I’ve always said that movie theaters will never go away because there’s no other way a single movie can make up to $500 million worldwide over a 3-day weekend. Netflix might have 20 million people watch a new movie on their streaming service, but that single movie doesn’t generate hundreds of millions of dollars for them in just 3 days.
I also think that seeing a movie in a movie theater is a unique experience. It’s sort of communal. You’re watching with a large group of people. If you’re seeing a superhero movie a bunch of people may be cheering with you, if you’re seeing a comedy a bunch of people may be laughing with you, if you’re seeing a thriller a bunch of people might be as scared as you are. Another good thing about an audience is if the movie isn’t good there might be other people making funny comments about how bad the movie is. One of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard from an audience was when I was watching a preview for one of the “Highlander” sequels. At the end of the trailer, they said the movie franchise tagline “There can be only one”. Someone in the audience shouted, “There SHOULD have been only one” (meaning only one movie). Also, watching some movies in a movie theater can be an interactive experience. I’ve never seen “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in a movie theater and I’m told that if I haven’t then I haven’t REALLY seen the movie (you can see the audience participation details at this link).
The experience can start from the moment you walk into a movie theater. It doesn’t matter if you’re a big fan or a casual moviegoer, everyone is there for the same reason: to watch the movie and (hopefully) be entertained. Some movie theaters have giant standees for the movie you can take a picture in front of, some movie theaters (at least some in Los Angeles) have movie props or costumes from the movie on display. A new popular thing is the movie themed popcorn containers.
On the other hand, a multiplex doesn’t feel as special as going to a movie theater. To me, walking into a multiplex is sort of like walking into a shopping mall. There are even more people in line because the are several different movies playing. All the auditoriums look the same. Some of them are larger than others, some of them may have reclining or motion seats, or some of them could have a special projection or sound system (3D, DolbyVision, IMAX, etc.) but they’re all decorated the same. If they didn’t have the auditorium number or a small digital marquee outside of each auditorium, you might not know which theater is playing your movie. In fact, you sometimes see people walking into your theater during the movie because they’ve walked into the wrong auditorium. A lot of multiplex screens have gotten rid of the curtains that would open right before the movie starts because they have pre-show advertising.
Recently I was thinking back to the movie theaters I went to when I was young. Back when there were (mostly single screen) movie theaters, drive in movie theaters, and what I call “movie theater neighborhoods” instead of multiplexes. Here’s a few memories….
MOVIE THEATERS:
If you were born in the 2000s, you may not know that there used to be dozens of movie theaters in big cities. You can check out this website that lists HUNDREDS of them in the Los Angeles area. Just like almost every neighborhood has a police station, post office, and city hall, back then there was also a movie theater. Since Hollywood is in Los Angeles, going to the movies has always been a big deal in this city. Even Catalina Island has at least one (which I believe is still open).
A lot of them had big marquees with neon lights. You may still see the marquee in some places in Los Angeles although the movie theater isn’t there anymore – such as on Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica there’s the marquee for the former “Wilshire” theater (1314 Wilshire Blvd) and on Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks there’s the marquee for the former “La Reina” theater (14626 Ventura Blvd). I think it may be too expensive to remove some of the marquees, so they leave them.
Most of the movie theaters had just 1 screen – although there was a few with 2 to 4 screens. Some of the theaters with just 1 screen were as big as some modern-day multiplex theaters. Those theaters were so big they called them “movie palaces”.
Some good things about movie theaters are that there was often at least one close enough that you could just walk to it. The lines weren’t as long at the theater because there was only one movie people were in line for (instead of the giant lines at some multiplex concession stands where there’s several different movies playing). Some of them would play a double or triple feature which meant you could watch 2 or 3 movies for one ticket.
MY THEATERS
- My favorite movie theater: Pickwood Theater (10872 W. Pico Blvd). The photo at the top is the inside of that theater.
I grew up just west of Century City/Beverly Hills and south of UCLA. My favorite movie theater was the closest one to my house – the “Pickwood” on Pico Blvd just west of the Westwood Blvd intersection (get it – “Pic(o)-(West)wood”). I remember looking to see what was on the marquee every time we drove by it (back then movies sometimes played at the same theater for MONTHS, not just weeks). Sadly, I only got to see a couple movies at the theater because it closed when I was a teenager. As I was researching this movie theater, I discovered that the theater often showed movies in 70mm. If the theater was still open today it would still be my favorite movie theater. You can see photos and more information about this theater at this link.
- An early “multiplex”: Century Plaza Theaters (2040 Avenue of the Stars)
Another movie theater in my area was in a rather upscale neighborhood. Since I lived so close to Century City, a theater close to me was the Century Plaza Theaters (this was WAY before the AMC multiplex in Century City). The theater originally had 2 screens and was named the “ABC City Theatre One” and “ABC City Theatre Two” (because the complex was named “ABC Entertainment Center”). I first knew the theater when it was called the “Plitt Century Plaza” theaters. This was basically my first experience with a movie theater “multiplex” in a “mall” because it had 2 screens (later when Cineplex Odeon took it over, they made it 4 screens) and the complex it was in was sort of like a small mall. It had the Shubert Theater (where I saw a few stage shows including “Cats” and “Les Misérables”), some restaurants (for a while, one of the “Playboy” clubs was in the complex) and some shops. There was also a maze-like underground parking (if you saw the movie “Into the Night” there is a car chase that goes through the parking structure for a few moments). I remember seeing the first “Star Wars” movie in 1978 (A YEAR AFTER IT WAS RELEASED) at this theater. It wasn’t a rerelease. It CONTINUALLY played in movie theaters for over a year. You can see photos and more information about this theater at this link.
- Neighborhood “art house” theater: Nuart Theater (11272 Santa Monica Blvd)
This movie theater was a little bit out of my area. It was about 2 miles west of where I lived. A half a block west of the 405 on Santa Monica Blvd. It’s smaller than the other theaters I would go to. I went to this theater a few times because, when I was growing up, it was one of the only “art house” movie theater that played independent and foreign movies. You can see photos and more information about this theater at this link
- The “double feature” theater: Palms Theater (3751 Motor Ave)
There was one other neighborhood movie theater I remember that was NOT in my neighborhood (it was close to some of my relatives). It was just down the street from the former MGM studio (now Sony Pictures studio). I specifically remember it because I saw the oddest double feature EVER at that movie theater. The Academy Award winning drama “Ordinary People” and the comedy “9 to 5”. It worked out well if you saw them in the right order. “Ordinary People” first – where some people would cry – and then “9 to 5” – where almost every would laugh. You can see photos and more information about this theater at this link.
Sadly, 3 of the 4 movie theaters aren’t there anymore.
The biggest problem with the neighborhood movie theaters was that they were stuck with whatever movie (or movies if there was more than one screen or they showed a double or triple feature) were playing. If the movie(s) didn’t bring in audiences, the theater didn’t make money.
The “Pickwood” closed in 1985. The “Century Plaza” theaters (owned by Cineplex Odeon when it closed) closed in 2003. The “Palms” theater closed in 1985 – despite a couple articles in newspapers mourning the loss of their neighborhood theater. The only theater that is still open is the Nuart which is now part of the Landmark Theater chain. I think one of the reasons the theater is still open is because it plays the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” with audience participation every Saturday night.
There are some other movie theaters still open in the Los Angeles area. Some of them were bought by theater chains like Landmark and Laemmle (like the Nuart was). Some of them were divided into 3, 4, or 6 screens (like the Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza Theaters were) but there are also some single screen theaters open. The New Beverly (7165 Beverly Blvd)and the Vista (4473 Sunset Dr)movie theaters in Hollywood are still running (thanks to Quentin Tarantino). The Aero movie theater (1328 Montana Ave)in Santa Monica is still open (thanks to the American Cinematheque). Some of the theaters that are still open are only playing movies at night or on weekends, others play classic movies – sometimes different movies every day – instead of new movies. According to their website, the Avalon Theater on Catalina Island shows classic movies on weekend nights.
DRIVE IN MOVIE THEATERS:
You may find this hard to believe but there used to be some drive-in movie theaters in Los Angeles. One of the very first drive in movie theaters opened in 1934 where the “Picwood” theater (mentioned above) was later built. That movie theater was later named the “Pico Drive-In”. When I was growing up in the 70s that drive in and a lot of the others were gone but there were still a few that were open.
Personally, I wasn’t a big fan of the drive-in because that “communal” experience isn’t there if everyone is in their own car. Also, you often got car headlights shining on the screen and the sound was either from a small little box or something that plays over the radio (barely). Finally, if you wanted to get concession you had to get out of your car and walk – sometimes a long walk – over to the concession stand.
MY THEATERS
I did go to a couple drive-in movie theaters when I was young….
Drive-in: Either the Centinela Drive-In (5700 W Centinela Ave) or the Studio Drive-In (5250 Sepulveda Blvd).
I remember seeing a movie at one of those two drive-in movie theaters when I was young, I just don’t remember WHICH one. They were just a few miles away from each other in the Culver City area. The Centinela drive-in is the one you see in the movie “Heat” (1995) and the Studio drive-in MIGHT BE the one you see in the movie “Grease” (1978) (some websites say it was filmed there but others say it was at a different drive-in). You can see a little more information and photos of the two drive-ins at this link and this link.
“Multi” drive-in: Winnetka 6 Drive-In (20210 Prarie Ave)
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as the multi-screen drive-in. When I was in college, I went to one that used to be in the northwest San Fernando Valley. This one was a 6 SCREEN drive-in. It was originally built with 4 screens but later they added two more screens so it could hold up to 2300 cars. Each screen was facing a different direction. I remember watching a movie in front of me while I could see another movie in the rear-view mirror and a 3rd movie in a side rear-view mirror. You can see a little more information and photos of this drive-in at this link.
All these drive ins are now gone…
The biggest problem with drive in movie theaters is that they take up a lot of space and they don’t make much money. They can only show movies after dark and if there’s fog, rain, snow, etc. they can’t even show a movie at night. Plus, I’m not sure how they can make a profit on tickets. If they charge by person, people can hide in the trunk (as seen in the movie “Grease”). If they charge by car, does a van cost more than a small car? What if it’s a van with only two people in it? Sometimes people in the drive-in bring their own food so they don’t have to walk all the way over to the concession stand. Some drive-in theaters made more money by having a flea market or farmers market during the day. However, the land in Los Angeles is more and more in demand (except for golf courses which take up A LOT of land but there’s still a bunch of them in the city) and drive-ins take up a lot of land. Both the Centinela drive-in and the Studio drive-in closed in 1993. The latter wasn’t demolished until demolished in 1998 (I remember driving by it for YEARS after it was closed wondering if it would ever be torn down). The Winnetka “multi” drive-in closed in 1996 and a couple years later the Pacific Winnetka multiplex opened in its place (however that movie theater closed when Pacific Theaters shut down during the pandemic).
However, I hear there is a new idea for drive in movie theaters. I read that Tesla is building a drive-in movie theater with 28 stalls for charging stations. So, you can charge your electric car and watch a movie at the same time. I believe the movies will be shown on 4K screens (not projected screens) so you can watch in the daytime and the audio for the movie may be supplied by Bluetooth audio, but the news reports say there won’t be feature films shown. There will only be 15-30 min shorts, which is how long it takes to charge a Tesla.
“MOVIE THEATER NEIGHBORHOODS”:
Just like Broadway in New York City has a bunch of live theaters, in Los Angeles there are a few areas with a bunch of movie theaters. These movie theaters were the ones that always showed the movie on opening weekend. They’re also the movie theaters often shown when a movie or TV show has a scene at a movie theater.
I believe the first neighborhood was in downtown Los Angeles. Just like New York City, we also have a “Broadway” in downtown Los Angeles that had several movie theaters like the “Globe Theater” (744 S. Broadway), the “Los Angeles Theater” (615 S. Broadway), the “Million Dollar Theater” (307 S. Broadway), the “Orpheum Theater (842 S. Broadway), and the “Palace Theater” (630 S. Broadway).
Another neighborhood that had a bunch of movie theaters is Hollywood. Home to the “Hollywood Walk of Stars”. The most famous of the movie theaters is Graumans Chinese” theater (6925 Hollywood Blvd) with the courtyard filled with hand and footprints of the stars. Hollywood also had the “Hollywood Theater” (6764 Hollywood Blvd.), the “Egyptian” theater (6712 Hollywood Blvd.), the “Warner Bros Hollywood” theater (6433 Hollywood Blvd.), the “Vogue” theater (6675 Hollywood Blvd.), the “Fox” theater (6508 Hollywood Blvd.), the “El Capitan” theater (6838 Hollywood Blvd.), and the “Cinerama Dome” (6360 Sunset Blvd).
MY THEATERS
The movie theater neighborhood that I visited a lot when I was young was “Westwood Village” which is just south of UCLA and about a mile from my house. The neighborhood was popular with UCLA students and with Los Angeles locals. If you’re lucky you might even see a celebrity hanging out somewhere in Westwood. It had great restaurants, great stores (writer/director Kevin Smith opened a comic bookstore for a while), and even a video game arcade. For me, the best part of the neighborhood were all the movie theaters.
- Mann Village (961 Broxton Ave.) More details and photos of the theater here.
- Mann Bruin (948 Broxton Ave.) – just across the street from the “Village”. More details and photos of the theater here.
- Mann Westwood 4 (1050 Gayley Ave.) – the only theater with multiple screens in Westwood Village. It opened with 3 screens but later divided the largest theater into two, so they had 4 screens. More details and photos of the theater here.
- Mann Regent (1045 Broxton Ave.) – More details and photos of the theater here.
- Mann Plaza (1067 Glendon Ave.) – More details and photos of the theater here.
- Mann National (10925 Lindbrook Dr.) – More details and photos of the theater here.
- Mann Festival (10887 Lindbrook Dr.) – the UA theater chain called it the “UA Egyptian”, then Cineplex Odeon called it the “Odeon Cinema” and then “Cineplex Westwood”, then Mann took over and name it the “Festival”. More details and photos of the theater here
The following movie theaters are nearby but not officially in Westwood Village
- Avco Cinema Center (10840 Wilshire Blvd.) – A couple blocks east of Westwood Blvd on Wilshire. It opened as a 3 plex but was later converted to a 4 plex. More details and photos of the theater here.
- Crest Theater (1262 Westwood Blvd) – About 2 blocks south of Wilshire on Westwood Blvd. More details and photos of the theater here.
- UA Westwood (10889 Wellworth Ave) a few feet east of Westwood Blvd (it’s back wall was on Westwood Blvd) and about 3 blocks south of Wilshire Blvd. More details and photos of the theater here.
The movie theaters in Westwood Village are where I saw the most movies growing up. I’ve been in every single theater listed above (every screen of every multiplex) several times. Sometimes I’d see a movie in one theater and then walk down the street and see another movie in another theater right away. I believe the Mann Village was the biggest, but my favorite was the Mann National. They would often have a painting of what movie was playing at the theater on the wall outside (if you check this link you’ll see the painting for “Raiders of the Lost Ark” along with a huge line of people waiting to go into the theater.) The Avco Cinema Center where the Star Wars movies played. I believe the Avco was one of the first theaters to get a THX certification.
Unfortunately, the movie theater neighborhoods have shrunk down a lot.
I don’t think any of the movie theaters downtown show movies regularly anymore. Some of the former movie theaters are currently closed and others are now used for other types of businesses. There are a few that occasionally show movie screenings – including the Los Angeles Conservancy’s “Last Remaining Seats” classic film series held every summer – or live performances. A lot of them are used as filming locations for movies and television shows (check out this link and scroll down for several movies and TV shows filmed at the “Orpheum Theater”). There’s also a downtown tour you can take that goes inside some of the theaters.
In Hollywood, the new shopping area originally called “Hollywood and Highland” (now called “Ovation Hollywood”) brought back some people – mostly tourists – to the area but most of the movie theaters that used be open in Hollywood are now closed. There are only 3 movie theaters that still regular show movies.
- “Graumans Chinese” – now called the “TCL Chinese theaters” – which now includes a 6-screen small multiplex in the Ovation Hollywood complex. The main theater now plays movies in IMAX. They occasionally still have hand & footprint ceremonies in the courtyard out in front if the theater.
- Across the street, the “El Capitan” is still open. It’s basically operated by Disney (only Disney releases play at the movie theater and there’s a Disney store connected to it).
- A couple blocks east of those two theaters, the “Egyptian” theater was remodeled by Netflix recently and now shows Netflix movies and American Cinematheque has special presentations and screenings on some weekends.
The “Vista Theater” is also currently open – after being closed for several months of remodeling – but that theater is a few miles east so it’s not really in the Hollywood neighborhood. There is also the “Cinerama Dome” which now has the “Arclight Hollywood” multiplex with it. The theater and the multiplex are currently closed but there are rumors they are being remodeled and some people are anxiously waiting for them to reopen.
Personally, Westwood is the saddest for me. From 10 theaters in the area, there’s currently only 2 movie theaters still open. The Mann Village and Mann Bruin closed in 2024. The Mann National and Mann Plaza were both torn down in the early 2000s. The Mann Westwood 4 was remodeled into a Whole Foods, the Mann Festival was remodeled into something else (I think – although the marquee is still there, I think the inside has been remodeled), and the UA Westwood was remodeled into a CVS. The Crest Theatre was purchased by UCLA and is now called the “UCLA Nimoy Theater” where they have live performances.
The “Landmark Westwood” – formerly the Mann Regent – is the only movie theater in Westwood Village still open. There is also the “IPic Westwood” – formerly the Avco Cinema Center – which is a “dinner and a movie” movie theater complex a couple blocks outside of Westwood Village.
Last year, a group of filmmakers bought the Mann Village and are planning to reopen it eventually, but Jason Reitman has said they won’t finish remodeling the movie theater until at least 2026.
Once all the movie theaters went away, the public went away too. When I drive through Westwood Village now, I see a lot of “space for lease” or “available” signs. There are some restaurants but they’re mostly chains like California Pizza Kitchen and In N Out. The stores are mostly retail chains like Target and 7-Eleven.
Most of the audiences are now going to the multiplex, which are usually connected to a mall so they can go shopping, get something to eat, and go see a movie in the same location. It’s sort of apropos that some multiplexes are just another building in a mall.
I will admit that I go to the AMC Century City multiplex and some other multiplexes occasionally, but I also go to the movie theaters that are still open. I went to the Village and Bruin until they closed last year, I still go to the TCL Chinese IMAX, the El Capitan, the Nuart, the New Beverly, the Vista, and some others. If the Picwood was still open, it would probably still be my favorite movie theater. I would always go to that theater if it was playing the movie I want to see.
As for if I prefer digital projection or film projection. I’m going to leave that for some other time.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 