANK YOU NUART FOR MAKING DIVINE THE FILTH GODDESS and the NO SMOKING TRAILER were filmed at the same time. All were filmed as written. I carried the latent image reels back to LA in my carry-on luggage and transferred the 16mm original negative up to 35mm for theatrical use. The Film Festival, with the NUART Theatre as base, was a runaway success, and the NO SMOKING trailer, created as an added attraction to give Nuart patrons even more reasons to love the NUART, has gone on to become an icon. Nice.
GARY MEYER: IN 1977-1978 I attended the Don Martin Radio School. I have lived in the valley since 1968. My sister came to school to visit the next DICK WHITTINGHILL?? She told me that the Sherman on Ventura was showing a CHARLIE CHAN festival for several days. I went crazy!! She was 21 and I was 35. WE went to specifically see Warner Oland. Deb had never seen Charlie Chan or Sherlock Holmes films. The theatre was packed and lines were long. Later on in America as you know values changed and Charlie Chan was banned from tv and after 1965 Amos and Andy was banned. But think about this: gardeners are now landscape architects, trash collectors are rubbish engineers, people who live together are domestic partners. I suppose next the media will call Hookers: SEXUAL AID ADVOCATES.
Growing up in the Valley, I was always mesmerized by the titles on this theatre’s marquee, until I saw the title “Frankenhooker” and finally made it inside. It’s my favorite theatre in Los Angeles, and has some of the best presentations around…
I regularly patronized the Nuart for the ten years I lived in LA
(1977-1987).I was always fascinated by the double feature presentations of foreign and American classics, obscure foreign and independent features, the discount card you purchased that was punched at the boxoffice, the very colorful monthly calendars, and the huge crowds that constantly attended every daily screening. To this day, I still remember 600 of us crammed together watching a musical double feature of CAMELOT and MY FAIR LADY. For those of you who know the combined length of these features, we were a dedicated bunch of Nuart patrons (however, my girlfriend wasn’t very happy with the double features length). I also vividly remember attending numerous combo screenings of THE THREE MUSKETEERS and THE FOUR MUSKETEERS.
I also attended many presentations at the Fox Venice when I lived in Mar Vista. While the film scheduling was pretty much the same as the Nuart, the Fox Venice was my favorite of the two cinemas since it offered numerous varieties of hot tea at the concession stand and I like the spacious layout of the interior more.
2 great theaters, many wonderful memories!
The Nuart was where I saw the brilliant jazz documentary “Chet Baker: Let’s Get Lost” around 1988-89.. you can’t even find that film on video these days. I was also privileged to have attended one Saturday afternoon in the late 80s “ A Tribute to Mel Blank”… two hours of Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Tweety Bird / Looney Tunes cartoons followed by a Q&A with the original “What’s Up, Doc?” voice himself. Amazing! He passed away shortly thereafter. I will forever cherish that memory of the Nuart.
Does anybody remember a No Smoking Trailer with Bart the Fire Marshall next to his red firetruck? It lasted 90 seconds and played regularly at the Rialto and Nuart before features in the early 1980s. It also ran during the Filmex Film Festival. It was my very first film school project.
Everyone loves the Nuart. They could use a better sound system, though. I saw a concert film there recently and was disappointed. Their schedule is amazingly varied, adventurous, and ecelctic.
The Nuart is a great place to see non-mainstream films and their film festivals are among the best. The earliest I can recall being at the Nuart was around 1977 with a double-feature of “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and “Dirty Harry.” Recently, I’ve seen Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” and the original, uncut “Godzilla” from 1954. “Godzilla” is playing there until May 27. – A.
I programmed the Nuart from 1976 until I left Landmark (a company I co-founded)in 1993. I also did the Fox Venice, Rialto (Pasadena), Vista and Sherman, all at the same time (and many others around the country including the late lamented UC Theatre in Berkeley). Imagine what it was like to keep them all showing different kinds of programming, hopefully doing decent business and not overlapping. The festivals were my favorites, especially at the Sherman. Also bringing in filmmakers for tributes and discussions with audiences was memorable as was having John Waters join us for the 10th anniversary of PINK FLAMINGOS and create the “No Smoking” trailer.
Though I co-founded Landmark with Steve Gilula and Kim Jorgensen, Kim has been part of group that first ran the Fox Venice based on a policy created by Mike Thomas and myself at the Times Theater in San Francisco…a film lovers' grind house changing daily double and triple features for 99 cents in the late 1960s.
BH — you should add your NuArt cameo to our Cameo news category. (We’re also thinking about including the NuArt in our book, so this might be a good thing to include as well!)
When the NuArt Theatre opened in the early 40’s, it was part of the Fox West Coast Theatres chain. Along with the nearby Tivoli Theatre which is now known as the Royal Theatre. The NuArt Theatre seated 660 people.
Look for Goldie Hawn at the Nuart, where it poses as a San Francisco theater hosting a Bogart retrospective in FOUL PLAY (1978)
Well, it wasn’t always a revival house. I knew someone for whom it was the neighborhood theater during the 40’s.
This is absolutely the best Art house in Los Angeles County. Period. Their programs and double features, not to mention their film festivals, are second to none.
I’ve had a blast there at science fiction film festivals, of which there are many, and it’s a cool place to go with all the night life in the city after the movie.
A Landmark Theatre, the chain’s very first one.
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