MEMBERS: Being semi-disabled I went nowhere over Labor Day. However, a contact back East sent me a classic. This picture on my WEBSHOTS is the opening of the first Cinemascope picture. It is 1953 at the Chinese and you can see the famous RED CARS which were all over L.A. and which I rode with my Mom in the 1940’s!! We lived in a garden apartment at what is now referred to as the famous La Brea Towers. I remember my Mom taking me over to FARMER’S MARKET for lunch. I always ended a meal with a Gingerbread Man cookie. Wow!! Also, there is a new picture of my Mom at the Chinese in 1983. The organic disorder my Mom had when I grew up lessened with age but never disappeared. She looks great here!!
CHRIS B. I don’t collect photos other than where I worked. Nowadays I am content to have my picture of the Vista and their booth from 1968 where I worked 3 solid months. I think that the man at the beginning of this comment section wants them. Joel is his name.
WILLIAM: IN THE 1970’S DALE GILLUM THE A.B.A. CALLED AND SENT ME ON ONE OF MANY 1 NITE STANDS IN CANOGA PARK. THE FILM WAS JAWS AND THE NICE LITTLE THEATRE WAS NAMED THE HOLIDAY. CAN U TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT IT? THANKS, HOPPY
GARY MEYER: IN 1977-1978 I attended the Don Martin Radio School. I have lived in the valley since 1968. My sister came to school to visit the next DICK WHITTINGHILL?? She told me that the Sherman on Ventura was showing a CHARLIE CHAN festival for several days. I went crazy!! She was 21 and I was 35. WE went to specifically see Warner Oland. Deb had never seen Charlie Chan or Sherlock Holmes films. The theatre was packed and lines were long. Later on in America as you know values changed and Charlie Chan was banned from tv and after 1965 Amos and Andy was banned. But think about this: gardeners are now landscape architects, trash collectors are rubbish engineers, people who live together are domestic partners. I suppose next the media will call Hookers: SEXUAL AID ADVOCATES.
THIS IS TRULY AN INCREDIBLE WEBSITE. I JUST WONDERED IN A TIME OF HORRIBLE COST HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO SO MUCH FOR FREE. YOU ASK NOTHING FROM MEMBERS TO DEFRAY COSTS.
GOING BACK ALMOST 40 YEARS REQUIRES ALOT OF CONTEMPLATION ESPECIALLY SINCE I HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN A BOOTH FOR 15 YEARS AND EVERY SINGLE HOUSE IS GONE. THE MONICA WHICH I MENTIONED ABOVE WAS OPERATED BY PUSSYCAT THEATRES WHICH WAS SOLELY OWNED BY A MAN WHOSE LAST NAME I COMPLETELY FORGET BUT HIS FIRST NAME WAS VINCENT. I MET HIM AT AN INDEPENDENT NEGOTIATION BECAUSE HE WAS NOT A MEMBER OF NATO. SEVERAL CHAINS NEGOTIATED SEPARATELY BACK THEN BUT HELL LOCAL 150 NEVER GOT THE BACKING OF THE IA BECAUSE OF SOME GRIEVANCE THEY HAD AGAINST 150 AND THIS IS WHY WE HAD NO POWER BECAUSE WE WERE THE ONLY MOVIE UNION THAT DIDN’T GET STUDIO REPRESENTATION!! I BELIEVE VINCENT PRODUCED A FILM CALLED THE DIRTY BASTARD FROM CHICAGO WHICH ACTUALLY STARRED THE 1940 SERIAL ACTOR REED HADLEY!!
MEMBERS: Click on this and go to my site and see the VISTA 2005 and the VISTA BOOTH 1968. This is a BRENKERT carbon arc lamphouse. I don’t remember what company made the 16mm projector. As I recall the reels held 45 minutes of film. We played a tape with music continually because the skin films had no sound and there was no hardcore. Eventually, Mr. Sayles built a booth downstairs and I believe the projector was a Cinemacanica with 2 hour reels. This is after getting the union out of the booth.
MEMBERS: I went downtown this summer for something. I carry a small camera because Auto Club says they come in handy for accidents and proof of guilt. I came home by way of Sunset. When I got to the Vista which is alive and well and looks great I took the camera and took a good shot. I have a site on WEBSHOTS where members see theatres I have pics of that I feel are important. I will find the picture over the Holiday as well as a picture I took in 1968 of the Vista Projection Booth. I will put both on my site with the address you just click on and you can see some great theatres. I hope I contributed good solid facts to you all!!
This was a long time ago and I did 23 years for the Local and left at age 48. I went to C.S.U.N. and graduated with a degree in Social Work and I have remained in Gerontology on a part-time basis due to a mobility problem. I am now 62. Lou H. works for Laemmle and has been their chief for 20 plus years. Ironically, Wild Bill Rickard worked for a time in the valley as a theatre manager in the 70’s where I saw him outside his theatre one night. I called the Local but forget the theatre or the chain. He retired from that valley theatre. Many members back then did not want to work skin alone porno. There was another house on Santa Monica further east from the Paris. It had the world exclusive engagement of DEEP THROAT which actually had been shot in 16mm in 1964 with a young LINDA LOVELACE who died in her 40’s. I believe the theatre was the MONICA. I do not believe that Violet Sawyer added it to her chain but I can’t remember for sure. Young guys in the late 60’s and 70’s like me had no moral problem with adult entertainment but most 150 men were out of the moral 30’s and 40’s and had serious scruples about SEX in film!!
The APOLLO ARTS was on Hollywood near Western. The PARK was across from MCARTHUR PARK at the southeast corner on Alvarado. Yes, it was all-male. No, the PARIS WAS NOT PERIOD!!! Shan wanted to do something no one in Los Angeles had ever done historically. He got a construction crew and made the first multi-plex in LA history. The main auditorium was untouched! What he did was this. He put a partition in the middle of the balcony from bottom to top of the stairs. He then put sound proof wallboard across the whole balcony railing all the way up to the ceiling. He then put a screen on each side. They were about 12 feet wide and 10 feet high. Next, he created a PARIS CARD CLUB FOR MEMBERS ONLY. The left balcony screen was the Club Only and was all-male. The right balcony screen was hetero. Both showed hard core porno. The auditorium remained open to the public and did not show hard core porno. Yes, the famous SONG OF THE LOON played in the major auditorium. I was dating the cashier, Connie who was a film grad from UCLA and trying to get into directing which for a woman then was almost a dream. cont’d.
MEMBERS: Facts from a retired Local 150 man. When I first joined the Local at 25 in 1968 you could work any 16mm house without a license. A still active member named Lou H. and I were assigned to Continental Theatres for 3 months in the fall of 1968. Shan was not the owner period. The whole circuit was owned by a woman and Shan fronted her. No woman is going to acknowledge owning skin houses as they were called. Her name was VIOLET SAWYER. I met her and Shan in court. The case was based on the fact that Violet felt that she should not pay union scale for 16mm or flatly put not even use Union men! The scale was 3.50 per hour. The shifts were 9:30-5, 5pm-11:30 and 11:30-4:30am. This chain owned the following theatres where I had to work: VISTA, APOLLO ARTS, PARK and PARIS. The D.M. was “WILD” BILL RICKARD. He hated unions, projectionists and people in general. He carried a snub nose 38 revolver in a shoulder holster. Now about the Paris. This was once a legendary FOX house near BARNEY’S BEANERY on Santa Monica near La Cienega. TO BE CONT’D.
Now about ANGEL’S FLIGHT which along with BROADWAY THEATRES was all that would bring a normal person downtown by 1970. The committee to preserve the Angel’s Flight Railway and Broadway Theatres kept as much as they could of the Railway and vowed to re-open the Landmark. I think they only managed to preserve 3 theatres overall. Finally, in 1995 it re-opened but 1 block away. In 2000 L.A. got it’s first subway!!!It goes from where I live in No. Hollywood all the way downtown to City Hall. It makes 12 stops along the way. My ladyfriend said let’s ride the subway downtown, then ride up and down Angel’s Flight and finally eat lunch at the famous Grand market. There were no theatres left for us to really see just swap meets where all those famous houses once showed classic films!!! HORRIBLE!!! Well, this turned out to be my last hurrah. In 2001 an elderly couple literally fell out of the ANGEL’s Flight ride and the husband died. The wife recovered and ANGEL’S FLIGHT was closed again after only 5 years and never has re-opened! I became semi-disabled 2 weeks prior to 9/11 due to an inoperable disk between L3-L4 and nowadays I use a quad cane or a walker according to terrain and distance. I have put another picture on my Webshots of the Angel’s Flight Ride when Rose and I went there in 2000. It is a beautiful restoration job! I still drive downtown once a year at XMAS and cruise FUNKY BROADWAY hoping to see all my old theatre haunts but I never go near Main Street!!!
My one war story from the MAIN ST. BANNER WINE GRIND: When I came down at 11pm to work one Friday nite I had to crawl over drunks, garbage and RIPPLE WINE BOTTLES. 49 cents a pint!!! I worked 11:30pm-5am. At 2am 2 police officers come into the booth and tell me: When we go back down into the auditorium we will flash our lites. STOP THE SHOW and turn the lites on!! Unheard of!! As instructed when I did here were 2 guys in handcuffs both a bloody mess. One is yelling at the other: YOU…DON’T YOU EVER SIT IN THAT… SEAT AGAIN! YOU…I HAVE BEEN SLEEPING IN THAT… SEAT EVERY NITE FOR 12…YEARS!! I could not believe this diatribe and mentality. They went to knuckle city over a seat!!! The next nite I called the regular man and told him what happened. He only replied: Now you know why MAIN ST. operators all carry a hogleg!! And this was 1969!!
For theatre historians the 4 theatres on MAIN ST. in 1969 when I pulled a few shifts at 2 of the 4 WINE GRIND HOUSES were the: BANNER, REGENT, OPTIC and the BURBANK which was also known as the 3rd and MAIN FOLLIES. My very first job after I left the VISTA 16MM THEATRE was 2 shifts at the Broadway and 2 at the EL PORTAL where I learned projection summer of 1968. These shifts encompassed Sat.– Mon. Also, I might add all the downtown theatres were owned by Bruce Corwin’s Metropolitan Chain and half the theatres were already Spanish which showed plenty of T&A and violence. I may not have liked Broadway overall because of the change in film policy and deterioration but compared to Main St. it was Heaven. I might add this was a time when the famous MILLION DOLLAR still had bands and dancers and singers and was a big hoopla!! Also, the original and famous Angel’s Flight Railway would be torn down late in 1969. It opened around 1900. I went and looked at it because one of Lon Chaney Jr.’s last coherent films INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN was shot around it and has more scenes of the railway in motion than any other film made. It is a great little film to rent!! I own it!! I will put a picture of ANGEL’S FLIGHT on my WEBSHOTS taken in the 1960’s. I would think alot about the Picwood, Palms and Culver whenever I was sent downtown. It eased the pain!! After 1972 I had enough seniority to never return to Main or Broadway which in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s was the theatre capital of Los Angeles.
Dwodeyla: I fear if I tell too many booth stories it will be entertaining only for a while. However, soon as I reach my friend Jay Lee B. in Az. where he retired I will get the name of 2 theatres I forget where Jay and I worked on Main St. not Broadway.
When I tell you my tale of working what we called the WINE GRIND on Main St. in 1969 you will die laughing. There were 4 houses that ran from 9:30am-5am with only 4 hours off to meet legal requirements for janitorial cleanup. There was no such thing as an intermission. Furthermore, every 150 man carried a hogleg on his inside belt. I am not BSing you…A HOGLEG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jay and I worked from midnite until closing at 5am.
Do any of you former theatre employees remember something that has never been mentioned on this site not even by WILLIAM who is very knowledgeable. That was an issue where FILM BOOKERS made a serious oversight. A film would be booked into 2 theatres in the same area but only one print was available?????? I do!! It was a mad house. I was in the booths when this happened twice. They staggered the presentations by about 30 minutes and someone drove like hell with 2 reels from 1 theatre to the second. Then the final 3 reels would be driven over about 45 minutes later. This is basing most films on 5 reels. Rarely did reels 3,4, and 5 get to the second house on time and after reel 2 I played music and the manager who was a nervous wreck would make an announcement over the mike in my booth and the audience would start booing!!
Hi Everyone: First message is for DWODEYLA. I am changing the order and adding some new pics to the old. They should ALL be up by tomorrow. NOW, FOR ALL PICWOOD FANS…William, Lisa, Meryl and Meridith!!!! I told you I was having trouble finding the picture of the PICWOOD when it closed with VOLUNTEERS. I know why! Up until 1991 when I retired from Local 150 I did not use a 35mm camera. All 12 books I kept looking thru were 35mm albums. I have 4 other albums starting with shots I took as a kid with with my Kodak Brownie and 3 other cameras but none were 35mm. So, I went to look in the 4 albums with non-35 mm and YES!!! I FOUND THE PICWOOD THEATRE WITH VOLUNTEERS ON THE MARQUEE!! Also, the picture clearly shows the old Picwood Bowl. I am posting it ASAP on my Webshots site. I did not let anyone down with my PICWOOD PROMISE. How could Hopalong Cassidy(hoppy) ever make a mistake???
Hi Everyone: First message is for DWODEYLA. I am changing the order and adding some new pics to the old. They should ALL be up by tomorrow. NOW, FOR ALL PICWOOD FANS…William, Lisa, Meryl and Meridith!!!! I told you I was having trouble finding the picture of the PICWOOD when it closed with VOLUNTEERS. I know why! Up until 1991 when I retired from Local 150 I did not use a 35mm camera. All 12 books I kept looking thru were 35mm albums. I have 4 other albums starting with shots I took as a kid with with my Kodak Brownie and 3 other cameras but none were 35mm. So, I went to look in the 4 albums with non-35 mm and YES!!! I FOUND THE PICWOOD THEATRE WITH VOLUNTEERS ON THE MARQUEE!! Also, the picture clearly shows the old Picwood Bowl. I am posting it ASAP on my Webshots site. I did not let anyone down with my PICWOOD PROMISE. How could Hopalong Cassidy(hoppy) ever make a mistake???
Lisa: I will share a story. When I moved to the valley in 1968 the HIPPY movement was in full swing. There was a famous Catholic Girls School on Laurel Cyn. south ogf Ventura Bl. 1 or 2 blocks. It was Corvallis. The morality of the times was not conducive or inducive to making a girl feel she wanted to go on and become a Sister. The school had enrollment and other problems. However, the head of Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks contacted the head mistress at Corvallis and offered to create a co-ed situation between the 2 schools. This way Corvallis could have survived and both schools would have benefitted from both sexes going to school together. However, the Head Mistress flatly refused and Corvallis after many successful years was closed.
WHEN WILL THE 1000’S OF THEATRE PICTURES THAT HAVE BEEN SENT IN FOR YEARS EVER BE ON THIS SITE?
MEMBERS: Check out my photo of me in 2000.
MEMBERS: Being semi-disabled I went nowhere over Labor Day. However, a contact back East sent me a classic. This picture on my WEBSHOTS is the opening of the first Cinemascope picture. It is 1953 at the Chinese and you can see the famous RED CARS which were all over L.A. and which I rode with my Mom in the 1940’s!! We lived in a garden apartment at what is now referred to as the famous La Brea Towers. I remember my Mom taking me over to FARMER’S MARKET for lunch. I always ended a meal with a Gingerbread Man cookie. Wow!! Also, there is a new picture of my Mom at the Chinese in 1983. The organic disorder my Mom had when I grew up lessened with age but never disappeared. She looks great here!!
CHRIS B. I don’t collect photos other than where I worked. Nowadays I am content to have my picture of the Vista and their booth from 1968 where I worked 3 solid months. I think that the man at the beginning of this comment section wants them. Joel is his name.
WILLIAM: IN THE 1970’S DALE GILLUM THE A.B.A. CALLED AND SENT ME ON ONE OF MANY 1 NITE STANDS IN CANOGA PARK. THE FILM WAS JAWS AND THE NICE LITTLE THEATRE WAS NAMED THE HOLIDAY. CAN U TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT IT? THANKS, HOPPY
GARY MEYER: IN 1977-1978 I attended the Don Martin Radio School. I have lived in the valley since 1968. My sister came to school to visit the next DICK WHITTINGHILL?? She told me that the Sherman on Ventura was showing a CHARLIE CHAN festival for several days. I went crazy!! She was 21 and I was 35. WE went to specifically see Warner Oland. Deb had never seen Charlie Chan or Sherlock Holmes films. The theatre was packed and lines were long. Later on in America as you know values changed and Charlie Chan was banned from tv and after 1965 Amos and Andy was banned. But think about this: gardeners are now landscape architects, trash collectors are rubbish engineers, people who live together are domestic partners. I suppose next the media will call Hookers: SEXUAL AID ADVOCATES.
THIS IS TRULY AN INCREDIBLE WEBSITE. I JUST WONDERED IN A TIME OF HORRIBLE COST HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO SO MUCH FOR FREE. YOU ASK NOTHING FROM MEMBERS TO DEFRAY COSTS.
I DID SOME RESEARCH AND FOUND THAT VINCENT’S LAST NAME WAS MIRANDA.
GOING BACK ALMOST 40 YEARS REQUIRES ALOT OF CONTEMPLATION ESPECIALLY SINCE I HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN A BOOTH FOR 15 YEARS AND EVERY SINGLE HOUSE IS GONE. THE MONICA WHICH I MENTIONED ABOVE WAS OPERATED BY PUSSYCAT THEATRES WHICH WAS SOLELY OWNED BY A MAN WHOSE LAST NAME I COMPLETELY FORGET BUT HIS FIRST NAME WAS VINCENT. I MET HIM AT AN INDEPENDENT NEGOTIATION BECAUSE HE WAS NOT A MEMBER OF NATO. SEVERAL CHAINS NEGOTIATED SEPARATELY BACK THEN BUT HELL LOCAL 150 NEVER GOT THE BACKING OF THE IA BECAUSE OF SOME GRIEVANCE THEY HAD AGAINST 150 AND THIS IS WHY WE HAD NO POWER BECAUSE WE WERE THE ONLY MOVIE UNION THAT DIDN’T GET STUDIO REPRESENTATION!! I BELIEVE VINCENT PRODUCED A FILM CALLED THE DIRTY BASTARD FROM CHICAGO WHICH ACTUALLY STARRED THE 1940 SERIAL ACTOR REED HADLEY!!
MEMBERS: Click on this and go to my site and see the VISTA 2005 and the VISTA BOOTH 1968. This is a BRENKERT carbon arc lamphouse. I don’t remember what company made the 16mm projector. As I recall the reels held 45 minutes of film. We played a tape with music continually because the skin films had no sound and there was no hardcore. Eventually, Mr. Sayles built a booth downstairs and I believe the projector was a Cinemacanica with 2 hour reels. This is after getting the union out of the booth.
http://community.webshots.com/user/arpichat
MEMBERS: I went downtown this summer for something. I carry a small camera because Auto Club says they come in handy for accidents and proof of guilt. I came home by way of Sunset. When I got to the Vista which is alive and well and looks great I took the camera and took a good shot. I have a site on WEBSHOTS where members see theatres I have pics of that I feel are important. I will find the picture over the Holiday as well as a picture I took in 1968 of the Vista Projection Booth. I will put both on my site with the address you just click on and you can see some great theatres. I hope I contributed good solid facts to you all!!
This was a long time ago and I did 23 years for the Local and left at age 48. I went to C.S.U.N. and graduated with a degree in Social Work and I have remained in Gerontology on a part-time basis due to a mobility problem. I am now 62. Lou H. works for Laemmle and has been their chief for 20 plus years. Ironically, Wild Bill Rickard worked for a time in the valley as a theatre manager in the 70’s where I saw him outside his theatre one night. I called the Local but forget the theatre or the chain. He retired from that valley theatre. Many members back then did not want to work skin alone porno. There was another house on Santa Monica further east from the Paris. It had the world exclusive engagement of DEEP THROAT which actually had been shot in 16mm in 1964 with a young LINDA LOVELACE who died in her 40’s. I believe the theatre was the MONICA. I do not believe that Violet Sawyer added it to her chain but I can’t remember for sure. Young guys in the late 60’s and 70’s like me had no moral problem with adult entertainment but most 150 men were out of the moral 30’s and 40’s and had serious scruples about SEX in film!!
The APOLLO ARTS was on Hollywood near Western. The PARK was across from MCARTHUR PARK at the southeast corner on Alvarado. Yes, it was all-male. No, the PARIS WAS NOT PERIOD!!! Shan wanted to do something no one in Los Angeles had ever done historically. He got a construction crew and made the first multi-plex in LA history. The main auditorium was untouched! What he did was this. He put a partition in the middle of the balcony from bottom to top of the stairs. He then put sound proof wallboard across the whole balcony railing all the way up to the ceiling. He then put a screen on each side. They were about 12 feet wide and 10 feet high. Next, he created a PARIS CARD CLUB FOR MEMBERS ONLY. The left balcony screen was the Club Only and was all-male. The right balcony screen was hetero. Both showed hard core porno. The auditorium remained open to the public and did not show hard core porno. Yes, the famous SONG OF THE LOON played in the major auditorium. I was dating the cashier, Connie who was a film grad from UCLA and trying to get into directing which for a woman then was almost a dream. cont’d.
MEMBERS: Facts from a retired Local 150 man. When I first joined the Local at 25 in 1968 you could work any 16mm house without a license. A still active member named Lou H. and I were assigned to Continental Theatres for 3 months in the fall of 1968. Shan was not the owner period. The whole circuit was owned by a woman and Shan fronted her. No woman is going to acknowledge owning skin houses as they were called. Her name was VIOLET SAWYER. I met her and Shan in court. The case was based on the fact that Violet felt that she should not pay union scale for 16mm or flatly put not even use Union men! The scale was 3.50 per hour. The shifts were 9:30-5, 5pm-11:30 and 11:30-4:30am. This chain owned the following theatres where I had to work: VISTA, APOLLO ARTS, PARK and PARIS. The D.M. was “WILD” BILL RICKARD. He hated unions, projectionists and people in general. He carried a snub nose 38 revolver in a shoulder holster. Now about the Paris. This was once a legendary FOX house near BARNEY’S BEANERY on Santa Monica near La Cienega. TO BE CONT’D.
Members: I realize the above address at WEBSHOTS dated Aug. 22,2005 did not work but this does!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/arpichat
Now about ANGEL’S FLIGHT which along with BROADWAY THEATRES was all that would bring a normal person downtown by 1970. The committee to preserve the Angel’s Flight Railway and Broadway Theatres kept as much as they could of the Railway and vowed to re-open the Landmark. I think they only managed to preserve 3 theatres overall. Finally, in 1995 it re-opened but 1 block away. In 2000 L.A. got it’s first subway!!!It goes from where I live in No. Hollywood all the way downtown to City Hall. It makes 12 stops along the way. My ladyfriend said let’s ride the subway downtown, then ride up and down Angel’s Flight and finally eat lunch at the famous Grand market. There were no theatres left for us to really see just swap meets where all those famous houses once showed classic films!!! HORRIBLE!!! Well, this turned out to be my last hurrah. In 2001 an elderly couple literally fell out of the ANGEL’s Flight ride and the husband died. The wife recovered and ANGEL’S FLIGHT was closed again after only 5 years and never has re-opened! I became semi-disabled 2 weeks prior to 9/11 due to an inoperable disk between L3-L4 and nowadays I use a quad cane or a walker according to terrain and distance. I have put another picture on my Webshots of the Angel’s Flight Ride when Rose and I went there in 2000. It is a beautiful restoration job! I still drive downtown once a year at XMAS and cruise FUNKY BROADWAY hoping to see all my old theatre haunts but I never go near Main Street!!!
My one war story from the MAIN ST. BANNER WINE GRIND: When I came down at 11pm to work one Friday nite I had to crawl over drunks, garbage and RIPPLE WINE BOTTLES. 49 cents a pint!!! I worked 11:30pm-5am. At 2am 2 police officers come into the booth and tell me: When we go back down into the auditorium we will flash our lites. STOP THE SHOW and turn the lites on!! Unheard of!! As instructed when I did here were 2 guys in handcuffs both a bloody mess. One is yelling at the other: YOU…DON’T YOU EVER SIT IN THAT… SEAT AGAIN! YOU…I HAVE BEEN SLEEPING IN THAT… SEAT EVERY NITE FOR 12…YEARS!! I could not believe this diatribe and mentality. They went to knuckle city over a seat!!! The next nite I called the regular man and told him what happened. He only replied: Now you know why MAIN ST. operators all carry a hogleg!! And this was 1969!!
For theatre historians the 4 theatres on MAIN ST. in 1969 when I pulled a few shifts at 2 of the 4 WINE GRIND HOUSES were the: BANNER, REGENT, OPTIC and the BURBANK which was also known as the 3rd and MAIN FOLLIES. My very first job after I left the VISTA 16MM THEATRE was 2 shifts at the Broadway and 2 at the EL PORTAL where I learned projection summer of 1968. These shifts encompassed Sat.– Mon. Also, I might add all the downtown theatres were owned by Bruce Corwin’s Metropolitan Chain and half the theatres were already Spanish which showed plenty of T&A and violence. I may not have liked Broadway overall because of the change in film policy and deterioration but compared to Main St. it was Heaven. I might add this was a time when the famous MILLION DOLLAR still had bands and dancers and singers and was a big hoopla!! Also, the original and famous Angel’s Flight Railway would be torn down late in 1969. It opened around 1900. I went and looked at it because one of Lon Chaney Jr.’s last coherent films INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN was shot around it and has more scenes of the railway in motion than any other film made. It is a great little film to rent!! I own it!! I will put a picture of ANGEL’S FLIGHT on my WEBSHOTS taken in the 1960’s. I would think alot about the Picwood, Palms and Culver whenever I was sent downtown. It eased the pain!! After 1972 I had enough seniority to never return to Main or Broadway which in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s was the theatre capital of Los Angeles.
Dwodeyla: I fear if I tell too many booth stories it will be entertaining only for a while. However, soon as I reach my friend Jay Lee B. in Az. where he retired I will get the name of 2 theatres I forget where Jay and I worked on Main St. not Broadway.
When I tell you my tale of working what we called the WINE GRIND on Main St. in 1969 you will die laughing. There were 4 houses that ran from 9:30am-5am with only 4 hours off to meet legal requirements for janitorial cleanup. There was no such thing as an intermission. Furthermore, every 150 man carried a hogleg on his inside belt. I am not BSing you…A HOGLEG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jay and I worked from midnite until closing at 5am.
Do any of you former theatre employees remember something that has never been mentioned on this site not even by WILLIAM who is very knowledgeable. That was an issue where FILM BOOKERS made a serious oversight. A film would be booked into 2 theatres in the same area but only one print was available?????? I do!! It was a mad house. I was in the booths when this happened twice. They staggered the presentations by about 30 minutes and someone drove like hell with 2 reels from 1 theatre to the second. Then the final 3 reels would be driven over about 45 minutes later. This is basing most films on 5 reels. Rarely did reels 3,4, and 5 get to the second house on time and after reel 2 I played music and the manager who was a nervous wreck would make an announcement over the mike in my booth and the audience would start booing!!
MEMBERS: MY NEW MODIFIED THEATRE ALBUM IS AT:
http://community.webshots.com/user/arpichat
HOPE YOU LIKE THE CHOICES……….
Hi Everyone: First message is for DWODEYLA. I am changing the order and adding some new pics to the old. They should ALL be up by tomorrow. NOW, FOR ALL PICWOOD FANS…William, Lisa, Meryl and Meridith!!!! I told you I was having trouble finding the picture of the PICWOOD when it closed with VOLUNTEERS. I know why! Up until 1991 when I retired from Local 150 I did not use a 35mm camera. All 12 books I kept looking thru were 35mm albums. I have 4 other albums starting with shots I took as a kid with with my Kodak Brownie and 3 other cameras but none were 35mm. So, I went to look in the 4 albums with non-35 mm and YES!!! I FOUND THE PICWOOD THEATRE WITH VOLUNTEERS ON THE MARQUEE!! Also, the picture clearly shows the old Picwood Bowl. I am posting it ASAP on my Webshots site. I did not let anyone down with my PICWOOD PROMISE. How could Hopalong Cassidy(hoppy) ever make a mistake???
Hi Everyone: First message is for DWODEYLA. I am changing the order and adding some new pics to the old. They should ALL be up by tomorrow. NOW, FOR ALL PICWOOD FANS…William, Lisa, Meryl and Meridith!!!! I told you I was having trouble finding the picture of the PICWOOD when it closed with VOLUNTEERS. I know why! Up until 1991 when I retired from Local 150 I did not use a 35mm camera. All 12 books I kept looking thru were 35mm albums. I have 4 other albums starting with shots I took as a kid with with my Kodak Brownie and 3 other cameras but none were 35mm. So, I went to look in the 4 albums with non-35 mm and YES!!! I FOUND THE PICWOOD THEATRE WITH VOLUNTEERS ON THE MARQUEE!! Also, the picture clearly shows the old Picwood Bowl. I am posting it ASAP on my Webshots site. I did not let anyone down with my PICWOOD PROMISE. How could Hopalong Cassidy(hoppy) ever make a mistake???
HOW DO I ERASE A MESSAGE I HAVE WRITTEN OR RECEIVED????
Lisa: I will share a story. When I moved to the valley in 1968 the HIPPY movement was in full swing. There was a famous Catholic Girls School on Laurel Cyn. south ogf Ventura Bl. 1 or 2 blocks. It was Corvallis. The morality of the times was not conducive or inducive to making a girl feel she wanted to go on and become a Sister. The school had enrollment and other problems. However, the head of Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks contacted the head mistress at Corvallis and offered to create a co-ed situation between the 2 schools. This way Corvallis could have survived and both schools would have benefitted from both sexes going to school together. However, the Head Mistress flatly refused and Corvallis after many successful years was closed.