Paris Theatre
8163 Santa Monica Boulevard,
West Hollywood,
CA
90046
8163 Santa Monica Boulevard,
West Hollywood,
CA
90046
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 30 comments
Opened November 17th, 1924. Grand opening ad posted.
The Paris Penthouse opened on July 19th, 1967. Grand opening ad posted.
After the Paris on Santa Monica burned down, it did re-open for a brief time on La Cienega. I don’t remember where but it was the west side of the street.
hdtv267 — While the photo you uploaded does indeed say the Paris Theater, the address along with it (755 N. La Cienega) is the address for the Cine Cienega Theater, so there’s a discrepancy, and, also, someone else posted that the Paris burned down in 1976. There’s little info on the Cine Cienega, so perhaps, since the Paris burned down, it changed it’s name? Just a guess.
1972 photo as the Paris Theatre added courtesy of the Classic Hollywood/Los Angeles/SFV Facebook page
You can see the Paris Theatre in the background in a scene from the episode “Anatomy of Two Rapes” from the TV show “Police Woman” (First Season-1974). It happens around 17 mins into the episode.
Also, the New Vic at the Carmel Theatre in 1957.
View link
but i wish that collection had outside photos
Listed as the Carmel Museum Theatre in the 1956 L.A. City Directory (see also ken mc’s comment of January 5, 2007, above, citing the same name.)
Post-Manson family. Strike while the iron is hot.
Here is a 1970 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/2b2gkz
Here is a January 1965 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2xln65
Thanks, Joe! Looks like we have a match!
I moved the image here so that my album was correct – so the old link above no longer works.
Thanks again!
Ed: Yes, that’s the Paris, formerly Carmel, on Santa Monica Boulevard. Compare the marquee in this 1970s night shot from the UCLA/L.A. Times archives (this is the same photo brett421 linked to on May 16. UCLA has changed the URLs of its photos and his link no longer works.)
Hey folks… I’m trying to identify this theater depicted in a screen-shot from the documentary “Inside Deep Throat.” Could the very colorful marquee belong to this theatre? The film on the marquee was released in early 1971, just to give an idea of the time-frame.
Thanks!
UCLA moved the photo, but you can search the digital collection for ‘west hollywood’ or for the title: Southern Pacific freight passing theater and bar on Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, Calif., 1970
-brett
I go by there every day on my way to work. The arrow in front of the PJ’s sign is at the end of a curving transition lane from Crescent Heights Southbound to Santa Monica Blvd Westbound, which is the aspect of the photo. By the time I was there the trains no longer ran down the street. Not sure whether the tracks had been pulled out yet or not. I second the thanks; it brings back memories.
Here’s an UCLA Archive photo from 1970 showing both the ‘Paris’ Theatre and P.J.’s on Santa Monica between Crescent Heights and Havenhurst Drive. The Paris/Fox Carmel location now is a ‘newer’ building that matches the theatre’s size and location, but replaces ornateness with white stucco, plus is inhabited by restaurants serving both mediocre Indian food and Sushi. PJs was later the Starwood club, and is now a collection of junky little stores (i live here, and i think they are junky — yes, a musty old gay porno theatre and attached punk club would be 100% preferable to what we have now.) The train is long gone.
View link
Does anyone have any pics of this theatre?
Matt Spero
Here is a summary of a 1958 case in which the Carmel Museum theater won an appeal after its business license was denied:
Appellant theater owner sought review of a decision by the Superior Court of Los Angeles County (California), which denied his petition directing the county board of supervisors to renew the theater owner’s license to operate a motion picture theater.
The theater owner operated a theater in a district frequented by homosexuals. On several occasions, the sheriff arrested individuals for engaging in homosexual activity in the theater. The sheriff closed the theater on the ground that it was a public nuisance. The theater owner applied to the board for the renewal of his license to operate. The board denied the petition and the tax collector refused to issue a license. The theater owner filed a petition for a writ of mandamus directing the board and tax collector to issue the license. The trial court denied the petition and the theater owner sought review. The court reversed, holding that the operation of a movie theater was a lawful business of beneficial character that was not inherently dangerous to the public. The court noted that the theater was not operated in a manner different from that of other movie theaters, it did not show lewd or lascivious pictures, and the theater owner had tried to stop the conduct complained of by the police. Further, the court said, the property was zoned and the building designed for use as a theater. The court held that the evidence was insufficient to support the denial of the license.
Different Paris Theatre, strawberry. The Carmel/Paris was on Santa Monica Boulevard and the other was on Hollywood Boulevard across from the Pantages.
“WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif…. the PARIS THEATRE, a highly successful skin flick house was seriously damaged by fire in January. The PARIS opened as the CARMEL, 11-19-1924 in what was then the Crescent Heights tract. It was one of the many neighborhood houses opened by West Coast Theatres during 1924-1925. L. A. Smith was the architect."
– Marquee (the quarterly journal of the
Theatre Historical Society of America), 1976, Vol. 8, No. 1 (OUT OF PRINT)
There is also a listing for the theatre under it’s Paris name at /theaters/11105/
Now that I think of it, the puppet show probably wasn’t at this theatre. There was a night club, adjacent to the theatre, which (if I finally remember correctly) was called PJ’s. That’s where the puppet show was. I think the Paris was still showing movies at the time (early 1960s), but I don’t recall what type.
I attended the Carmel theatre once after it became the Paris. I saw “Song of the Loon,” my very first gay porn flick. It would be rather quaint now, almost soft-core, and probably un-PC. The theatre had wood floors, and I seem to remember the audience was on a raised platform. The place was packed that day; that’s pretty much all I can call to mind.
speaking of the starwood,sam cooke was suppose to meet a friend there,but they went over to pjs where he met the hooker who killed him.(sorry for getting off subject but im a huge sam cooke fan)
charlie
The advertisements for this theater in the long gone LA Free Press used to make my teen-aged mind reel thinking about a gay porn theater in provincial Boston, circa late mid ‘60s. Little did I know that I would someday become involved with one of the theaters owned by this same person, Shan Sayles, who is a quiet but major player in this entire arena. Many in the adult entertainment world – film maker, actor, distributor, theater operator – owe him a nod for being a pioneer with such accolades as having brought us John Holmes (whose first film was gay) and the seminal gay classic “The Song of the Loon,” among oh so many other vehicles, even the punk nighclub The Starwood.