Vogue Theatre

It sounds likes the normal patrons along Hollywood Blvd. that went to the Vine, World, Fox and the Egyptian twin on Saturday nights.

It sounds like the Roman Empire. The Huns should be storming the gates any day now.

Supper club….hmmmm

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Does anyone know the meaning of the current marquis lettering on the Vogue? It reads:

NOW
LORD XEMU
WWW.N.TV

I assume that LORD XEMU is a reference to the Church of Scientology, but does anyone know who might’ve posted it and why? (I think I understand from previous posts that the MDN sign with a green star is left over from the filming of a Mountain Dew commercial in the theater several years ago.)

Is the theater currently used for projects (commercial, artistic, whatever) like the ones described above or is it now just in liquor-license limbo and shuttered day and night?

Thanks so much for any insights you can offer.

I was in The Vogue Theatre in January 1999 with the UK Psychic Derek Acorah we were on stage doing a demonstration of psychic powers. The ISPR with Larry Montz was running haunted tours in the theatre claiming there were ghosts. Mind you Larry Montz claims he has a Ph.D in parapsychology when in fact he bought it on the internet. The place was run down. We used the projection box as a changing room and it was full of the old projectionists stuff, dusty and broken chairs, old reels and the units to project all sad and beyond repair. The seating was tired and the whole place felt damp and washed out. Obviously this theatre had been something once upon a time in years gone by but when I was there it was faded. Oh well, I can always tell the grandchildren that one time I was on the stage on Hollywood Blvd. at The Vogue Theatre. Peter James was there of Sightings, Sandy Shore of The Comedy Store and quite a few celebs but I being a Brit did not know them.

Ken mc, those pictures of the Vogue Theatre dates from the middle of July of 1935. Both pictures were Columbia releases from 1935.
The “A” picture on the marquee was Mary Carlisle in “Champagne for Breakfast” released July 16th. 1935 and the “B” feature on the bill was Jack Holt in “The Awakening of Jim Burke”, but was released earlier that year on May 18th. 1935.

Nice shots.

Terry, Mann Theatres no longer has anything to do with maintaining this theatre. They had the master lease and subleased it to a group dealing with paranormal activity. When I last ran it in the Fall of 2000, it was in poor shape. I remember it as a nice house to see a movie in.

I had the same feeling in Westwood once. I was watching a movie and one of the scenes was filmed outside the theater and across the street.

I went to see Gremlins 2 at the theatre around 1990, I think it was the last time I went, it was pretty scuzzy by that time, but not as bad as the fox which was on the opposite side of the street further east if I recall. I remember watching the movie, and if my memory serves me correctly, Hulk Hogan made an appearance in the film itself as a moviegoer in a movie theatre, I swear it looked like it was shot at the vogue…

In 1990 I worked at the Vogue Theater. The manager and I would sit around and talk about old movies while repairing the floor or rummaging in the storage room for marquee letters before the theater opened for the day. Who knew that room was a former Musso’s speakeasy? This is when I had first moved to Hollywood and was in such awe of the biz. The theater was screening ‘Pretty Woman’. I remember thinking it was so cool that the exterior of the Vogue could be seen in the movie. I went behind the theater, looked up at the fleabag hotel where Richard Gere pulled down the fire escape to rescue Julia Roberts from a life of prostitution, and smiled. As an 18-year-old fresh from the midwest, it was magical to see these locations in person.

After a screening of ‘Gremlins 2’ a customer approached the assistant manager to complain that it wasn’t shown in 70mm as advertised. The assistant manager explained that the print was indeed 70mm and this guy yelled that he worked for Warner Bros. and he was going to report the theater. Bizarre.

Such Hollywood luminaries as ‘Welcome Back Kotter’s’ Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs — thanks IMDB), Crispen Glover, Eddie Deezen and Robert Townsend would come down from their lofty perch to see movies with the great unwashed, too. OK, in 1990 Townsend was a still pretty big. A still-closeted George Takei tried to use a coupon clipped from the newspaper to buy some candy from the concession counter. I told him the theater didn’t accept coupons. In that booming baritone stage voice he told me he couldn’t believe he had to pay full movie retail for a Butterfinger. Andrew “Dice” Clay came in to catch ‘Ford Fairlane’ with a regular audience. He wore a garish leather jacket, natch.

I bartered with the waitstaff from Musso’s: movie admissions for flannel cakes. I miss that job.

The Vine does screenings. They are at Hollywood Blvd and Vine Street.

I was at the Vogue back in 2002 for a screening of something. It was shocking, actually. It smelled horrendous, it was freezing and the whole thing was just nauseating. I spent so many wonderful days and evenings at the Vogue and to see it like that was just, well, horrible.