Hunley / Century Theatre

5115 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027 | map |

Opened: September 22, 1921 as Hunley's Theatre by owner Otis O. Hunley. It's in the 1922 city directory. It once had a Robert-Morgan organ installed. The theatre was on the north side of the street seven blocks west of Vermont Ave.

This Charles W. Beam 1922 photo of the theatre is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It can also be seen in the Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, now owned by the McAvoy family. It's their #T-027-1.

Architects: Meyer and Holler

Seating: 750

 

This article appeared in the Hollywood Citizen on August 26, 1921. At the time the Hunleys were planning to get the place open by August 15. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating this. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org.

 

A pre-opening ad that appeared in the September 16, 1921 issue of the Hollywood Citizen. They goofed on the year. The September 22 opening attraction was Elsie Ferguson in  "Footlights" along with a Harold Lloyd short. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating the ad.

A 1922  L.A. Times item. 

Ice cream at the Hunley in 1924. "The Covered Wagon" had been on a two-a-day exclusive run at the Egyptian until December 1923.

 

Hunley bows out. It's a 1924 L.A. Times item. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating these Times items for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.  

 

 

A November 1958 ad that was located by Ken. 

It was a later a class operation as the Century Theatre under the management of Century Theatres, Statewide, Loew's and General Cinema. It ran as a first run or moveover site into late 1973. 

 

Pier Paolo Pasolini's "The Decameron" along with Ken Russels "The Devils" running in November 1973. The initial L.A. engagement of "The Decameron" had been at the Doheny Plaza in April 1972. Thanks to Paul Francis Peterson for locating the ad. He notes that this was the theatre's last regular booking.. 

The new policy as a gay porno house began November 22, 1973. 

Status: It was demolished after a fire in the late 1980's. There seem to be no interior photos. 

 

 

More exterior views: 

Running "Goldfinger" and "The Ceremony" in 1965. "Goldfinger" was a Christmas Day 1964 release. Thanks to Tom Anderson for sharing the photo on the Mid Century Modern private Facebook group.

 

Thanks to the wonderful McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection for this photo of the Century under Loew's management in 1972. It's their photo #T-007-1. In Hollywood Loew's also had the Holly Theatre and the Loew's Hollywood (aka El Capitan). Loew's exited the southern California market the year the photo was taken.

 

A 1973 Ed Ruscha shot from the collection of the Getty Research Institute. Note where the "Loew's" signage had been. Thanks to Phillip Cutler of the Classic Hollywood/Los Angeles/SFV Facebook page for locating the shot. Bruce Kimmel commented that this "Theater of Blood" and "Soylent Green" double bill played for a week beginning July 4. 

There over 70,000 Ruscha items now available for browsing. A few places to start: Sunset Boulevard, 1965-2010, undated (58,167 digitized items) | Hollywood Boulevard, 1973-2005, undated (4,292 digitized items) | Santa Monica Boulevard, 1974 (4,956 digitized items) | Melrose Avenue, 1975 (3,724 digitized items) |  Specifically about Sunset Blvd., see the Getty Research Institute's site "12 Sunsets." Their October 2020 Press Release discusses the project. 

 

1970s - The theatre as a gay porno venue. Thanks to Woody London for sharing the image on Cinema Treasures. 

 

 

The Century c.1981. Thanks to Estefan Bravo for sharing this shot in a Facebook post. That's Al Parker (aka Drew), appearing in "Flashback," a 1981 film he also directed.   

 

 

The Century Theatre in 1982. Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for the photo. 

 

 

The vacant lot in 2022. Thanks to Tom Anderson for getting the shot off Google Maps.  

 

The Century in the Movies:

 

A view east on Hollywood Blvd. toward the Century from "Tales of Ordinary Madness" (Fred Baker Films, 1983). Thanks to Eric Schaefer for spotting the theatre and getting the screenshot.

A poet played by Ben Gazzara gets sober enough to hop a bus to Los Angeles where he descends into a swirl of drugs and sexual escapades. It's a film by Marco Ferreri that had the title "Storie di ordinaria follia" for its initial theatrical release in Italy in 1981. The writing is credited to Sergio Amidei, Charles Bukowski and Mr. Ferreri. Also featured in the cast are Ornella Muti, Susan Tyrell, Tanya Lopert, Roy Brocksmith and Katya Berger. The cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli.

A review on IMDb from FertileCelluloid:

"Masterful vision of a man enslaved by sexual and alcoholic gluttony -- Spectacularly sleazy, beautiful, boisterous and sexy, this is the real Bukowski deal, a booze-fueled erotic odyssey by the adventurous Ferreri with the perfectly cast Ben Gazzara as Charles Serking (Bukowski).

"Ornella Muti, as Serking's sexual muse, is Venus incarnate and turns in a powerhouse performance as Cass, an emotionally damaged whore with a penchant for pain. The scenes of Gazzara swaggering in and out of LA's fleapit bars, apartments and hotel rooms convey a filthy, delirious ambiance that is vividly captured by Tonino Delli Colli's superb cinematography and Dante Ferretti's exquisitely oily production design. This is such an amazing looking film with a thick, steamy, anything-goes atmosphere of lust-ridden anarchy.

"Much grittier than the accomplished 'Barfly' and more watchable than 'Love Is A Dog From Hell,' the entire affair has an emotional, raw resonance that slavishly captures the Bukowski sensibility and remains consistently perverse in its singular vision of a man enslaved by alcoholic and sexual gluttony. Phillipe Sarde's score is moody and rich, as is Gazzara's breathy voice-over. A masterpiece."

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Century.

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