4473 Sunset Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90027 | map |
The Vista Theatre pages: history + exterior views | lobby | auditorium | backstage | booth + offices | east storefront: pam's coffy | west storefront - cinema club |
A 70mm print of "Napoleon" ready to run. It was the theatre's first 70mm engagement. The original booth was completely gutted during Quentin
Tarantino's 2022-2023 renovation project. The front wall was pushed
forward, doubling the booth's size. Photo: Bill Counter - November 25, 2023
Film projectors: 2 Norelco AAII 35/70s, part of a batch acquired by Boston Light and Sound for 2015 runs of Quentin Tarantino's film "Hateful Eight." They have variable frequency drives that allow speeds between 16 and 30 frames per second. The #1 machine, seen above, is serial #2158 on a base with no
nameplate. The #2 is #2085 on a North American Philips catalog #3070
base, serial #6382. These are later model AAIIs with only one motor.
Lamps: Strong Ultra 80 using 4Kw lamps.
Optical soundheads: They're Kinoton retrofit units with both red LED analog optical as well as Dolby Digital capability.
DTS: The removable pickups for 35 and 70 are positioned inside the heads, in the upper left corner. The processor is a DTS
XD10 unit.
Mag: Ready for 4 and 6 channel using custom Boston Light & Sound preamps mounted on the front wall.
Film sound processing: Dolby CP650 processor plus three Dolby Model 363 frames, each with two
Cat 300 SR/A modules for six channels of noise reduction. A QSC Q-SYS control system is used with touch screen control panels on the front wall and at the amp racks.
Stage channels: The installation includes 5 full-range channels on stage using QSC speakers. See the backstage page for details.
Amps: All QSC Network amps. Those for the stage channels are backstage. In the booth racks there are five 4Kw 8 channel QSC CX-Q 4K8 network amplifiers for the surrounds and other areas including the restrooms.
Miscellaneous: There's a four channel Shure ULXD4Q digital wireless mic receiver and a Tascam CD player.
Platter: Christie Autowind 3. All archival prints are run reel-to-reel.
Digital projector: It's a Sony SRX-R320 that had been in use at the theatre before the renovation.
Screen size: 15' x 36' with adjustable side masking. The top and bottom are not moveable.
Installation: It was a design by Boston Light and Sound. Sean McKinnon, the department
manager of the firm's Cinema Installation & Production Services
division, supervised the Vista installation. Paul D. Smith was brought in toward the end of the project to do additional design and installation work. Paul was also the designer for the micro-cinema in the west storefront.
A look across to machine #1. Photo: Bill Counter - November 2023
The DTS head threaded with "Napoleon." Photo: Bill Counter - November 2023
Paul
D. Smith and Christian, the Vista's head operator. Among Paul's jobs
during the installation was designing the backwall layout. The morning
of the photo he had been in to time the platter system. Photo: Bill
Counter - November 2023
Drawers for lenses, 35/70 conversion parts, miscellaneous equipment. Photo: Bill Counter - November 2023
A
look toward the left door. Christian is standing next to the Sony
digital machine. It'll sometimes be used as a backup. While they weren't
running trailers ahead of "Napoleon," another possible use may be
running trailers digitally before future 70mm shows. Photo: Bill Counter
- November 2023
The view from the back left corner. Photo: Bill Counter - November 2023
A look at the racks. Photo: Bill Counter - November 2023
Reel
storage in the hall outside the right side of the booth. The stairs
down to the house right side of the auditorium are behind us. Photo:
Bill Counter - November 2023
Vista projectionist Leah Saint Marie and the art of film projection got some nice press in "A film projectionist once more, now in L.A. - resurrecting a dying craft,"
the December 31, 2023 L.A. Times article she wrote. The image with Leah
and "Napoleon" on the platter didn't appear in the Times but had
floated around on several sites, including the Friends of 70mm private Facebook group.
The new booth during construction:
The new front wall framed. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2022
A closer look into the project of rebuilding all the upstairs areas. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2022
Another angle on the booth expansion project. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2022
A look across after the booth was sheathed with plywood. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
Up the blue stairs during the renovations. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
1923
vintage electrical gear at the top of the stairs. The panel straight
ahead was soon removed. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
The
switchgear seen on the right in the previous shot. The top two
disconnect switches are labeled "Emergency" and "Regular." Photo: Bill
Counter - December 2022
The booth back wall. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
The new front wall of the expanded booth. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
A porthole view. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
A surviving 1923 vintage board on the right wall of the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - January 2023
Roof access in the corridor outside the right end of the booth. Photo: Bill Counter - March 2023
The front wall after drywall and paint. Photo: Bill Counter - March 2023
The left front corner. Photo: Bill Counter - March 2023
Electrical installation progressing. Photo: Bill Counter - April 2023
House light dimmers on the right wall. Photo: Bill Counter - April 2023
The amp racks have arrived. Photo: Bill Counter - May 2023
Ornament on the back wall of the booth. It was later covered up with cabinetry. Photo: Bill Counter - May 2023
More equipment had arrived. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2023
A closer look at the racks. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2023
The
top of rack #2. That's a Dolby 650 processor plus a Model 363 with two
Cat 300 SR/A modules for channels 2 and 4. Later two more 363s would be
added. That's a couple of QSC control units in the middle and a monitor
amp below. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2023.
The
frame for the Christie platter. The location here was only temporary.
Its permanent position was to be toward the back of the booth, behind
the projectors. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2023
The shrink-wrapped digital projector. It's a Sony SRX-R320. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2023
The view after seat installation. Photo: Bill Counter - June 2023
A
look after carpets and drapes were in. Well, the first version anyway.
That too-short traveler would later be replaced. Photo: Bill Counter -
July 2023
Looking
in after the Boston Light & Sound crew was back to finish the
installation. They had taken a break when they were needed all over the
country for installation and maintenance issues at theatres running the 5
perf 70mm version of "Oppenheimer." Sean McKinnon, the department
manager of the firm's Cinema Installation & Production Services
division, supervised the Vista installation. Photo: Bill Counter -
September 2023
The
Norelco 35/70 AAII machines are one pair of the many acquired by
BL&S for the 70mm runs of Quentin Tarantino's 2015 film "The Hateful
Eight." The #1 machine on the left is serial #2158 on a base with no
nameplate. The #2 is #2085 on a North American Philips catalog #3070
base, serial #6382. These are later model AAIIs with only one motor.
The earlier units had two -- one for 24 and one for 30 fps. The machine
was introduced in 1955 and first used for "Oklahoma!," the initial film
in the TODD-AO process. The first of the machines, initially called the
DP70, had bases and magazines manufactured in the U.S. by American
Optical.
A view from the back. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
A
look at machine #2. There are 35/70 mm rollers on the left side of the
magazines for feeding the film to and from the platter. The mounting
bracket for the DTS reader is the black square in the upper left. The
mag head, here without its cluster installed, is in the upper right.
Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
DTS
and mag head ready to go. Paul Smith notes that to run mag you need to
remove the DTS head so that there's room to install the pad roller
assembly for the upper sprocket. Photo: Bill Counter - November 2023
The
Kinoton retrofit optical soundhead with analog optical as well as Dolby
Digital capabilities. At the time of the photo the unit was just sort
of sitting there, not yet installed. Photo: Bill Counter - September
2023
The optical soundhead ready to go. Photo: Bill Counter - November 2023
The
control for the variable frequency drive. Sean McKinnon notes that it
can be set for anything between 16 and 30 frames per second. Photo: Bill
Counter - September 2023
Sean
working on the Strong Ultra 80 lamp. He noted that it can take up to a
7Kw bulb. For the screen size at the Vista, they'll be using a 4Kw. The
picture in 'scope format is 36' wide. Photo: Bill Counter - September
2023
Inside
the Strong lamp on the #2 machine. Note the platter, not yet assembled,
over on the left. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
A
Shure four channel ULXD4Q digital wireless mic receiver and the DTS
XD10 digital playback unit installed in rack #1. Photo: Bill Counter -
September 2023
A
patchbay added to rack #1 for external inputs or other connections. A
Tascam CD player was yet to come. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
The
surround amps and a 2200 watt uninterruptible power supply at the
bottom of rack #1.The amps are 4Kw 8 channel QSC CX-Q 4K8 "Q-SYS"
network amplifiers. The amps for the five full-range stage channels and
subs are in a rack backstage. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
Other
than a bit of dusting, the Dolby CP650 processor in rack #2 was fired
up and ready to go. Selected was format 11: "External 6-Channel." Photo:
Bill Counter - September 2023
Lower in rack #2 it's a QSC "Q-System" DCI0-H input/output unit with the readout saying "Projection Room Control - Vista Theatre - Status: OK." Below that it's a QSC Core 510i processor plus the booth monitor amp. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
Along
the back side of machine #1. Note the water hoses coming out of the
head and the circulator on the floor. Photo: Bill Counter - September
2023
Along the front wall. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
A later front wall view after the mag preamps were installed. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
The custom Boston Light & Sound mag preamps on the wall. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
One of the touch screen control stations, located on the front wall and at amp rack #2. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
On
the left across the top you can select 35mm formats with tabs to go to
70mm or digital formats. Below that are "Flat," "Scope" and "More"
masking controls. In the lower left are "High," Mid" and "Low"
houselight controls. In the lower center are mixing controls and an area
for "Messages." The black area in the upper right gives you a graphic
readout of sound levels with a "+," "-" or "Mute" below. On the far
right are buttons to select which audio channels you want to listen to
on the booth monitor, either individually or a mix of all of them.
The
rear left corner of the booth after the Autowind was assembled. The
cabinet array along the back wall was designed by Paul D. Smith to
incorporate rewinds, film storage cabinets and storage drawers for
lenses and other parts. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
Progress on the back wall work. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
The rear left corner. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
By
this time a touch screen control station had been added to amp rack #2.
The Dolby Model 363 unit that had been mounted below the Dolby CP650
processor was moved above it and joined by two additional units. Each
has two Cat 300 SR/A modules for a total of six channels
of noise reduction for the mag channels. The mag preamps are on
the front wall.
The
view in from the back. Note the wiggle in the lamp exhaust ducting to
allow clearance for the film path from the platter. By the time of this
photo some rollers had been installed down near the rectifiers to feed
film back to the platter. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
A porthole view with the screen masked for 1.75. Photo: Bill Counter - October 2023
Almost ready for a show. Photo: Bill Counter - November 8, 2023
The
big cleanup. That's installer Paul D. Smith, standing, along with
operators Alex Olivier, Alec Richker and Christian, on the far right. At
this point it was three days
until the first event: two sold-out screenings of Quentin's personal
print of "True Romance" on November 11. Note the rollers bracketed down
from the ceiling to feed film from the platter to the upper magazines.
Photo: Bill Counter - November
8, 2023
See Thomas Hauerslev's In70mm.com article "How many DP70 were made by Philips in Eindhoven, Holland?" where he lists serial numbers from 0600 to 2532. Also see the articles "DP70s in California" and "DP70s at the Vista."
The pair of Norelcos now at the Vista made an appearance in "DP70s in Massachussetts"
with this 2018 photo taken by Larry Shaw when they were among a group
of machines Boston Light and Sound had acquired for the run of "The
Hateful Eight." #2158 and #2085 are the single-motor pair toward the
center.
Views of the earlier booth:
The stairs to the booth back in the house right corner of the auditorium. Photo: Mike Hume - Historic Theatre Photography - 2018.
Outside the booth, a motor-generator set remaining from the carbon arc era. Photo: Mike Hume - 2018
A pre-digital booth photo from the Steven Rood collection. It's a Simplex XL machine with an LP Associates xenon lamphouse. The photo is on the Cinema Tour page about the Vista where there are 51 photos to browse, including many more booth views from 2005.
A view between the Simplex XL and the Sony 4K digital unit. Photo: John Hough - 2017
A look over to the left side of the booth. Photo: Mike Hume - 2018
Looking across the booth. The digital machine is hiding over there on
the far side beyond the 35mm projector. Photo: Mike Hume - 2018
The upstairs office areas:
The old electrical gear in the southeast corner upstairs. It was later removed. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
Stairs to the street on the east side of the theatre entrance. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
The view from the center office. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2022
Stairs
to the street are behind us, office areas are to the left and straight
ahead, the booth is through the doorway on the right. The blue stairs to
the back of the house are out of the frame farther to the right. Photo:
Bill Counter - December 2022
Looking
toward house right in the corridor behind the booth. That doorway on
the right goes to offices. The stairs down to the street are just
beyond. The entrance to the left end of the booth is just behind us.
Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
Old electrical gear in the office in
the southeast corner upstairs. The new service
switchboard is backstage. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
The center office with doors leading onto the marquee. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
Some of the new neon on the marquee. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2023
The Vista Theatre pages: back to top - booth + offices | history + exterior views | lobby | auditorium | backstage | east storefront - pam's coffy | west storefront - cinema club |
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