Koo Koo California from A to Z: theaters

Showing posts with label theaters. Show all posts

Monday, May 8, 2023

WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT?

This theater marquee that has seen better days represents the last gasps of what started in 1940 as the Monica Theater at 7734 Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood (before it became West Hollywood, of course). A neighborhood theater showing 2nd run major motion pictures, it was briefly an arthouse, showing foreign films before, in 1968, it changed its name to the Left Bank Theater and went into the nudies game.

In 1970 it became the flagship theater of the adult film Pussycat Theater chain and remained so until the '90s when it became a gay adult theater and changed its name (appropriately enough) to the Tom Kat. 2006 saw Mr. Tom Kat make way for STUDS, and after that, it just seemed a slow but inexorable slide to obsolescence. The above photo, post-COVID, reflects the theater's 2022 fate.

Whatever lies in store for the empty space now, I hope someone holds on to the "celebrity" footprints of the deceased legends of the "porno chic" '70s that grace the front courtyard.

John Holmes / nee John Curtis Estes (1944 -1988)

Linda Lovelace / nee Linda Susan Boreman (1949 - 2002)

Harry Reems / nee Herbert John Streicher ( 1947 - 2013)

Marilyn Chambers / nee Marilyn Ann Taylor (1952 - 2009)

Saturday, June 1, 2019

IT'S WHAT'S UP FRONT THAT COUNTS

In May of 2019, Godzilla burst through the roof of the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood

The forecourt of the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood

The former Hollywood movie theater on Hollywood Blvd. is currently
the home of the Guinness World of Records Museum

Saturday, November 10, 2018

THE AGE OF AQUARIUS

When the Broadway hit "Hair" came to Los Angles for an extended run in 1968 (for two years, in fact), it opened at The Earl Carroll Theater on Sunset Blvd. The Theater, in operation since 1938 under various names, changed its name to The Aquarius Theater in 1968 and underwent a psychedelic facelift. In 2018, director Quentin Tarantino, for his forthcoming film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," restored the exterior of the now-abandoned theater to its late-'60s glory.

The Aquarius Theater as it looked in 1968 --Photo by Richard Wojcik

The Tarantino production has been delighting locals and tourists alike with surprising recreations of Los Angeles, circa the summer of 1969, throughout the city. Here, the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd. is outfitted with a marquee for "3 in the Attic" and other period-perfect posters.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

FACE-LIFTED FACADES

These Hollywood buildings are still standing, just no longer as the business pictured here.

The Ivar Theater on Ivar St. between Hollywood and Sunset Blvd - photo 1980
Opened in 1951 as a legitimate theater. Turned to a burlesque house in the mid-'70s.
Adjacent to it on the right is the old Hollywood Branch Library, which was torn down in 1985. In 2002 the facade of the Ivar was renovated and space operated by the California Youth Theater.

Hollywood Blvd Chicken Delight

Morgan Camera Shop on Sunset Blvd near Vine

Saturday, May 21, 2016

THE LAST MOVIE HOUSE

The Sierra Theater, Chowchilla, Ca.
The Sierra Theater was the larger (474 seats) of two motion picture houses in the small town of Chowchilla. Built in 1941, the Sierra Theater closed in the mid to late '70s, but stood, abandoned until it was demolished in 2006. As you can see in the last B&W photo, there used to be an outdoor ticket booth.
The first three photos were taken by me in 1997. My partner was born and raised in Chowchilla, as was his father, who, as a teen, worked at the Sierra Theater.
The last to photos were found on the site Cinema Treasures

Rear view of the Sierra Theater

Cinema Treasures

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

BANANA FANA FO FANA

Minions love bananas. And it looks like Hollywood's famed Cinerama Dome theater on Sunset Boulevard is under siege by three of these oversized underlings (looks like Stuart, Kevin & Bob) staring in rapt desire at the object of their affections: a ginormous banana. The minons of the "Despicable Me" animated films are now the stars of their own movie, and the Cinerama Dome has been turned banana-yellow in honor of the occasion.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

INTO THE (HOLLY)WOODS

Hollywood's El Capitan Theater, an ornate movie palace located across the street from Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd, was built in 1926. Owned now by Disney Studios, the El Capitan was the site of the Christmas Day opening of the 2014 movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Theater patrons are welcomed with a serenade of classic Disnet tunes played on a refurbished 1939 Wurlitzer Theater Organ, and on the occasion of Into the Woods' limited run, treated to an exclusive display of props and costumes from the film.