Cinemas Westwood
10840 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90024
10840 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90024
36 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 125 of 288 comments
I’m trying to recall the configuration of the auditoriums. Which direction did the seating face for the original big screen?
I was there today to see “Hugo”. Although I prefer the single screen theatres in Westwood, it is still sad to see this place close.
Cinépolis seems to be the rumored new tenant. Not really sure how they would handle the kitchen area unless they are leasing the old cafe/deli across the courtyard. They could upgrade the lobby area into the lounges but they would be not very roomy unless they make auditriums smaller. I guess we’ll see next year.
To expand upon what Brade48 has stated, by the time the theatre was built Avco had become a conglomerate of many units, the most visable of which were Avco Financial and Avco-Embassy Pictures. The theatre and the office building to the west of the theatre were part of the same development. The Avco Corp. was the primary tenant in the office building and had naming rights so the development became Avco Center. Avco Corp. was taken over in 1984 by Textron and relocated, so the office building now has either the name of the current primary tenant or just uses the street address as its name, e.g. The 108XX Wilshire Building.
The company was founded in 1942[1] by producer Joseph E. Levine, initially to distribute foreign films to the United States. Some of Levine’s early successes were the Italian-made Hercules films with Steve Reeves and the 1961 adaptation of The Thief of Baghdad. Embassy also distributed Federico Fellini’s film 8½ in the UK.
In 1963, Levine was offered a $30 million deal with Paramount Pictures to produce films in the vein of his previous successes. Paramount would finance the films and Embassy would receive part of its profits.[2] Under the deal, Levine produced The Carpetbaggers and its prequel Nevada Smith, which were successes, along with flops such as Harlow, starring Carroll Baker, and The Oscar.
By the 1960s, Levine had transformed Embassy into a production company. Later in the decade, Embassy functioned on its own with many Rankin/Bass animated features (including Mad Monster Party? and The Daydreamer), and successful live-action productions including The Graduate, The Lion in Winter and The Producers.
New ownership and dissolutionIn 1967, Levine sold the Embassy corporation to Avco. In 1968, Avco Embassy launched Avco Embassy Television, which was sold to Multimedia, Inc. in 1976, becoming Multimedia Entertainment; that first television division has since been folded into what is now known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution, even though another company now owns television rights to the Embassy library.
The Embry-Riddle Company created the Aviation Corporation in 1928 as a holding company tasked with acquiring small airlines. By the end of 1929 it had acquired interests in over 90 aviation-related companies, and in the ensuing years it developed these into American Airways, the predecessor of American Airlines.[citation needed]
The company was required to divest American Airlines in 1934 due to new rules for air mail contracts. The Aviation Corporation later changed its name to Avco Manufacturing Corporation, and then, in 1959, to Avco Corporation.[citation needed] In 1984 Avco was purchased by Textron.[2]
Avco’s affiliated company, Avco Financial Services, was spun off to Associates First Capital in 1998 [3], which itself was acquired by Citigroup in 2000.[4]
I think the theatre only had the name Avco Center Cinema because of where it was located. It appears Avco Embassy and Avco Financial Services were associated. This is something I just learned.
Thanks. I was remembering “Avco Embassy Pictures”, the film company. No relation, then?
Also, the more I look at it, the more I think it’s a word (Avco) as opposed to an abbreviation or initials (AVCO). I know the marquee and ad logo were all in uppercase, but so was the word CINEMA, etc.
I really do not remember it being tied to Avco Embassy. I’m pretty sure Avco finance occupied the office building next door at one time.
It is really sad to see this place go. During the 70’s and 80’s when Westwood, West L.A. and Century City thrived as the big movie district the Avco was one of the great theatres. I grew up with the Avco, Plitt Century Plaza, National, Picwood, UA Westwood (Festival), Plaza, Crest, UA Cinema Center now ALL GONE. These were all wonderful screens, with lots of character and were always fun to patronize. We will never have screens like this again.
Under previous names, “Centre” should be “Center”. Can someone correct that?
Variations found in the attached movie ads: For ANNIE, it’s “General Cinema’s Avco Center Theatres”.
At some point early on, wasn’t it “AVCO Embassy”?
Last, how about “AVCO” vs “Avco”? What was the name derived from? In the FAME ad it’s clearly typeset as “Avco”, but that could just be a newspaper thing.
I really do not think a new theatre will be erected in its place. Westwood is dead, and unless there is a big effort to provide more parking and a major overhaul we will not see anything new. Whoever takes over the theatre will work with what is already there. I’m curious to see what is done with it but I doubt I will be blown away.
Well, Cinépolis doesn’t really strike me as “A really high-end movie theater” and “a really great movie theater and a reason to come back.” And while I won’t hold my breath for a restoration of the big screen, there wouldn’t be a better time than now and there wouldn’t be a better way to make an impression for a new theater occupying the space.
Doubt the Avco will ever see the big screen again. There was talk about Cinépolis entering Westwood. I’d guess they will take over the space and refurbish it. Not really sure anyone is going to do anything major to it though.
The theatre’s final engagements: Hugo (in 3-D), Puss in Boots (in 3-D), The Muppets and Breaking Dawn Part 1.
http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/amc-to-vacate-westwood-avco-4-plex-arclight-debuts-in-el-segundo/
This stood out… Property manager Hope Hunter said the owners plan to bring in a new theater chain next year. ”A really high-end movie theater will be taking its place,” Hunter said. “We’re going to provide Westwood with a really great movie theater and a reason to come back.”
How awesome would it be if the new chain decided to restore the Avco’s original big screen? Has to be easier than splitting it was.
Yep, on 12/11. Went there yesterday for Martha Marcy May Marlene. Interesting theater….
Is the Culver Plaza closing?
Culver Plaza, too. It’s a bad week for older multiplexes in Los Angeles.
They should have never split the large theater. Saw many classics there… Back to the Future… Die Hard in 70mm… stand out the most. Sad to see it go. Will visit this week and post interior photos soon.
Haven’t been to the Avco since the late 1980s when I moved from L.A., but frankly, I’m glad I wasn’t there to see the splitting of the large theater. Nevertheless, very sad to hear of another landmark L.A. film venue closing.
Wow…the Avco and the Sunset 5 closing on the same week. Sad to see both go. The Sunset 5 will have a new life next year, doubtful the Avco will. I have not been to the Avco in about 5 years. Like everyone else I did not see the reason when there are better venues. The Avco lost its lustre when they split the large theatre.
I saw many movies at the (then) Avco Embassy back when it was new. It was an OK place, but reminded one that movie palaces were a thing of the past. It was a lot more enjoyable going to the Westwood or the Bruin. I remember thinking that movie theaters were not headed in a good direction.
It’s official: Avco will close on 12/4/11. AMC refuses to renew the lease. Despite its imperfections, I love this place. As a fan of the nostalgia that smaller/older multiplexes offer, and a fan of the late GCC chain, I come here all the time. It’s a perfectly preserved example of a classic GCC theater, and I’ll miss it a lot (there aren’t many around anymore). I took a bunch of pics tonight when I saw The Muppets, and will post them here soon.
it AMAZES me the Avco has lasted as long as it has, nobody goes there anymore do they? Do the local elderly patrons are keeping it going for the matinee’s? Seems like the place has been dead for over 10 or 15 years, or longer. That place went straight to the pits when they split their main auditorium, last couple of times i saw something there I regretted it, screen & sound was horrible. It’s not even a faint shadow of what it used to be. It’s just amazing it’s STILL OPEN as of late Oct 2011
Yes, the Festival would be most logical choice for dinner theatre because of the Resturant spaces it sits between. But I cannot imagine a single screen with that format really working. I’d love to see the Festival open again. It is a nice theatre, nice sizs screen with great sight lines and comfy balcony.
The AVCO’s real estate property is pretty valuable and I think in its current condition is expendable. My opinion is we are seeing the last days of the theatre.
The AVCO won’t work for this concept, but taking the Festival and the spaces next door would make more sense. Not that a single screen dinner theatre is all that smart either.
Probably the AVCO, the only other theatres could be the Crest or the Festival (which has been stripped). The whole dinner theatre is obnoxious. Can’t people just nibble on some popcorn? Why does there need to be dinner service? I’m getting to the point where I hate going to the movies. Film exhibition is going to the toilet. If it weren’t for Archlight Hollywood, the Village and Bruin I would never go.