Oh boy, the World Theater. They would throw together the craziest triple features, a b-movie like Vice Squad together with something like Ordinary People. I remember seeing The Boogens at this venue. Audience participation was heavy — lots of talking back at the screen. It was a great place to catch up on movies that I missed on first-run. I think it closed in 86, because I saw Troll in 1986. Also saw Fear City in 1985.
The Continental was on Melrose, across from Paramount. I saw Vertigo there when they re-released some Hitchcock films in 83/84. I saw the reggae film Rockers there in 1981. I think Tales of Ordinary Madness played at this theater in 83.
I used to work at Century Theater back in the early 80’s. Saw lots of free films. I actually shot a Super 8 film in the lobby one time. I also knew someone who would spike the soda syrup tanks with booze and sell it to customers, unbeknownst to them.
I remember when the dome was just one huge theater, then they split it in two, and I saw stuff like Papillon and Blazing Saddles. Then they added two smaller screens in 76, two more in 79, and more and more as time went on.
Ten years ago this month, I saw Boogie Nights for the first time at this theater.
Someone earlier mentioned they saw Ginger and Fred at New Beverly in July of 86 — so did I!
I think the last thing I saw there was Killing of a Chinese Bookie in 1993.
First double-bill I saw was Parallax View and Conversation in September 1980 (I had just moved to LA to attend USC). I had just arrived in LA, checked listings in LA Times, and decided to go see this double-bill. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a map, so I just drove all over, somehow found Beverly Drive and ended up in Beverly Hills. I finally made a u-turn, drove a few more miles, and found the New Bev. I subsequently discovered Thomas Bros. maps. What a great theater. A few nights later, I caught a midnight show of Andy Warhol’s Bad. I saw so many movies there, it was like film school.
I remember seeing Inserts around that time, and there were old guys in raincoats in the audience who probably used to haunt the theater when it showed X-rated movies.
Other fun memories: A fight broke out during a Godard film, one guy jumped over another row of seats to get at someone else. During a screening of Salo, a woman got up and screamed that Pasolini deserved to die and then she stormed out.
I saw Empire Strikes Back at AVCO on 9-12-80. I had just moved to LA to attend USC. I wanted to see Robert Altman’s Health, which opened that day exclusively at a UA theater in Westwood — can’t recall name. I had no idea where Westwood Village was, in fact I didn’t realize Westwood Village was right next to UCLA. I just drove down Wilshire for what seemed like an enternity, finally encountered Westwood Blvd. I parked in one of those expensive parking lots, didn’t realize there was street parking in residential neighborhood. Saw Health, first showing of afternoon, then strolled over to AVCO to catch Empire for about the 10th time. I saw Melvin and Howard in October 1980, it opened exclusively at AVCO. Saw so many films in the 80’s. Die Hard first run — Robert Townsend was there, I said hello and told him I enjoyed Hollywood Shuffle, he was very nice. There was an actor from Hollywood Shuffle working at theater at the time. Saw Milagro Beanfield War and Midnight Run in 88. Last film seen there was Catch Me If You Can. The AVCO used to be one of THE places to go for first-run films.
Oh boy, the World Theater. They would throw together the craziest triple features, a b-movie like Vice Squad together with something like Ordinary People. I remember seeing The Boogens at this venue. Audience participation was heavy — lots of talking back at the screen. It was a great place to catch up on movies that I missed on first-run. I think it closed in 86, because I saw Troll in 1986. Also saw Fear City in 1985.
The Continental was on Melrose, across from Paramount. I saw Vertigo there when they re-released some Hitchcock films in 83/84. I saw the reggae film Rockers there in 1981. I think Tales of Ordinary Madness played at this theater in 83.
Is there a page on the World Theater on Hollywood? That place was legendary, triple features, one dollar admission, extremely interesting patrons.
I used to work at Century Theater back in the early 80’s. Saw lots of free films. I actually shot a Super 8 film in the lobby one time. I also knew someone who would spike the soda syrup tanks with booze and sell it to customers, unbeknownst to them.
I remember when the dome was just one huge theater, then they split it in two, and I saw stuff like Papillon and Blazing Saddles. Then they added two smaller screens in 76, two more in 79, and more and more as time went on.
Ten years ago this month, I saw Boogie Nights for the first time at this theater.
Someone earlier mentioned they saw Ginger and Fred at New Beverly in July of 86 — so did I!
I think the last thing I saw there was Killing of a Chinese Bookie in 1993.
First double-bill I saw was Parallax View and Conversation in September 1980 (I had just moved to LA to attend USC). I had just arrived in LA, checked listings in LA Times, and decided to go see this double-bill. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a map, so I just drove all over, somehow found Beverly Drive and ended up in Beverly Hills. I finally made a u-turn, drove a few more miles, and found the New Bev. I subsequently discovered Thomas Bros. maps. What a great theater. A few nights later, I caught a midnight show of Andy Warhol’s Bad. I saw so many movies there, it was like film school.
I remember seeing Inserts around that time, and there were old guys in raincoats in the audience who probably used to haunt the theater when it showed X-rated movies.
Other fun memories: A fight broke out during a Godard film, one guy jumped over another row of seats to get at someone else. During a screening of Salo, a woman got up and screamed that Pasolini deserved to die and then she stormed out.
I saw Empire Strikes Back at AVCO on 9-12-80. I had just moved to LA to attend USC. I wanted to see Robert Altman’s Health, which opened that day exclusively at a UA theater in Westwood — can’t recall name. I had no idea where Westwood Village was, in fact I didn’t realize Westwood Village was right next to UCLA. I just drove down Wilshire for what seemed like an enternity, finally encountered Westwood Blvd. I parked in one of those expensive parking lots, didn’t realize there was street parking in residential neighborhood. Saw Health, first showing of afternoon, then strolled over to AVCO to catch Empire for about the 10th time. I saw Melvin and Howard in October 1980, it opened exclusively at AVCO. Saw so many films in the 80’s. Die Hard first run — Robert Townsend was there, I said hello and told him I enjoyed Hollywood Shuffle, he was very nice. There was an actor from Hollywood Shuffle working at theater at the time. Saw Milagro Beanfield War and Midnight Run in 88. Last film seen there was Catch Me If You Can. The AVCO used to be one of THE places to go for first-run films.
Last film I saw there was Wild Things.
Last film to play here was Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers.