Los Angeles Theatres: Linwood Dunn Theatre

1313 Vine St. Los Angeles, CA 90028 | map |

The Linwood Dunn Theatre at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Pickford Film Center is a plush 286 seat theatre hosting revivals, rare archival screenings and programs related to various aspects of movie making. Photo: Bill Counter - 2007

Phone: 310-247-3600 Website: www.oscars.org | film events calendar

This facility is extremely well equipped for all standard film formats including 70mm and variable frame rate projection. See the technical information on the AMPAS Linwood Dunn Theater page. The organization's headquarters is in Beverly Hills, in a building that also houses the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.

Seating: 291

Screen size: 18' x 42'

A lovely 50s view looking north on Vine appearing on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles where it inspired many comments about the building.

The building dates from 1948. Originally this was the home of the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System's station KHJ. Later it was an ABC production facility known as the ABC Vine St. Theatre. It was home to KCET beginning in 1964. The building was the headquarters for the Aids Project Los Angeles from June 1993 until April 2001.

Architect: Claud Beelman with associate Herman Spackler. Mr. Beelman is perhaps best known for the 30s moderne facade he put on the Philharmonic Auditorium Building and the design of the Eastern Columbia Building. A recent restoration of the Pickford Film Center was done by Offenhauser/Mekeel Architects.

Interior views:

A lobby view from the AMPAS website's Linwood Dunn Theater page. The outer lobby fronting on Vine St. is through the doors on the left. The entrance to the auditorium was behind the photographer. The hall to the restrooms is at the far end, hiding behind the column.

Another angle on the lobby. The auditorium entrance is up the steps on the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2023

A look toward the front of the house from the AMPAS Linwood Dunn Theater page.

A view toward the screen when masked for scope format. Photo: Bill Counter - 2023

A look across the auditorium during a presentation. The photo appeared on the AMPAS website's page about the 2014 "Movies In Your Brain" discussion.

The rear of the house. Photo: Bill Counter - 2023

More exterior views:

A Bob Plunkett postcard view of the new building from the Ernest Marquez collection that appears on the Huntington Library website. Don Lee also owned many Cadillac dealerships -- note the 1949 model displayed in the window. Also see a 1949 postcard view from the south in the Huntington's collection.

A postcard of the building when it was the headquarters of the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System. Thanks to Alison Martino for a post of the card on the non-public Facebook group Mid Century Modern Los Angeles.

Thanks to Brian Michael McCray for this card of the building in its Mutual days. It was on Picasa along with 400+ other great cards from his collection until Google "retired" that platform.

A c.1964 view from the KCET archives. Thanks to Torbjörn Eriksson for locating the photo for a post on the Southern California Nostalgia Facebook page.

Thanks to the amazing Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection for this 60s view as the ABC Vine St. Theatre. It's their #RTV-003-1. Also see several more views taken when it was the studio for Don Lee Broadcasting. And, for more fun, you can browse through over 900 Vine St. photos in the collection.