Yup, it’s me. I was at the National in ‘84 the Regent in '85, Coronet and Plitt in '86 (during the whole embezzlement crackdown period) then went back to the National again in '89 for a short PT phase, got fired by the manager Isaac for eating M&M’s on duty, we still joke about that to this day. Made alot of good friends at the theatres.
It’s funny how the 3 phases of the 80’s changed, the early 80’s; fun & creative, still had the 70’s vibe, mid-80’s; drastic changes take over, any trace of the 70’s wiped out though still a fun and somewhat creative time, late 80’s; it’s over, heavy restrictions, rules, punishment, Orwell’s 1984. This is the period we’ve basically (more or less) been stuck in, more intensely with each passing decade.
Hey contact me at— http://www.myspace.com/choogo http://www.awayteamfanclub.com/reflectionsofevil
My friend lives right next to the Cinerama in Seattle, he seems to think it’s not going to last long either but I told him Paul Allen (who i knew back in the 80’s) helped revive and save it a few years back. Yea it’s a sad scene in L.A., but hey we still have the Village, Chinese and Cineramadome, even though they ruined the front entrance & marquee display at the Dome & Chinese, (why did they do that? the old display looked so much better in the front at the Chinese, as did the large rotating posters that used to straddle aside the dome) not to mention conglomerated them into hideous mega shopping complexes. But, what can you do.
Holy jeez i remember the monitors at Topanga Plaza too—and I think your right, they may have only been for Universal releases. Topanga Plaza and the Northridge Fashion Center (& Malibu Grand Prix arcade) were my stomping grounds as a kid in the late 70’s/early 80’s
i was down in westwood last night w/a friend, we were gazing in thru the National windows at 3am, it’s all being gutted out. Design plans (c. from 1970) were laying on the floor, Feast of Love posters & marquee are still up. We walked to the back and I lamented how i spent half my life waiting by those exit doors back in the early 80’s to sneak into Star Trek II or Krull or Temple of Doom for the 100th time (this was before working for Mann Theatres starting in ‘84, from then on i never had to sneak in) Are they still planning in demolishing the place, erecting an apt bldg? A hardware store? A barber school? what are the gonna do with it does anyone know?
Also, I vaguely recall when Road Warrior was playing there in 70mm (Jan of '83) but i think the film came out in the summer of '82 was that a re-release or hold-over of some sort? I seem to recall (unfortunately) seeing it at a smaller theater in Westwood sometime in '82 and somehow missed the National engagement. And does anyone remember how in that year ('82) they had TV monitors up all over the place, store windows, inside malls, etc and would run 24 hours a day constant trailers & featurettes for all the summer blockbusters, The Thing, Dark Crystal, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, etc
I recall experiences like waiting for a bus at 2am and watching clips from the Thing and the making of The Dark Crystal in some business store window. Sigh, only in those days
after studying that footage a bit more I can definately say that IS The National, all of it! Lots of shots of the lobby, concession stand, and a bit of the ext. It was just so dark and fuzzy was hard to tell at first, i mean for gosh sakes i should know I worked at the place back in ‘84!! Now who is that usher and where is he now?
friend of mine said they had a private screening at the National few days ago but i don’t believe him (he tends to exaggerate things) said he drove by and saw people milling about inside. I drove by the other night at 2am, (best time to drive anywhere in L.A.) wierd how they left all the interior posters, banners & Feast of Love marquee up, to the average passer-by looks like the place is still operational. There was actually a sign that said “private screening tonight” but i think thats possibly been up there for weeks/months. It looks like the National was just abandoned with everything still in place, frozen in time, playing Feast of Love. Or it’s still playing Feast of Love permanantly in another dimension running at a higher frequency, therefore we don’t see any patrons or employees.
Footnote of interest, I found this rare footage on Youtube of audience reactions of The Exorcist in 1973 (wish the quality was better) I could sware there are some shots of The National in there but it’s hard to tell. Here’s the link View link
Westwood used to be defilned by it’s movie-going but not anymore, it’s almost a ghost-town these days. In this day & age i don’t see how ANY single house theatres will survive much longer, the few that are left. And frankly the whole theatrical experience is dead, it’s a stay-home based multi-media world of 5000 satellite cable channels to choose from on your widescreen TV. Why would anyone want to bother with a movie theatre, just for some disposable new mainstream film that’ll be on cable or DVD 2 weeks later? Oh, people still go, mostly for desperation of something to do, so they’ll be around until at least 2012, but it’s not the same. And good movies still do RARELY occasionally get made, but seldomly distributed by major studios, their lucky to get a week in release at some small art-house, swept under the carpet, overlooked by the general public.
Like the slogan for the 1973 film “The Last Programme”
The Future is Cancelled
The Rialto closed too? Sigh I knew it wouldn’t last long, every time i went it was empty. I’m sure the Academy in Pasadena will be next. Those are my favorite places, the empty forgotten theatres, i HATE all the crowded modern plexes with parking garages. I hate modern crowds and shopping complexes, I feel completely disassociated and detached with this hideous time we live in. I’m like a bitter anti-social curmudgeon living in the wrong time, lamenting the 70’s. I can occasionally be seen shouting madly on street corners like crazed schizophrenic, like in the film “Reflections of Evil”, made by some lunatic filmmaker (don’t recall his name) Frankly i don’t see how ANY cinema’s have much of a future, other than the most frequented mega-plexes. Attendance has dropped so much, go to any late eve or early matineee show during the week, maybe 2-3 people in the theatre most of the time.
well thats it then. It’s over.
We’ve reached the end of a long journey, we’ve lost the battle.
The last great theatre, has closed, the last hope… has died, the flame has slowly burned out, it was kept burning, ever so faintly..over these last weeks,
but now everything is in darkness, the light of the projector has died, hope has died with it.
Perhaps someday in the doomed future, Charlton Heston will wander in out of the deserted ghost town of Westwood, filled with cobwebs and skeletons, fire up the old projector with a generator and watch Woodstock.
But for now, It is over.
And so I say fare thee well, thou shall never hear from Harry again
agreed, they ruined this theatre years ago. I’m surprised it’s still open, the place barely does any business year after year, it surely can’t last much longer.
That said, back in the early days a lot of great memories at the Avco, many big openings and premiere’s, and they had the 1st THX system on the westside back in 1983. I also always thought the location of this theatre was interesting, right behind the Westwood cemetary
Sigh it’s over now, these are the last dying days of cinema. It is..OVER!
yea when’s it closing? are they opening with anything new this month at all? I KNEW i should have seen 3:10 to Yuma there (ended up seeing it at a lousy theatre with weak sound) Probably the last thing worthwile that’ll ever play there. I tried to get this girl to go but she just kept giving me the brush-off
interesting, just noticed the film-tech.com site also has a 70’s GCC feature animation intro, but the wierd purple blob background version which god sure brings back memories.
funny, your post made me want to do a web search for the old GCC feature presentation intro’s (with the projector) which i so fondly remember as a kid, and low & behold I found a link to them here View link
Now if i couold just find that 80’s Mann Theatres presentation one, with the cheesy laser animation FX zapping the letters, remember that? Someone posted the 1973 version on that link above, but i can’t find the early-mid 80’s one
it is amazing the national opened with the latest big film (this weekend) opposed to the village. They must have even had some crowds over the weekend, it’s almost just a smidget of the old days. wonders will never cease
no it’s every other Wed, and there’s basically no listing anywhere. You have to get on the black abba mailing list to find out whats playing (which is usually emailed 24-48hrs before it shows) which you can do simply by emailing
Often it’s just the cinefile clan that show up but anyone can come.
They often don’t know what their showing until the last minute and it’s predicated on what prints he’s just aquired. I can tell you Hadrian is always in search of cheap prints.. (to purchase, borrow, rent, etc) should anyone have a line on that
anyone can show up, it’s completely free, no invite necessary. Just be prepared for a ‘lively’ audience.
Doesn’t anyone care that YOR is playing? It’s finally showing..this is it, the one movie everyone on this thread has been discussing and now the chance is here…
I wanted to let everyone know…Hadrian of Cinefile has aquired a nice print of YOR for his Black Abba midnight screenings at the Nuart. (for next Wed Sept 5 2007) He would love to get it shown at the National as well if such a thing could be arranged. I’m gonna give John Stiener a call see if he wants to show up. Repeat YOR: Hunter From the Future at the Nuart Sept 5 2007 midnight in 35mm 4 track optical dolby Yor-o-sound
wow this board just got the attention of the guy who runs this website!!
I have noticed a pattern all over the internet, on just about every message thread that has ever existed on every subject (especially the IMDB threads) somehow they always transgress into fights and insults.
Hostel II is complete crap but Rescue Dawn is an excellent film, but i assume you mean ‘crap’ in terms of attendance and audience draw (which btw has NOTHING to do with the quality of a film) especially these days where the dumber and crappier are the box office draws, not the extremely rare and occasional good or intellgent film (remember those?) If they even manage to get a release, or even more miraculous, get made.
And the only reason the National gets low attendance is because they won’t SEND any of the big releases there!!! Imagine if the Village and Bruin were closed for a few months because of a freakish killer insect infestation (or something) and they were forced to send everything to the National. (actually they’d probably open all the big films at the regent and festival anyway) This is the problem, the bookers/execs, who-ever parties are in control of theatre booking are the one’s to blame!
It’s over, the National closing is a symbol of the final blow for “the death of cinema” in these strange, worn out, empty, dark and hopeless times. Society is slowly crumbling before us and we are bearing witness to it. It’s like the scene in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas where Johnny Depp walks into a cloud of dust thinking “so what now?”
Yup, it’s me. I was at the National in ‘84 the Regent in '85, Coronet and Plitt in '86 (during the whole embezzlement crackdown period) then went back to the National again in '89 for a short PT phase, got fired by the manager Isaac for eating M&M’s on duty, we still joke about that to this day. Made alot of good friends at the theatres.
It’s funny how the 3 phases of the 80’s changed, the early 80’s; fun & creative, still had the 70’s vibe, mid-80’s; drastic changes take over, any trace of the 70’s wiped out though still a fun and somewhat creative time, late 80’s; it’s over, heavy restrictions, rules, punishment, Orwell’s 1984. This is the period we’ve basically (more or less) been stuck in, more intensely with each passing decade.
Hey contact me at—
http://www.myspace.com/choogo
http://www.awayteamfanclub.com/reflectionsofevil
My friend lives right next to the Cinerama in Seattle, he seems to think it’s not going to last long either but I told him Paul Allen (who i knew back in the 80’s) helped revive and save it a few years back. Yea it’s a sad scene in L.A., but hey we still have the Village, Chinese and Cineramadome, even though they ruined the front entrance & marquee display at the Dome & Chinese, (why did they do that? the old display looked so much better in the front at the Chinese, as did the large rotating posters that used to straddle aside the dome) not to mention conglomerated them into hideous mega shopping complexes. But, what can you do.
Holy jeez i remember the monitors at Topanga Plaza too—and I think your right, they may have only been for Universal releases. Topanga Plaza and the Northridge Fashion Center (& Malibu Grand Prix arcade) were my stomping grounds as a kid in the late 70’s/early 80’s
i was down in westwood last night w/a friend, we were gazing in thru the National windows at 3am, it’s all being gutted out. Design plans (c. from 1970) were laying on the floor, Feast of Love posters & marquee are still up. We walked to the back and I lamented how i spent half my life waiting by those exit doors back in the early 80’s to sneak into Star Trek II or Krull or Temple of Doom for the 100th time (this was before working for Mann Theatres starting in ‘84, from then on i never had to sneak in) Are they still planning in demolishing the place, erecting an apt bldg? A hardware store? A barber school? what are the gonna do with it does anyone know?
Also, I vaguely recall when Road Warrior was playing there in 70mm (Jan of '83) but i think the film came out in the summer of '82 was that a re-release or hold-over of some sort? I seem to recall (unfortunately) seeing it at a smaller theater in Westwood sometime in '82 and somehow missed the National engagement. And does anyone remember how in that year ('82) they had TV monitors up all over the place, store windows, inside malls, etc and would run 24 hours a day constant trailers & featurettes for all the summer blockbusters, The Thing, Dark Crystal, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, etc
I recall experiences like waiting for a bus at 2am and watching clips from the Thing and the making of The Dark Crystal in some business store window. Sigh, only in those days
after studying that footage a bit more I can definately say that IS The National, all of it! Lots of shots of the lobby, concession stand, and a bit of the ext. It was just so dark and fuzzy was hard to tell at first, i mean for gosh sakes i should know I worked at the place back in ‘84!! Now who is that usher and where is he now?
friend of mine said they had a private screening at the National few days ago but i don’t believe him (he tends to exaggerate things) said he drove by and saw people milling about inside. I drove by the other night at 2am, (best time to drive anywhere in L.A.) wierd how they left all the interior posters, banners & Feast of Love marquee up, to the average passer-by looks like the place is still operational. There was actually a sign that said “private screening tonight” but i think thats possibly been up there for weeks/months. It looks like the National was just abandoned with everything still in place, frozen in time, playing Feast of Love. Or it’s still playing Feast of Love permanantly in another dimension running at a higher frequency, therefore we don’t see any patrons or employees.
Footnote of interest, I found this rare footage on Youtube of audience reactions of The Exorcist in 1973 (wish the quality was better) I could sware there are some shots of The National in there but it’s hard to tell. Here’s the link View link
What do you think..is that the National?
if all the chairs are stripped then it’s begun, the national is gone baby gone.
It’s over.
we….have failed (head dipped to floor)
Westwood used to be defilned by it’s movie-going but not anymore, it’s almost a ghost-town these days. In this day & age i don’t see how ANY single house theatres will survive much longer, the few that are left. And frankly the whole theatrical experience is dead, it’s a stay-home based multi-media world of 5000 satellite cable channels to choose from on your widescreen TV. Why would anyone want to bother with a movie theatre, just for some disposable new mainstream film that’ll be on cable or DVD 2 weeks later? Oh, people still go, mostly for desperation of something to do, so they’ll be around until at least 2012, but it’s not the same. And good movies still do RARELY occasionally get made, but seldomly distributed by major studios, their lucky to get a week in release at some small art-house, swept under the carpet, overlooked by the general public.
Like the slogan for the 1973 film “The Last Programme”
The Future is Cancelled
People should start lobbying for more of those DMX Dimensional 70mm showings before it gets demolished, that sounds cool
The Rialto closed too? Sigh I knew it wouldn’t last long, every time i went it was empty. I’m sure the Academy in Pasadena will be next. Those are my favorite places, the empty forgotten theatres, i HATE all the crowded modern plexes with parking garages. I hate modern crowds and shopping complexes, I feel completely disassociated and detached with this hideous time we live in. I’m like a bitter anti-social curmudgeon living in the wrong time, lamenting the 70’s. I can occasionally be seen shouting madly on street corners like crazed schizophrenic, like in the film “Reflections of Evil”, made by some lunatic filmmaker (don’t recall his name) Frankly i don’t see how ANY cinema’s have much of a future, other than the most frequented mega-plexes. Attendance has dropped so much, go to any late eve or early matineee show during the week, maybe 2-3 people in the theatre most of the time.
well thats it then. It’s over.
We’ve reached the end of a long journey, we’ve lost the battle.
The last great theatre, has closed, the last hope… has died, the flame has slowly burned out, it was kept burning, ever so faintly..over these last weeks,
but now everything is in darkness, the light of the projector has died, hope has died with it.
Perhaps someday in the doomed future, Charlton Heston will wander in out of the deserted ghost town of Westwood, filled with cobwebs and skeletons, fire up the old projector with a generator and watch Woodstock.
But for now, It is over.
And so I say fare thee well, thou shall never hear from Harry again
agreed, they ruined this theatre years ago. I’m surprised it’s still open, the place barely does any business year after year, it surely can’t last much longer.
That said, back in the early days a lot of great memories at the Avco, many big openings and premiere’s, and they had the 1st THX system on the westside back in 1983. I also always thought the location of this theatre was interesting, right behind the Westwood cemetary
Sigh it’s over now, these are the last dying days of cinema. It is..OVER!
long live the momory of Ted Mann, co-producer of Krull and The Illustated Man!
yea when’s it closing? are they opening with anything new this month at all? I KNEW i should have seen 3:10 to Yuma there (ended up seeing it at a lousy theatre with weak sound) Probably the last thing worthwile that’ll ever play there. I tried to get this girl to go but she just kept giving me the brush-off
interesting, just noticed the film-tech.com site also has a 70’s GCC feature animation intro, but the wierd purple blob background version which god sure brings back memories.
funny, your post made me want to do a web search for the old GCC feature presentation intro’s (with the projector) which i so fondly remember as a kid, and low & behold I found a link to them here
View link
Now if i couold just find that 80’s Mann Theatres presentation one, with the cheesy laser animation FX zapping the letters, remember that? Someone posted the 1973 version on that link above, but i can’t find the early-mid 80’s one
it is amazing the national opened with the latest big film (this weekend) opposed to the village. They must have even had some crowds over the weekend, it’s almost just a smidget of the old days. wonders will never cease
yep, enjoy it while it’s there. These are the last days..
no it’s every other Wed, and there’s basically no listing anywhere. You have to get on the black abba mailing list to find out whats playing (which is usually emailed 24-48hrs before it shows) which you can do simply by emailing
Often it’s just the cinefile clan that show up but anyone can come.
They often don’t know what their showing until the last minute and it’s predicated on what prints he’s just aquired. I can tell you Hadrian is always in search of cheap prints.. (to purchase, borrow, rent, etc) should anyone have a line on that
anyone can show up, it’s completely free, no invite necessary. Just be prepared for a ‘lively’ audience.
Doesn’t anyone care that YOR is playing? It’s finally showing..this is it, the one movie everyone on this thread has been discussing and now the chance is here…
I wanted to let everyone know…Hadrian of Cinefile has aquired a nice print of YOR for his Black Abba midnight screenings at the Nuart. (for next Wed Sept 5 2007) He would love to get it shown at the National as well if such a thing could be arranged. I’m gonna give John Stiener a call see if he wants to show up. Repeat YOR: Hunter From the Future at the Nuart Sept 5 2007 midnight in 35mm 4 track optical dolby Yor-o-sound
wow this board just got the attention of the guy who runs this website!!
I have noticed a pattern all over the internet, on just about every message thread that has ever existed on every subject (especially the IMDB threads) somehow they always transgress into fights and insults.
updating the 70’s decor would completely ruin the place, thats one of the best things about the National!
Hostel II is complete crap but Rescue Dawn is an excellent film, but i assume you mean ‘crap’ in terms of attendance and audience draw (which btw has NOTHING to do with the quality of a film) especially these days where the dumber and crappier are the box office draws, not the extremely rare and occasional good or intellgent film (remember those?) If they even manage to get a release, or even more miraculous, get made.
And the only reason the National gets low attendance is because they won’t SEND any of the big releases there!!! Imagine if the Village and Bruin were closed for a few months because of a freakish killer insect infestation (or something) and they were forced to send everything to the National. (actually they’d probably open all the big films at the regent and festival anyway) This is the problem, the bookers/execs, who-ever parties are in control of theatre booking are the one’s to blame!
It’s over, the National closing is a symbol of the final blow for “the death of cinema” in these strange, worn out, empty, dark and hopeless times. Society is slowly crumbling before us and we are bearing witness to it. It’s like the scene in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas where Johnny Depp walks into a cloud of dust thinking “so what now?”