Carthay Circle Theatre
6316 San Vicente Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90048
6316 San Vicente Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90048
37 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 130 comments
They found the statue of the miner that used to be in front of the theater, stolen recently. He was in a scrap yard, cut in half and waiting to be melted down. He will be restored to his old spot, it appears.
In an answer to Weil’s post from Nov. 24th 2007.
“Gone With The Wind” reissue in 70MM opened Oct. 13th. 1967 and played for 56 weeks. And then “The Shoes of the Fisherman” opened on Nov. 16th. 1968 (looks like the last premiere held there was “The Shoes of the Fisherman” on Nov. 15th.) It played for 23 weeks, which would put the finish of the engagement around the end of April 1969.
I agree with those who disparage the demolition of a theater that easily rivaled the glamour and glory of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, still standing on Hollywood Blvd. Raised by a single mom in the 1930s, we were taken by her younger college-age sister, our sitter, to first-run premieres of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Fantasia,” and “Gone With the Wind.” My fondest memory is when we went to see “Snow White” and were greeted by Ms. White (a pretty girl fitting the bill), Doc, Bashful, and the whole gang. The latter were actually fairly large, I suspect smallish people in costumes with cartoonlike (papier-mache?) heads. Long before Disneyland made them commonplace, we looked with awe at the phantasmagorical diorama reproductions of the magical house and forest before entering the theater. You blokes with the wrecking ball, how could you do it?!!
ATTN: Joey c,
(PS sorry everyone else for interrupting your discussion)
Joey Costello?
Hi, my name is Mark, I am from Ireland, I saw your post about your uncle “John Hughes”.
Do you know what year he died in?.
I’m related to 3 Ryan brothers and 1 sister who left Ireland in the 1880’s. Kate Ryan married a Hughes, and they had a son called John who went onto own or run the Sahara casino at some point. And a daughter who married a guy called Costello.
Make any sense to you?
Weil, you wouldn’t possibly have any photos from the time that you worked there, would you?
Funny, it’s written here that the last film to be shown at the Carthay Circle Theatre was Shoes of the Fisherman. I thought it was Gone with the Wind, because I remember the dismantling that began to take place after its re-release. I worked there for a year, remember well the green satin brocade usherette costumes and the “livery” worn by the ushers. A not-insignificant outcry against its slated demise could not stop that venerable gem of a theatre from being reduced to rubble. Pity. The State Theatre in Traverse City, MI, nowhere near as grand and formidable, has been restored to full and functional glory, thanks to the tenacity of folks who create the Traverse City Film Festival, most notably, Michael Moore.
This theatre was demolished? That really sucks!!!!!
They built the castle just under the wire. It’s silly looking.
Thanks for the confirmation. I guess I haven’t seen the HPOZ sign yet walking through Carthay Circle. I’ve only seen one example in the neighborhood where they demolished a home and put up some kind of crazy looking 3 story Disney castle that looks like it fell from space and landed there. At least the rest of them are safe now.
Thanks vokoban for the air view. the reason Carthay seemes the same as it was is that like, South Carthay it is in a historic overlay. This was voted through a number of years ago. I own a house on Commodore Sloat and was involved in the vote.
Thansk also for your note on Olympic Boulevard and the article of how it would cut through the Fox studio to the sea. I just found out that Fox located the studio there because it was the old Tom Mix ranch.
voxpop
Here is the Picfair page:
/theaters/1168/
which corner was the Picfair on? NW, SW, SE, or NE of Pico & Fairfax? I can’t find a page for it on here and every corner at that intersection has been demolished. I know that Fairax used to run right into Pico and then you had to jog over to get back onto Fairfax. Now they have made it a large curve.
I live in South Carthay on the south side of Olympic in a historical preservation overlay zone(HPOZ) but Carthay Circle is still not protected. It’s amazing that the neighborhood looks as original as it does.
I guess when they rip down that many buildings to build those two monstrosities the addresses get all jumbled up.
I posted this above but here it is again…it shows the exact location of the theater.
View link
Actually, the first link you posted is where the actual theater stood. The second link is where there was a row of stores and the large garden for the theater behind.
Below is from the Oct 17, 2007 press release. Notice is says “inspired by” NOT a replica movie palace, and that it will house an “interactive tribute.”
“ This new facility, which was inspired by Los Angeles’ historic Carthay Circle Theatre that premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, will house a next generation Walt Disney Story featuring an interactive tribute to Walt’s California experiences, and his entertainment legacy that continues world-wide today.”
on a separate note, here'a link to the retail store that’s a replica already, that William mentions
http://www.studioscentral.com/column/why8.html
The way it’s worded on imdb is “The theater was built in 1926 and featured a vast courtyard, making it ideal for crowded premieres.”
It does not imply they are building it to hold premieres, but that it implies that the original Carthay Circle Theatre had a large courtyard which made it a great place to hold premieres. They have a replica of Carthay Circle in one of their other parks and it’s a store.
Tu further clarify, the official press release says:
“WALT’S CALIFORNIA — A new visual icon in the tradition of California’s great entertainment palaces will draw guests into the heart of Disney’s California Adventure. Inspired by the Carthay Circle Theatre where Walt Disney premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, this new facility will house a next-generation “Walt Disney Story†featuring an interactive tribute to Walt’s California experiences, and his entertainment legacy that continues worldwide today. ”
So it would appear that this is an homage, not a relica per se, and will host an attraction.
There is an image at: http://www.disneylandnews.com/renderings.htm
World Premieres at the Carthay Circle included the Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” on December 21, 1937.
According to imdb.com today, the Disney company will be building a ‘replica’ of the Carthay Circle Theatre as part of an expansion to Disneyland’s California Adventure park in Anaheim. It does not say anything about detils like how exact a replica and so forth, but does imply that they are building it to hold premieres.
Here is a July 1948 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/yr3bh3
(July 31, 1934)
….At Lucerne Boulevard it will connect with Country Club Drive, which is to become Olympic Boulevard, and will extend sixteen miles farther to the west city limit of Beverly Hills. So, in fact, the project is to provide a great traffic artery clear through the city and down to the sea, twenty-two miles in all. The entire project is to cost $4,500,000.
(Nov. 16, 1929)
An erroneous impression that the through highway which is being planned from the east side of the city to Santa Monica via Tenth street, Country Club Drive and Louisiana avenue will be forced to detour around the new Fox studio in Westwood was corrected by the City Engineer’s office yesterday. This highway which, upon completion, will be known as Olympic Boulevard, will cut right through the land used by the Fox studio, it is stated.
Where Country Club Drive still exists is where Olympic was called 10th street. They combined Country Club Drive and 10th and changed the course of the street a little to make Olympic. I have the Sanborn maps that show Olympic as Country Club Drive. I live at Olympic and La Jolla, and I always have to search for Country Club Drive when researching anything about my neighborhood before the mid-30’s.