Picwood Theatre
10872 W. Pico Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90064
10872 W. Pico Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90064
22 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Phil Isley Theaters
Architects: Simeon Charles Lee
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Nearby Theaters
Located at the interestion of Westwood Boulevard & Pico Boulevard. This S. Charles Lee designed theatre opened December 24, 1948 with Gene Kelly in “The Three Musketeers” and Ted Donaldson in “Rusty Leads the Way”. The opening advertisement names it ‘Pickwood’ Theatre. It had 1,600 seats.
After four decades of delighting West LA crowds, the Picwood Theatre was closed in 1985, and demolished to make way for an extension to the Westside Pavilion mall.
The buildings on the entire block (a bowling alley, a bank, and a video arcade were among them) were torn down and replaced by the Westside Pavilion, a huge shopping mall, that takes up two blocks (an overhead bridge stretches across Pico Boulevard, providing access to both sides of the mall without having to physically cross Pico on street level.
A glimpse across the street from the mall at the 1940’s Apple Pan hamburger joint gives a glimpse of what the area once looked like. Pico has changed – for the better?
Contributed by
Michael LeBlanc, William Gabel, Ross Melnick, Ray Martinez
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Recent comments (view all 253 comments)
BobSe: Why are you repeating me??? Just two comments before you I had stated the Picwood showed “E.T.” after the Cinerama Dome and that it ran 22 weeks. If you were agreeing with me, then say so. Otherwise, please pay attention.
@Coate: sorry, I was agreeing with you and confirming according to the best of my recollection…thought you might like concurrance from someone who was actually there for the entire run.
worked in the there in the 1950 was one of the greatest i worked in they had lots of first time showings like bell book and candles
Hey, Steve Tinner here, I know I’m many years too late to actively post but just wanted to say Hi to crew from the days of ET, Qwest for Fire(I still have some promo material), Evil Under the Sun; circa 1980’s… Bill, Lisa, Bob, anyone else out there?
Hi Steve, Those were the days at that theatre. Boy we had a fun crew running the theatre. Good to hear from you.
When the Picwood opened it had a tropical type of interior in the auditorium. It was remodeled in and around 1966-7. After the remodel the Picwood seated 950 seats.
A great deal of my childhood was spent at the Pickwood. In 1967, when we lived in Westwood, I went to the kiddie matinee every Saturday at noon, where they had double-features. We used to go to Pickwood Bowl before, bowl, and have breakfast. Must have gone there for more than a year every Saturday. It was a great Westside tradition. I later saw many other movies there, including “Daddy’s Gone a Hunting”, “Rachel Rachel”, “All the Right Moves”, ect.
Extracted from 70mm in Los Angeles, here is a list of the 70mm presentations held at the Picwood, most of which were re-release, subsequent run or moveover bookings. (Sorry, I don’t have the duration data for most of these. But if anyone wants that info, it shouldn’t be that difficult for you to research now that you’re armed with the relevant titles and start dates.)
1975-01-22 … Gone With the Wind
1980-08-01 … The Black Hole / Sleeping Beauty
1980-08-15 … Fame (7 weeks)
1980-11-21 … Divine Madness
1980-12-17 … The Empire Strikes Back
1980-12-19 … Apocalypse Now (26 weeks)
1981-02-13 … The Jazz Singer (7 weeks)
1981-04-03 … Fame
1981-07-03 … Alien / Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1981-07-24 … Wolfen
1981-09-04 … Superman II
1981-12-16 … Zoot Suit (2 weeks)
1981-12-30 … Zoot Suit / The Jazz Singer (1 week)
1982-01-08 … Apocalypse Now
1982-02-05 … Sharky’s Machine
1982-04-02 … Quest for Fire
1982-06-11 … Raiders of the Lost Ark (5 weeks)
1982-07-16 … E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (22 weeks)
1982-12-17 … The Dark Crystal
1983-05-06 … Rocky III
1984-04-04 … The Right Stuff
1984-12-14 … Dune
1985-05-31 … Amadeus (3 weeks)
1985-06-21 … Lifeforce
1985-07-19 … Amadeus
Lawsuit in 1948 http://latimes.newspapers.com/clip/6175272/picwood_theatre_opening/
December 24th, 1948 grand opening ad. in photo section.