David's Tom Cat Theatre & Lounge
9055 Santa Monica Boulevard,
West Hollywood,
CA
90069
9055 Santa Monica Boulevard,
West Hollywood,
CA
90069
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Further information from Los Angeles BlogSpot ( add to introduction)
It opened in spring 1971 as an 82 seat restaurant called the Cinematheque Club showing classic films. The location was just east of Doheny Dr.
Seating evidently was more restaurant-style than theatre-style. The initial booking was “A Star Is Born” with Judy Garland. It didn’t last long as a classics venue, by fall of 1972 having morphed into David’s Tom Cat Theatre & Lounge.
Status: It’s now a Busy Body Home Fitness store.
In the 1980s, the tiny spot was home to Metropolis, a fashion boutique.
Is there anyway of restoration? I am curious as in finding a way to bring an old cinema to life again.
According to an L.A. Times article from 4/29/1971, this “private club and film theater” was that week granted a zone exception to open. It was to be an 82-seat theater which was to show classic films. The address was: 9055 Santa Monica Blvd. The theater was actually called the “Cinematheque Club” — note the different spelling. Sure enough, ads over the next year or so show listings for classic movie showings, but apparently this didn’t work out so well. An ad from 9/19/1972 has at the same address David’s Tom Kat Theatre and Lounge, showing a “Super Male Film Festival.” After that date, there is no more match for that street address in the L.A. Times database — so that was probably the end of the venue as a theater. That address is currently the home of a place called Busy Body Home Fitness.
I have contacted the City of West Hollywood for further information about this unusual venue. Hopefully, I will have more info to post in the future.
This must have been something that was converted into a theatre like business, not a real theatre.