Solari Theatre

In June of 1995, we were passing by the theater, and there were hundreds of people outside. It turned out to be the memorial service of actress Elizabeth Montgomery. So much traffic we just barely moved going by.

This theater would’ve been 70 years old this coming Saturday.

I discovered the Beverly Canon when walking around there in summer of 1974. I guess it was a repertory house by then, because I saw “The Big Sleep” and something else in a double feature. I loved eating frequently at the little cafe next door — which may have been called Beverly Canon Cafe, not sure now.

The November 2, 1946, issue of Boxoffice said that the opening of the Hitching Post Theatre in Beverly Hills had been postponed from November 8 to November 22. The building was apparently new, as the item gave its cost as a quarter of a million dollars.

This being Beverly Hills, the grand opening didn’t lack for celebrities. Among those attending were Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger, as well as lesser luminaries such as Glenn Ford and Eleanor Powell. Trigger’s hoof-prints were immortalized in cement as part of the festivities. There are photos in the December 7, 1943 issue of Boxoffice.

The January 25, 1947, issue of Boxoffice said that the Hitching Post Theatre in Beverly Hills was adopting a newsreel policy to be in effect Mondays through Thursdays, but would continue to show western movies on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It would be the first newsreel operation in the Los Angeles area outside downtown and Hollywood.

The owners of the house, ABC Theatres (which I was a local partnership consisting of Buddy Adler, Horace Boos, and Gregory Carter, and was not related to the later nation-wide ABC circuit) renamed the house the Beverly Canon Theatre and switched its policy to single features and short subjects with newsreels in 1947, according to Boxoffice of April 19 that year. For a time, the theater continued to run two daytime shows of westerns for the local moppets on Saturdays and Sundays. Later Boxoffice items reveal that the Beverly Canon had gone to an art house policy by 1949.

ABC converted their Hitching Post in Hollywood into the art film Paris Theatre in late 1949. Their Santa Monica Hitching Post continued to run westerns for only a few months after the last of its companion theaters went highbrow on it, then after a brief closure was reopened as the Riviera Theatre, another art house.

Here is a December 1972 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2xhoh5

Aloha Everyone,

I saw lots of film noir at the Beverly Canon during the early 1970’s. I particularly remember seeing ‘The Big Sleep’, ‘The Maltese Falcon’, and several other Bogart films here.

It’s not often that two historic theaters are simultaneously razed in any town, let alone Beverly Hills. The Canon Theatre was demolished last week, along with the Beverly Theater. I took some photos which can be seen here: http://barryphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/794486

Minutes after I took the Canon shot, the crane extended its arm over the top of the facade, shifted into reverse, and pulled it down. I worked on Canon Dr. for 40 years and attended many performances there. Very sad moment.

Two of the photos were used in last week’s Beverly Hills Weekly. They accompanied a story about the futile last ditch legal efforts to save them.

According to reports, demolition is imminent and will begin on 22nd August 2005.

The Beverly Canon Theatre is located at 205 N. Canon Dr.
During the late 60’s the Canon was operated by Walter Reade Theatres.