Hayworth Theatre
2509 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90057
2509 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90057
18 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 45 of 45 comments
There are two chains with plans to open in the Downtown Los Angeles area. AMC Downtown (planned at 14) on Grand Ave. (Music Center/Disney) and the Regal Flagship (12 or 14) at the LA Live.
There was talk and plans for a new multi-plex tobe built nearby the Stapes center in the Downtown Los Angeles. That plex would put opening any of those Broadway Theatres for first run movies in a turn around. Because the plex would have the most to offer their patrons with a one stop safe place to park/eat/see a movie area. I know Broadway has changed over the last few years.
In case you weren’t aware, since 1999 the residental population of downtown has skyrocketed, from under 10,000, going up to almost 40,000 by 2010. Right now we have only one four plex theatre in the actual downtown area, the Laemmle Grande 4 plex, a bland boxy multiplex built in the late 1970’s. It’s also completely separated from the “Historic Theater District” on Broadway by 5 blocks.
Many of the new people moving to new lofts downtown since 1999 are “Americans” as you put it, and have an average income of over $90,000 per year. Downtown is no longer the exclusive residence of homeless and ddrug addicts. This demographic is CRYING out for some movie theaters, and the old places are just sitting there boarded up.
I’m only asking for ONE of the shuttered places on Broadway to open up again with first run fare, or even second run would be okay. In English. I’d have no problem with someone showing films in Spanish, as long I had somewhere to patronize. I hear that the Million Dollar Theater might be hosting occasional concerts again soon, but that’s not what I’m asking for. I want movies! And the equivalent of a city of 40,000 people should have more than one cinema.
And apparently you haven’t been downtown for a while. They have installed new streetlights and street furniture. Come down to Main Street and check them out. It’s a lot less scary.
Perhaps the only way for L.A’s Broadway theaters to survive is to jazz up the rent of these scum-bag shops, harras the winos and beggars and up-grade the street lights… then the American element of patrons may think about returning… but the entertainment industry and younger generations has moved on to other districts!
This theatre should be changed from closed to Open!
Now called The Hayworth, since February 25, 2006, they have been showing live theatre. There is a 99 seat theatre, a 42 seat theater, and a 49 seat theater. Obviously, they have renovated the place. They state the architect was Stiles O. Clements and the place opened in 1926.
www.thehayworth.com/aboutus
It’s fantastic that they’ve brought this place back from the shadows…now if only somebody would do this for some of the movie palaces on Broadway!
Same problem as above in 1957:
Exhibitors Obtain Court Permission to Show Film
Movie exhibitors have obtained court permission to continue showing the film “Fire Under Her Skin,” which has been labeled obscene by Los Angeles police. Superior Judge Kurt Kauffman issued an order temporarily restraining Police Chief William Parker from interfering with exhibition of the French picture pending a hearing on Dec. 12.
In a petition for injunction, Mayfair Pictures, distributors of the film, complained that police raided the Vagabond Theater on November 29 and confiscated the print. At that time, two theater executives, Sydney Linden and Roger Quijada, were charged with violating the city’s ordinance against showing obscene and indecent movies. In an affidavit filed with the suit, Mayfair president Robert Rosener admitted that the film “is not a great work of art.†“But it is not obscene,” he said. “It deals with sex but no more than any number of other foreign motion pictures that have been shown every day in every state of the Union.â€
It looks like the Vagabond was in trouble for showing obscene films in the late fifties. I wonder what the standard for obscenity was back then:
http://tinyurl.com/yzoxvq
I remember going multiple times to see “El Topo” at the Vagabond. It may have been the first LA theater to run that astounding film. Also, my first viewings of Fellini’s “Juliet of the Spirits” and Antononi’s “Red Desert” where at that place. I believe they a huge painting of the steps scene from “Battleship Potemkin” on the side walls inside the theater.
The neighborhood wasn’t so bad in the early 70s.
Somewhere along the line the church moved out and the marquee has been retrimmed in green neon, now called The Hayworth(!) Apparently now it’s theatrical presentations. Very strange.
http://www.circustheatricals.com/
Ticketseller, you’ve got guts to agree to change those letters, even in 1979 (hope you were always wearing slacks). I couldn’t resist patronizing the Vagabond because of those incredible double features of pristine 35mm prints. Now that you mention it, there were a lot of strange people who attended movies at the Vagabond (I even remember those drunks and annoying snoring sleepers you mentioned). And hanging out in that small lobby between features was AN EXPERIENCE TO REMEMBER as well!
Yeah, I would get REAL NERVOUS after I passed MacArthur Park (can anyone imagine what it looked like in the 30s and 40s — what a shame it became a dump) and Echo Park.
I worked at the Vagabond and the Tiffany in 1979 while a film student at USC. The Vagabond was great, got to see so many old films. The characters that came to that cinema every night were so classic downtown LA types of the period. There was a guy who would come with a huge 35mm camera around his neck, sit towards the front, and every so often raise his camera quickly and photograph the images on the screen. I saw him sometimes at other theaters too. There were the drunk older men who would snooze away the night, one I felt bad for one night when he showed up with scabs all over his head from being beaten up in nearby Echo Park.
Often “old movie stars” came in to see their films, or current celebs came in to watch. The owner, Tommy Cooper, had these large poster boards behind the concession stand that we would have any film person we recognized autograph. The ones that were filled up were mounted, but there was always one loose for people to sign until there was no more space. Those must be worth so much money now! BTW, I have an LP that Tommy had recorded, singing show tunes. Don’t know whatever happened to his musical career.
The only nights I didn’t really like to work there were the nights before the movies changed, and I, the young girl, not whatever man was around, had to climb the ladder outside in the deserted dark and change the marquee, with the big red plastic letters that I always had a hard time with fitting the metal connectors in the slots. Not to mention the fact that we sometimes didn’t have enough of the required letters for some titles and I had to get creative with spelling or abbreviating. And we always had double features. So there I was, going into the creepy little room outside the theater that housed the marquee letters spread out all over the floor, step around them like mines as not to crack them, pick out the letters not already on the marquee, get the ladder and spend the rest of the night going up and down. Next door was a Mexican restaurant for Japanese tourists who would come by the busload and stand outside and watch me when they came out from dinner. And there were the lone men walking around, stopping to watch me and ask me questions. I’m glad they didn’t make me do it at the Tiffany too, the boys did it. Don’t think I would’ve wanted to deal with the drunken hords on Sunset Strip!
I remember enjoying a double bill of Pigskin Parade & Mother Wore Tights here when visiting Los Angeles, on July 18, 1977. It was unfortunately the only time I went to any movies here.
…and what puts you in better holiday spirits than SCARFACE and HELL’S ANGELS for a Christmas double feature?
[Tiffany, Christmas week, 1979]
With regards to the Tiffany, I remember seeing a doubleheader of
SCARFACE and HELL’S ANGELS there about 1981. This was remarkable since both were Howard Hugh’s productions that hadn’t been seen on the big screen in years (and both prints were pristine).
Too bad video destroyed classic revival houses.
Sinclair, did you know Tommy’s print was a nitrate print when you ran it? Are you ok?
RE: Tiffany’s direct line of sight: 3D movies weren’t the only benefit…
the Rocky Horror audience spelled out J-A-N-E-T with marquee letters held aloft in the projector’s beam, to create the name spelled out in shadows along the bottom of the screen, in time with the opening song.
Owned by the same character that operated the Tiffany, I had the immense surprise of being the projectionist one Saturday evening when a privately owned copy (the owner’s) of a nitrate print trailer for “On the 20th Century” ran through the projector and burst into cadmium yellow flames. Imagine the thrill of an audience turning to see these flames in the booth. Imagine my thrill of being rushed to an emergency room and having a Hollywood hospital have to call the Denver Poison Control Center to find out how to treat inhalation of nitrate fumes (it turns to nitric acid in the lungs). So that’s what “safety film” means!
On a side note, the Tiffany was also used for 3D projection because of the direct line from booth to screen, something that is rare to find in most theaters that aim down to a screen.
I lived near Beverly Hills so pilgrimages to the Vagabond were always adventures (from 1982 -1986). After Vermont Street, the further East you drove down Wilshire Blvd. towards the Vagabond, the more you prayed to God for protection and forgiveness. On many occasions I parked on side streets between office buildings on Wilshire Blvd. and feared that I wouldn’t make it back to my car after leaving the Vagabond late at night (at least I got to see two classic movies).
However, back in those days classic movie patrons were dedicated and courageous people. The Vagabond showed many pristine 20th Century Fox 35mm prints and it’s where I began my appreciation of their colorful musicals and Betty Grable.
While the Vagabond was the most rundown of all the revival houses I attended in my ten years in LA (compared to the Encore, Nuart, Sherman, Fox Venice, Vista, New Beverly, Tiffany, etc.), the prints were outstanding and the patrons interesting (I met several Directors there, including Rouben Mamoulian).
Come to think of it, I did have a lot of courage when I patronized revival houses in LA.
07/21/04 Wednesday Bill Sims
This was a place where I could see many otherwise unavailable movies! EVERY year was a pairing of Singin' in the Rain and The Wizard of Oz, both of which are always at the top of “best” lists. Stars of the movies would often make an appearance. George Cukor, a stellar director, was scheduled to appear at the premiere of his restored 1954 A Star is Born. Unfortunately, he passed away the night before. I had wanted to see him, not to talk with him, respecting his privacy.
There were many 3-D movies, including two that stand out in my mind – Kiss Me, Kate and Miss Sadie Thompson. This and the Vista were the only places that I knew that showed movies in 3-D. Kiss Me, Kate, when originally released was shown in the “flat screen” version, but here you could see it in magnificant 3-D. And the prints for any movie shown were made fresh from the negatives, whenever possible.
I knew the area was not wonderful, and I would often walk the short distance from my apartment. I never felt threatened about the locals in the neighborhood! Perhaps it was just youthful innocense, but, whatever, I enyoyed going to that wonderful place.
In the 1950s, the Vagabond screened many films from England and I can recall seeing “Folly to be Wise,” starring Alistair Sim, at that venue. These were “small” films that played virtually nowhere else in greater Los Angeles at that time.
The Vagabond is a very small theatre located 1 ½ blocks west of MacArthur park on Wilshire Blvd. . This theatre seated less than 200 people. The Vagabond was one of Los Angeles’s first art and classic theatres during the early 70’s. This theatre had painted murals from classic silent movies on it’s side walls. During the early 90’s the Vagabond tried to return to the good old days of revival, but the area around the theatre got worse and the VCR hit. Also during the early 90’s the Vagabond had a small revival of 3D movies (they installed a silver screen and ran a few months worth of classic 3D.) Currently the Vagabond has been a travel agents office and a church. Next to the Vagabond is a good Mexican restaurant called La Fondas . If you go east on Wilshire Blvd. on the other side of MacArthur park you will see the Westlake theatre and about 1 ½ blocks south of the Westlake is the Park theatre (now a swap meet type store, like the Westlake).