Pacific's Hastings 8
355 N. Rosemead Boulevard,
Pasadena,
CA
91107
355 N. Rosemead Boulevard,
Pasadena,
CA
91107
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 87 comments
Somewhere I still have a small collection of SRO newsletters. In at least one of these newsletters I recall seeing a photo or two of the inside of the Hastings, circa 1985, back when it was a large, single-screen house. Give me a day or two to look for these and if I find them, I’ll scan whatever photos I can find and post them on my website, and provide the link here.
With the rather unusual design of entering the auditorium from the front, coupled with the sheer size of the auditorium (1,000 seats? 1,200?) I truly believe it was one of the nicest theatres in all of Southern California. SRO often referred to it (along with the Paramount) as its flagship theatre. It’s still somewhat hard for me to believe it’s going to be demolished!
This is truly an awesome theatre. If somebody lives nearby, please please please set something up with the manager to take pictures on the last day. Most GM’s are happy to do this. I was irritated I couldn’t get any good shots of the big theatre witout a tripod, but I can tell that this theatre had evolved from an awesome single screen.
I live within a mile of this theater and it is true that after a rather severe wind storm the marquee was decommissioned. That’s not a good thing for a theater and despite the writing on the wall we all hoped that it could be saved. The theater will be missed but I must note that I stopped attending films when the ticket prices became insane. The last film I saw was Shrek2 on the big screen at this theater.
I lined up for a lot of midnight showings back in the 1990s and will never forget the Lord of the Ring trilogy on the big screen at Pacific Hastings.
According to today’s Pasadena Star News
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_6626361
the Hastings will go dark August 27th. Note that this date conflicts with the date Brenda B. mentions five comments above, on August 11th. If there is anyone who can confirm or deny either date, please let me know.
As a former manager of this movie theatre, (back when SRO operated it) I plan on attending one final time, if only to relive a few memories.
I took some pics not to long ago including interiors. Will send them to Cinematour when I get a chance. My ones of the big auditorium did not really come out though.
Current plans call for a Baby-R-Us store tobe built on the site. For your information Pacific Theatres does not own the theatre it only operates it. The company that own the land and shopping center have done a few analysis on restoration and remodeling but the price tag is to high with the seismic retrofit the building will need.
This theatre opened on October 2nd, 1968
an small ad is here http://movie-theatre.org/usa/ca/la/pasadena.pdf
I saw a lot of movies at this theater in the mid to late 90s.
The main auditorium is pretty spacious (even in it’s reduced state) and had good sound but the picture became dimmer and dimmer throughout the years. The other theaters were actually not bad but were of course small and narrow.
I still remember an infamous first night screening of Batman Forever where the sound was out of synch with the picture and it couldn’t be fixed. Pretty amusing.
Saw a movie at this theatre today, 8/11/07, and found out that this theatre will be closed on 8/31/07 and demolished. I guess even chopping up one of the last larger single screens in the San Gabriel Valley and making it a multi-plex couldn’t save this theatre.
Mark you have it about right with your theory on the Hastings. No curved screen. 70MM in two houses, the large one and the one in front of the old main house. It had CDS sound in that house.
Here is my theory about this theatre:
Originally single screen:
reverse entry auditorium (possible curved screen?).
Main auditorium split in two:
Screen of main auditorium moved back to make way for smaller 288 seat auditorium in what was front of the old auditorium, with seating arranged perpendicular to seating of big auditorium (the screen of the smaller is on the front, right wall of the old auditorium). This split might be why the 60 foot flat screen of the resulting large auditorium seems too close to ceiling because of reduced auditorium height as the screen was moved back.
Three screens added to north side of building to create 5-plex:
I feel this was done sometime after the main auditorium split.
The 3 newer screens each split down the middle, resulting in 8-plex:
Evidence to this is the fact that the 6 small screens seemed “paired” with 3 entryways and signage leading to 2 screens each. Also, these auditoriums are narrow with top-down masking, not the usual way an auditorium is initially designed.
Any thoughts? Confirmations?
Just paid the theatre a visit. Snooped in most of the theatres. Liked the large one. But the small ones…wow. Talk about shoe boxes. Most of the screens were set for scope and their size reminded me of the Beverly Center. Seating ranged from 115 or so to 150. Most of the auditoriums seemed to be top-down masking. Even the medium sized one (288 seats).
BTW in reference to reverse entry auditoriums, I know of one in Seattle: The Varsity Theatre, Seattle (the small upstairs screen). OK I know it isn’t the main auditorium, but still…
What is this new annoying trend to not put titles on marquees? The minute AMC took over they put up a generic message on the marquee for Roosevelt Field.
yes, the theater is still open. It no longer attracts crowds and the marque
no longer lists the movies showing there. You have to check local listings.
The big 60' screen room is still intact and was not split as mentioned above.
The big theater is still one of the largest rooms where you can see a movie in that
area.
Correction. This theatre is not closed.
There are listings still on Movietickets.com
Maybe they are planning to close it soon.
As I predicted, AMC’s Santa Anita 16 killed this old theatre.
This theater looks like it closed this week. A for lease sign is up and the marque has been taken down. Too bad, it had the largest screen in the area.
When I did relief projection between Pacific’s and Mann’s down the street, it was awkward running Pacific’s because the regular projectionist actually lived in the booth. He had one of those fold-up, drop-down beds. Forget what you call them now. Anyway, the union only let operators work a certain amount of hours, so on the days that I worked, the poor guy didn’t know what to do with himself. Yes, that huge auditorium was freezing.
There is no listing for the Hastings Drive-In in Pasadena, unless it’s under another name. The information is from socaldriveins.com:
View link
Patsy: The Warner Beverly Hills Theatres was the biggest loss to the city. They started razing it from the back to the front. I was the last projectionist in that theatre. It was am Art Deco gem. The Beverly’s other two sisters are still around one operated by the city of Los Angeles “Warner Grand” in San Pedro and the “Warner Huntington Park” (Twinned).
William: You seem to know alot about theatres in CA particularly Beverly Hills and the LA area. Thanks to you I’m learning about many of them though saddened by their demise.
William: I just looked up the Beverly and the Beverly Canon Theatres listed on CT and looked at some of the photos! What a shame they are both gone!
William: Thanks for the kind reply and yes, I hope that many lend their physical presence to the hearing tonight! Gina and her online committee have been working hard and would appreciate the support.
Hi Patsy: Sorry but I would like to attend but I’m currently in New York City.
But I hope people read Patsy’s post and lend some support for the old Raymond Theatre. Because Bevely Hills just lost two other theatres in the last month. The old Beverly Theatre on Beverly Drive and the Canon on Canon Drive.
William: If you are in or near the Pasadena area and have interest in saving the Raymond Theatre, please consider attending the hearing tonight to show your support! Thank you.