Vista Theatre: booth + upstairs offices

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 |

| Hollywood Theatres: overview and alphabetical lists | Hollywood Theatres: list by address | Westside theatres | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | Downtown | [more] Los Angeles movie palaces | L.A. Theatres: main alphabetical list | L.A. Theatres: list by address | theatre history resources | film and theatre tech resources | contact info | welcome and site navigation guide |