News-View / New-View / Pussycat / Ritz Theatre

6656 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028  | map |

Opening: May 2, 1940 as a newsreel theatre called the News-View. After they started running features the "s" came down and was replaced by a longer hyphen in the middle becoming the New-View. In this mid-April 1970 photo we're looking west from Cherokee. 

On the end panel: "John Wayne." The front: "Best Actor JOHN WAYNE True Grit" and "The 5TERILE CUCKOO." It appears that they were short an "S." Thanks to Kimberly Shih for getting the bottom line and to Bruce Kimmel for figuring out the top half of the bill and dating the image. And, of course, thanks to Sean Ault for sharing this one from his collection. It's also been seen on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page from Richard Wojcik and a re-post by Alison Martino. 

Architects: Norstrom & Anderson were the architects in 1940, Harry Wright was the contractor. The theatre building as well as the deco four-story Hollywood Center Building at the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Cherokee Ave. date from 1930. The building permit for conversion of what had been retail space into a newsreel theatre was issued February 1, 1940. An earlier tenant had been a branch store of the Albert Sheets Mission Candy Co. They're listed in the 1936 and 1939 city directories at 6656.

Seating: 386 originally

 

 

A May 2, 1940 opening ad. It's unknown who the operators were at the time of the opening. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating the ad. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org 

There was a takeover later in May 1940. It became part of a newsreel chain called Tele-View. Or at least it aspired to be a chain. The owner, Arthur Klein, had opened his first newsreel house down the street in November 1938. Under different management that one later became the Hitching Post.

 

A May 29, 1940 ad showing the two newsreel houses under the same management. And having at least part of the program the same at both theatres. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for the research.

 

A June 1940 ad from the Hollywood Citizen-News. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles.

 

 

A June 8, 1940 Citizen-News ad located by Ken McIntyre.  

 

A June 18, 1940 ad located by Ken. By late 1940 the Tele-View, at Hollywood and Vine, had stopped running newsreels and was showing foreign films and the theatre was being advertised as the Tele-View Revival. Soon it was running westerns as the Hitching Post.

 

In the 1942 city directory this one at 6656 Hollywood Blvd. is listed simply as the Newsreel Theatre.

 

 

A December 1947 Hollywood Citizen-News ad located by Ken McIntyre for a thread about the theatre for the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. 

 

 

More fights on January 1948. It's another Citizen-News ad located by Ken McIntyre. 

 

 

A January 5, 1949 ad spotted by Ken McIntyre. 

A January 1949 ad for the Hollywood Newsreel and the other ABC Theatres in the Hollywood Citizen-News. In addition to the Hollywood Hitching Post (the former Tele-View) and the Beverly Canon (formerly called the Hitching Post) they also had the Hitching Post in Santa Monica, rebranded as the Riviera when its western days were over. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the ad. He notes that the "Winter Blitz Hits West" had meant snow in downtown Los Angeles. Mauna Loa's activity had begun January 6.

In this November 11, 1950 L.A. Times ad calling it Hollywood's Newsreel Theatre helped to distinguish it from the Newsreel downtown, a theatre better known as the Tower. Between 1938 and 1949 the Globe Theatre had been known as the Newsreel.

A 1951 Times ad spotted by Ken McIntyre. 

 

 

By 1954 they were running features but still advertising as the Newsreel. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding this listing. "The Limping Man" was a December 1953 release with Lloyd Bridges. It's unknown if "Stage Door" was the 1937 Katherine Hepburn feature or something else.

 

The News-View name stayed on the building least until the mid 50s. The "s" in "News" was later removed and the hyphen extended to become New-View. The ads frequently lacked the hyphen. John Gordon Huber notes that in 1968 it was where "Bonnie and Clyde" played exclusively during its sub-run. The theatre did so much business it justified adding a snack bar, when before they only had vending machines in the lobby. The film had originally opened across the street at the Vogue Theatre. Pacific Theatres was running the house in the 60s and early 70s.

 

"New everything at Pacific's New New New View Theatre." Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating this December 16, 1969 ad celebrating a remodel.  

Thanks to Ken McIntyre for spotting this early 1970 Times ad for the "All-New Theatre."

There was occasional soft core porn film in the early 70s. One booking featured winners from the 1973 New York X-Rated Film Festival. At other times it played decent double features or triple feature action bills. Pacific was running it into mid-November 1974 at which time it started running serious porno as an independent operation. That only lasted a couple weeks.

By the end of November 1974 it had become part of the Pussycat chain but still was called the New-View. It didn't get renamed the Pussycat Theatre until the following spring. 

 

 

Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding us some Pussycat matches. It's an image he included in a Facebook thread about various theatres of the chain on Ken's Movie Page. 

 

The permit to install new signage and remodel the facade was issued in March 1975. The marquee installed at that time is the one currently on the building, later upgraded with LED panels. You can still see the repurposed frame for the oval Pussycat signage atop the facade. The big booking as the Pussycat was "Deep Throat" and "Devil in Miss Jones" -- running about 10 years. 

 

From August 1977 until January 1978 it had Brendan Mullen's infamous punk club, Masque, in the basement of the theatre and the adjoining office building at Hollywood and Cherokee. See "Masque," an 11 minute video made in 2012 by Mike Plante that's on Vimeo. Esotouric had located it for a Facebook post that was spotted by Terrence Butcher. The club didn't last longer because it was closed by the Fire Marshal. Brendan takes on a basement tour in the 1986 film "X: The Unheard Music." He died in 2009.

 

In June 1987 it became the Ritz and was booked as a revival theatre under the management of Johnny Legend and Eric Caidin. Eric was the proprietor of Hollywood Book and Poster. Thanks to the site Ad Sausage for this opening ad that had appeared in the L.A. Free Press. 

Closing: The end as a regular film house was in 1991. In 1992 Caiden and Legend would take over the X Theatre for a brief run, calling it the Hawaiian Gardens Theatre.

 

This building became a church in 1992. They were gone by the end of 2015. Work on the marquee and facade for renovations to turn it into a hologram theatre began in December 2015. The signage was all redone by mid-2016 and for a year and a half the flashy marquee was advertising shows as "coming soon" that never seemed arrive due to work stopping on the project. Construction resumed in the fall of 2017. On a post about the theatre on the Hollywood's Garden of Allah Novels Facebook page Al Teman commented: 

 

"I was the contractor for the hologram remodel of the theater. Upon demo, I found these giant amazing murals of California’s hills painted under an old layer of plaster. That led to more discoveries; one of them was the building was originally a bowling alley!"

First News Junkies had an April 2016 story that had a bit of history and mentioned the hologram theatre project. Marielle Wakim had a September 2017 story for LA Magazine, "After months of delays..."

Alki David, the man behind the hologram venture, was profiled in "Meet the man determined to make celebrity holograms a major Hollywood draw," an October 9, 2017 L.A. Times article by Gerrick Kennedy. "This is the future of live entertainment," says David. "Imagine being Beyoncé and being able to play in front of 200,000 seats from one location. This is really a major paradigm shift in entertainment." David is also associated with Film On, the TV streaming company that has a presence on the signage. In the article Kennedy noted:

"Ironically, none of the companies [doing holographic entertainment] produce true holograms — that would be far too expensive. Hologram USA employs a derivation of a 19th century technique called Pepper’s Ghost, which projects a reflection of an image through angled glass (or in the company’s case, a flexible translucent foil) resulting in a two-dimensional image appearing 3-D. Universal Studios employs the same technology for its 'Fast & Furious' attraction. For $20 a ticket, guests will see entertainers like Holiday, Jackie Wilson and Bernie Mac resurrected by the same technology that brought Tupac Shakur to Coachella in 2012 and saw Michael Jackson moonwalk at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards."

The theatre finally reopened in November 2017 as the Hologram USA Theater featuring pseudo-holographic presentations of famous entertainers. The initial shows were "Billie Holiday Alive" and the "Sexy Hollywood Freakshow." Typical running times of the shows were about 30 minutes each. The admission price was $29.95 with a buy one, get one free offer. It closed in December 2018.

In early 2019 the theatre space became a marijuana smoking lounge operated in conjunction with a SwissX store in the building just east of the theatre. SwissX was another of Alki David's companies. In late 2019 that closed up. Tales of Alki David's sexual misdeeds were chronicled in Stacy Perman's October 15, 2019 Times story "Meet Alki David..."  Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting the Times stories. 

 

Toward the end of February 2020, David's workers were stripping the place with seats and other equipment getting removed. The light fixtures and draperies were being offered for sale. 

 

Status: In September 2021 WOW Productions, LLC was applying for a liquor license at the theatre. Their project was anticipating liquor sales from 10 am until 2 am and asking for a conditional use permit for live entertainment from 5 pm onward. The World of Wonder people produce drag shows. As of 2023 the theatre was still vacant.

Interior views:

Thanks to Christopher Crouch for this lobby photo taken while the theatre was a church. It appears on the the Cinema Treasures page on the Ritz.

A peek into the not quite finished lobby after renovations. Photo: Bill Counter - December 2017

An auditorium view during the theatre's days as a church. Thanks to contributor Socal09 on Cinema Treasures for the photo.

A look at the stripped out auditorium during the hologram theatre renovations. It's an Allen J. Schaben photo for the L.A. Times that appeared with their October 9, 2017 article, "Meet the man..." 

 

 

Things were happening again in 2023 after a long dormant period as revealed via this peek in the door. Photo: Bill Counter - September 25 

More exterior views: 

 

c.1940 - It's an image from Marc Wanamaker's Bison Archives that appears on page 64 of Kathy Kikkert's wonderful 2023 Angel City Press book "Hollywood Signs: The Golden Age of Glittering Graphics and Glowing Neon." Also see a less cropped but watermarked version of this shot that was once on eBay.

 

 

 

1946 - A view east toward Cherokee by Bob Plunkett. On the right the News-View marquee can be seen (barely) through the trees. They were running footage from some wedding and from a USC vs. UCLA game. The negative for this postcard is in the Huntington Library collection. 

 

c.1947 - Look at that great banner underneath the News-View's readerboard: "One Hour Show -- SPEND A Worthwhile HOUR." Jack Tillmany notes that "Design For Death" got the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the March 1948 Academy Awards. Note the "Tele-View" signage that has appeared atop the marquee. That chain had briefly operated the theatre that was later to be known as the Hitching Post as a newsreel house.

 

It's a photo from Marc Wanamaker's Bison Archives collection on the site Hollywood Historic Photos. First News Junkies ran it with an April 2016 story about the theatre's proposed new life as a venue for viewing concert holograms. It's also been seen in a cropped (and non-watermarked) version as a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. A smaller version also appeared on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles.

1951 - A Life Magazine photo by Ralph Crane looking east on Hollywood Blvd. The theatre is on the far right. We see the yellow "Newsreels" neon above the west readerboard and a squished look at the white News-View neon on the facade. The image can be seen on the site Mutual Art. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting this version of the shot when it was posted on Reddit by Frecklefactor. It's on Google/Life Images and Tourmaline also featured it earlier on Noirish Los Angeles post #35733.

1951 - A detail from the Life photo. David Kilderry calls our attention to the theatre's vertical sign with "Bulova Watch Time" on top and "Television News Reel Theatre" below. Evidently the Bulova sign went up around 1947 and was gone by 1959.

1951 - There's also this slightly different take by Ralph Crane for Life -- with banners across the street. It's in the Google/ Life Photos collection.

1951 - Another Life photo, this time looking west. Can you find the News-View/Ritz in the forest of neon this side of the Egyptian's green tower? Bill Gabel has a slightly different version as a post for the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. You can also find it on Tourmaline's Noirish Los Angeles post #35733.

1951 - A view of the theatre from Magnum Photos. Magnum locates it in New York City, but we know it belongs in Hollywood. It's a photo by Elliott Erwitt and was located in the archive by Cinema Treasures researcher Joe Vogel.

1951 - "Welcome Santa - Merry Xmas To All" says the marquee in this Christmas parade view of the News-View behind the Marymount College float. It's a Los Angeles Daily News photo in the collection of the UCLA Library. Note the bottom of the theatre's vertical sign at the top of the image with "Television Theatre" visible. 

 

 

1951 - A closer look at the Marymount float. This one is from the Historic Hollywood Photographs collection, one of 101 Christmas photos appearing on their website. They gave this one a 1956 date. 

 

See a 47 second newsreel clip of floats passing the News-View during the 1951 parade in a post on the Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook page.

1952 - A look east on busy Hollywood Blvd. on November 28. In this great view located by Ken McIntyre for the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles, you can see the theatre's readerboard (then saying "Newsreels" atop it) just above the second car on the right. The towers in the distance are the Warner. The theatre marquee on the extreme left is the Vogue.

The photo also appears on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page, the SoCal Historic Architecture private group and in Noirish L.A. post #10750. James J. Chun also did a repost on Photos of LA. Glen Norman comments: "The street lights we see were installed in 1948. The trees themselves are also post-war--debuting in 1945. They are an update of the design that first appeared in the early 1930s."

c.1955 - A lovely view west from the Richard Wojcik collection appearing on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. On the left just past the intersection is the New-View with the green tower of the Egyptian beyond in the distance. On the right, note the tower of the Vogue. Richard notes: "No date, but streetcar service ended in 1954---because their tracks have been removed and the street looks recently paved, I think this is circa-1955."

 

The Hollywood Center Building, the four-story structure on the left, was a 1930 design by S. Tilden Norton and F.H. Wallis. It's listed in city directories starting in 1931 with the entrance to the upstairs floors at 1655 Cherokee Ave. It's sometimes called the Hirshfield Building, after the apparel store that initially had the corner retail space. It's also been called the Shane Building after Shane & Regar, a later retail tenant. It's listed as a contributing structure of the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District on the National Register. It's now occupied by the media firm World of Wonder.

1957 - "7 Academy Award Nominations" - It's March and the New-View was running "The Bad Seed," a September 1956 release with Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Eileen Heckart and Henry Jones. The second feature was "Somebody Up There Likes Me Me" with Paul Newman, Pier Angeli and Ms. Heckart. Down the street the Warner was in the middle of an 81 week run of "Cinerama Holiday." Bruce Kimmel notes: "This double bill played for a week beginning on March 13. Great photo. The Hofbrau is where McGoo's would eventually be."

Note the Larry Edmunds Cinema Bookshop on the far right. It's a screenshot from Getty Images footage that's included in Rick Prelinger's "Lost Landscapes of Los Angeles - 2016," an hour and twenty minutes of wonderful images from various sources that was originally presented in a program at the Los Angeles Public Library. Also see "Lost Landscapes of Los Angeles - 2019." This second installment was presented at the Library by the organization Photo Friends as part of the series L.A. in Focus. Both compilations are on Vimeo.

A one minute clip of the Getty footage that includes this shot is on YouTube from Alison Martino as "Hollywood Blvd. 1956, Part 3." Some of the same footage is included in a four minute compilation on YouTube by Craiglaca1 as "Hollywood Blvd. 1957."

 

1957/58 - "April Love" and "Three Faces of Eve" playing at the New-View. On the right the Vogue has "Peyton Place." It's a photo by Frank J. Thomas in the Frank J. Thomas Archives. It's on Flickr from the Manitoba Museum of Finds Art. Thanks to Martin Pal for finding the photo to include with other Hollywood Christmas views in his Noirish Los Angeles post #50025. 

 

1959 - A look west with "Some Like It Hot" and "The Devil's Disciple" at the New-View. "Some Like It Hot" had played first run at the Chinese, an eleven week engagement beginning April 8. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for finding the image on eBay for his Noirish post #55445. Also see a wider version of the image. 

 

 

1962 - A Pat Brown campaign vehicle passes the New-View. Thanks to Scott Collette for locating this photo Ralph Crane took for Life. Scott is the curator of the Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook page. He's also on Instagram. Brown, the incumbent, trounced his opponent. In the November 7 concession speech Dick Nixon told the press: "You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."

 

 

1963 - A photo by Angelo Cozzi  appearing on the Getty Images site. Thanks to Torbjörn Eriksson for locating it for a post on the Southern California Nostalgia Facebook page. Bruce Kimmel notes that this shot was taken in early March.

 

 

1964 - Running "The New Interns" and "Looking For Love." Thanks to Sun Cloud for locating the photo on eBay for a post on the Lost Angeles Facebook group.  

1964 - A fine look east in August from Richard Wojcik on Vintage Los Angeles. The New-View is in the center, between the two light posts. Over on the left the Vogue is running "A Shot in the Dark."  Thanks, Richard!

1966 - A sliver of the theatre is on the left. Thanks to Bill Gabel for finding the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. Bruce Kimmel comments: "Now playing at the New-View, Jeanne Moreau in 'Mademoiselle,' un film de Tony Richardson. Not sure what's below that. Aha, got it - I'm GOOD! - 'Up to His Ears,' de Broca's follow-up to 'That Man from Rio,' also with Belmondo - original title was 'Chinese Adventures in China.' Nowhere near as fun as 'Rio.'"

Ray Lopez adds: "Larry Edmunds was quite a character. In 1930 he got a job as a delivery/stock person for Stanley Rose's book store on Vine St.. Stanley Rose was a small time mobster/bootlegger. Larry delivered booze and pornography to the studios, two of Stanley's lucrative businesses. Larry got to know a lot of studio secretaries and bedded most of them. In 1938 Larry and Milt Luboviski opened Larry Edmunds Book Shop. Luboviski recalled walking into the backroom, finding Larry and a Hollywood starlet in an intimate encounter. Unfortunately booze got the worst of Larry. He tried drying out for about a year. But one day when he didn't show up for work Luboviski went to his apartment and found him head first in his oven. He was dead."

1969 - A big line for "The Gay Deceivers," a July release. Thanks to Alison Martino for posting the photo on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. It was included with an number of photos and a discussion of Quentin Tarantino's returning the theatre to its Pussycat look for his 2019 film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." 

 

 

1971 - A Gay protest march passes in front of the theatre during the run of "The Boys in the Band." The co-feature, "The Gay Deceivers," was a film they had played in 1969. It's a shot from footage in "Cured," episode 1 of season 23 of the PBS program "Independent Lens." Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting the theatre and getting the screenshot. "Boys in the Band" had played first-run at the National in Westwood, the theatre's inaugural film in March 1970.
 

1972 - The superb McAvoy/Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection includes this photo of the New-View playing "The Last Picture Show," an October 1971 release, along with and "Easy Rider," from 1969 It's their #T-039-1. The collection also includes four views of the theatre as the Pussycat. View the site's various galleries for hundreds of photos of other theatres. Note the Christmas tree over on the left. 

 

1972 - Another Christmas season shot with the theatre running "Super Fly," an August 1972 release, along with "Skin Game," out in September 1971. Thanks to the Historic Hollywood Photographs collection for the image. It's their #HB-418, included as one of 226 photos in their gallery Hollywood Boulevard 1941-1990. 

 

 

1973 - "Child's Play" and "Lady Sings the Blues." Thanks to Alison Martino for sharing this photo from her collection on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page.  Bruce Kimmel commented: "This double bill opened on May 9. The Boulevard was in the throes of going to hell."

 

 

1974 - Looking east across Las Palmas with the New-View running "Where the Lilies Bloom" and "Jeremy," a bill that Bruce Kimmel notes had opened June 12. It's a photo by Roy Hankey in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. This nicely cleaned up version appeared on the Library's Photo Collection Facebook page. Clint Eastwood is seen advertised on a bit of the Egyptian's marquee for the May release "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot." Bruce comments that at this point it was in its 4th week.

 

 

1974 - Here they were running sexploitation films but the theatre hadn't yet been renamed the Pussycat. Thanks to Richard Wojcik for sharing the photo on the Mid Century Modern Facebook page. Bruce Kimmel comments: "This was the week of June 26. 'Swedish Wildcats' was a retitled film from 1972 directed by Joe Sarno - Diana Dors was in it, of all people." David Kilderry notes that the film was also known as "Every Afternoon."

c.1976 - A photo taken early in the multi-year run of "Deep Throat" after the theatre was renamed the Pussycat. It appears in Chapter 4 of Jay Allen Sanford's history of the chain: "Pussycat Theaters: The Inside Story." This rambling book-length history is on blogspot in two sections: Chapter 1 and Chapters 2 to 15. It first appeared in the San Diego Reader in 2010 -- but their online version is now missing all its photos.  

1977 - A shot of a young Joan Jett outside the Ritz/ Pussycat Theatre. It's a Brad Elterman photo. You can find it on Mr. Elterman's website in the "old" section. He also has it on a SOKO - Joan Jett Story page where he re-created his Hollywood shots with Ms. Jett using the french singer SOKO as a project for Vice.com. The photo also appears in Chapter 4 of Jay Allen Sanford's "Pussycat Theaters: The Inside Story."

1977 - Another view of Joan Jett in front of the theatre. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for posting this one on the LAHTF Facebook page. Another similar shot appears on the Facebook page You Know You grew up in Hollywood because.... as a post from John Alvarez .

c.1978 - A shot from the 5th year of the "Deep Throat" run. Thanks to Sean Ault for finding the photo.  The Bruce Torrence Historic Hollywood Photographs collection has a 1979 "6th Smash Year" photo of the theatre, their #T-044-1.

c.1980 - A photo of the theatre in its Pussycat Theatre days from Cezar Del Valle's collection. Cezar is a Brooklyn-based theatre historian. For other interesting material visit him on Facebook and on the Theatre Talks blog.

1982 - Thanks to Jay Allen Sanford for this shot taken in January during the final week of the "Deep Throat" run. It appears in Chapter 4 of his history of the chain: "Pussycat Theatres: A Comprehensive History of a California Dynasty." The photo had also appeared on the American Classic Images site.

 

 

 

1982 - Thanks to Paul Wight for sharing this photo on Flickr that he took in November.

1983 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this July photo.

1987 - Thanks to John A. Mozzer for this shot he took in January. It's with a few other Hollywood vacation views in his album on Jamworks/Smugmug.

1989 - "$2.00 Always 3 Big Hits." The Ritz was running "The Abyss," "When Harry Met Sally" and "Night Game." The photo was a find  by Ken McIntyre who shared it with the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

1989 - A view from the Billy Smith / Don Lewis album Vanishing Movie Theaters on Flickr.

c.1990 - The Ritz Theatre when it was running revivals. It's a Gary Graver photo. He was a filmmaker and cinematographer who took many photos of vintage theatres. More can be seen on You Tube: "Second Run - part 1" and "Second Run - part 2." Thanks to Sean Graver for use of the photo. See the Wikipedia article on Gary.

1990 - Thanks to Eric Evans for sharing this fine photo on Flickr.

 

1973 and 1992 - Ed Ruscha, perhaps better known for "Twentysix Gasoline Stations" and "Every Building on the Sunset Strip," also had a fling with Hollywood Blvd. Here we get a look at the Ritz in 1973 (as the New-View, top) and in 2002 (with Ritz signage but as a church, bottom). The video, part of the Getty initiative "Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.," has been posted by The Getty on YouTube as a five minute video, up one side of the street and then down the other.

Many of his works reside at The Getty. This one, from the "Streets of Los Angeles" archive at the Getty Research Institute, was part of their exhibition "Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future 1940-1990." Mr. Ruscha lives and works in Culver City. Also see 4,292 digitized Ruscha items from the Getty's collection: Hollywood Boulevard, 1973-2005, undated.

c.1995 - A facade view before the "I" fell off the building. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for this one -- he had it as a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

2007 - The "R tz" Theatre as a church. Photo: Bill Counter

2008 - Down the street a bit (out of sight) on the left is the Egyptian. The Vogue Theatre is on the right. Musso & Frank's is just out of the frame on the right side. It's a view from Google Maps. Head there for a current interactive version. Also see an October 2008 shot by Andreas Praefcke on Wikimedia.

2012 - A look at the facade by Ken McIntyre appearing on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

 

c.2015 - The church had left the building. It's a view by Debra Jane Seltzer that appears on a page about L.A. theatres on her immense site Roadside Architecture. She's the author of the 2018 book "Vintage Signs of America." It's on Amazon, or available from your local bookseller.

2016 - Getting ready for a new tenant in January. Note here that the "R tz Theatre" letters (the "i" had been missing for years) that were on the facade even when it was a church had just been removed. Photo: Bill Counter

2016 - The LED marquee and new signage on the facade were ready in early in the year, long before the theatre was. The Hologram USA Theater didn't get open until November 2017. Photo: Bill Counter

2016 - This was the view of the entrance in July, pretty much as it had been for over a year. The sign work was all done - and was on all the time advertising a show in an unfinished theatre. Work finally resumed in the fall of 2017. Photo: Bill Counter

2017 - The theatre's entrance in December after reopening as a hologram theatre. Photo: Bill Counter 

2018 - Around the back. We're looking in from Cherokee Ave. past the rear of the four-story building on the corner toward the back of the theatre. Photo: Bill Counter 

2018 - Looking east toward Cherokee. Note the bricked-in windows from the building's life before its conversion to a theatre. The steps at the right are from the theatre's house left exit. Photo: Bill Counter

 

 

2018 - The theatre in July, taking a break from the Hologram show business, dressed for Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood." Many thanks to Gary Vail for sharing his great photo in a post on the Lost Angeles Facebook page. Also see the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for more shots taken during the prep plus views from the finished film.

2019 - Still advertising a Billie Holiday hologram show on the marquee in January but no shows to see. They had closed the operation in December 2018. Photo: Bill Counter

2019 - An April view of the theatre as a SwissX marijuana smoking lounge. Photo: Bill Counter

2019 - An April view from across the street. The lamps were gradually burning out on the signage installed for the hologram theatre. The crepe place in the theatre's east storefront (years earlier an Orange Julius) is still in business. The SwissX pot store is in the west storefront of the building to the left of the theatre. The lounge and the store both closed in late 2019. Photo: Bill Counter

2020 - Police in the street on June 2 to meet crowds protesting police brutality and racial inequality.  Thanks to Brian Donnelly for his photo. See his album of 23 photos on Facebook: "Say their names..." and an additional 12 photos in a post headed "Today was...indescribable." Thanks, Brian! 

 

 

 

2021 - The new basic black look now that the Film On TV Hologram signage has been removed. Photo: Bill Counter 

 

2022 - Another redecoration: the exciting beige result. Inside? Well, still nothing happening. Photo: Bill Counter - July 20 

 

 

2024 - A look toward the boxoffice of the still-dormant theatre. Photo: Bill Counter - February 23

 

 

2024 - A fine collection of mirror balls. Photo: Bill Counter - February 23

 

The News-View / New-View / Pussycat in the Movies:  

 

The News-View appears in TV coverage of the the Hollywood Christmas parade seen about 48 minutes into "Kathy O'" (Universal-International, 1958). Kathy, seen on the left, is a bratty child star played by Patty McCormack. The film also stars Dan Duryea as a studio PR guy and Jan Sterling as Dan's ex-wife, in town to do a story about the kid. Jack Sher directed. The cinematography was by Arthur E. Arling. It's a process shot using older parade footage. The theatre had become the "New-View" several years before the film was done.

A look at the New-View during a dream sequence in Paul Mazursky's "Alex in Wonderland" (MGM, 1970).  The carnage on Hollywood Blvd. is part of film director Donald Sutherland's troubled ruminations about what his next project should be. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for twenty more shots from the film including views of the Vogue, Loew's/El Capitan and the Los Angeles Theatre.

The New-View is across the street in this shot near the end of Tom Hanson's unappetizing film "The Zodiac Killer" (Audubon Films, 1971). See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the Hollywood Theatre and the Warner/Pacific Cinerama.

 

 

We get a couple of quick blurry looks at the New-View when Paul Le Mat and Dianne Hull take a drive on Hollywood Boulevard in "Aloha, Bobby and Rose" (Columbia Pictures, 1975). The film also features Tim McIntyre, Leigh French, Noble Willingham, Martine Bartlett and Robert Carradine. Floyd Mutrux directed. William A. Fraker did the cinematography. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the Pantages, Loew's, Pix, Egyptian and Las Palmas theatres. 

 

 

Karen Lamm is playing a 17 year old who runs away from a Montana cattle ranch to find a different life in "Trackdown" (United Artists, 1976). Of course there's trouble. That's the Pussycat down in the next block with its newly redone marquee. Richard T. Heffron directed the film which also features James Mitchum, Cathy Lee Crosby and Anne Archer. Gene Polito was the cinematographer. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for views of the Fox, Holly, Hollywood Pacific, Vogue and Palace theatres.

We get a nice view west toward the Pussycat and Egyptian theatres near the beginning of "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" (Universal, 1980). The film was directed by Tommy Chong. Thanks to Jonathan Raines for spotting the theatres. We also see the Pussycat later for a night view as the boys take a quick U-turn on Hollywood Blvd. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the Ivar and El Capitan theatres.  

 

 

Charles Bronson is looking for certain lowlifes outside the Pussycat in Michael Winner's "Death Wish II" (Filmways, 1982). It also stars Jill Ireland and Vincent Gardenia. Thomas Del Ruth and Richard H. Kline did the cinematography. At the time the Pussycat was running "Deep Throat" and "The Devil in Miss Jones." See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the El Capitan, Vogue and Chinese theatres from the film. 

 

 

 

A look across toward the Pussycat in "Vice Squad" (Avco Embassy, 1982). Season Hubley is a single mom working as a prostitute who reluctantly becomes a police informant. The film also features Gary Swanson, Wings Hauser, Pepe Serna, Beverly Todd, Nina Blackwood and Sudana Bobatoon. Gary Sherman directed. The cinematography was by John Alcott. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the Vogue, Cinema Theatre, Tiffany, Fox, Hollywood Pacific and Pix from the film. 

 

 

Nicolas Cage takes Deborah Foreman across the hill to cruise the sights of Sunset Blvd. and Hollywood in Martha Coolidge's "Valley Girl" (Atlantic Releasing, 1983). Also featured are Cameron Dye, Heidi Holicker, Elizabeth Daily, Michael Bowen, Michelle Meyrink, Colleen Camp and Frederic Forrest. The cinematography was by Frederick Elmes. On the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post see another shot of the Pussycat plus views of the Chinese, the Chinese Twin, the El Capitan, the Vogue, Tiffany and the Sherman in Sherman Oaks.   

 

 

The basement areas that had been the punk club Masque are seen in "X: The Unheard Music" (Skouras Pictures, 1986), W.T. Morgan's documentary about the L.A. punk band X. We go around to the alley and take a walk down the stairs with Brendan Mullen, the former proprietor. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for more shots. 

Mel Gibson comes out of a nightclub and ends up under the Pussycat marquee for some mayhem near the end of Richard Donner's "Lethal Weapon" (Warner Bros., 1987). The film also stars Danny Glover. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for more shots of Hollywood chaos with several more views of the Pussycat as well as the Vogue across the street. There's also a shot of the Wiltern from earlier in the film. 

 

 

It's a dystopian nightmare in New York City just before Y2K in Kathryn Bigelow's "Strange Days" (20th Century Fox, 1995). Ralph Fiennes is driving around and we go by the theatre at least three times. He's a street hustler who peddles "clips," videos that feel real when wearing a special headset. He and Juliette Lewis stumble upon what looks like a police death squad after a friend is executed. Also featured are Angela Bassett, Tom Sizemore, Vincent D'Onofrio, Brigitte Bako and Josef Sommer. The cinematography was by Matthew F. Leonetti. Thanks to Sean Ault for the data on this one. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for views of the Los Angeles and Palace Theatres.

Shepard Fairey does his bit to the old Pussycat oval atop the Ritz Theatre in Banksy's "Exit Through the Gift Shop" (Producers Distribution Agency, 2010).

The theatre's facade was returned to its look in the Pussycat Theatre days for Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood" (Sony, 2019). The film stars Leo DiCaprio and his friend Brad Pitt as an actor and stuntman trying to find work in the changing Hollywood of 1969. Actually the theatre was still running as the New View in 1969. It wasn't the Pussycat until 1975. See the Historic L.A.Theatres in Movies pages for several hundred shots related to the shoot on the block as well as views of the Pantages, Vine, Grauman's Chinese, Cinerama Dome, Bruin and Fox Westwood Village theatres.

We get a fine drive-by in c.1976 footage used for "The Wonderland Massacre & the Secret History of Hollywood" (MGM+, 2024). Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for getting screenshots. The four-part series, based on a podcast by Michael Connelly, features Ian S. Peterson, Trevon Rubbins and Daryl Terry. Alison Ellwood directed. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for two more Pussycat shots plus views of the Vogue Theatre and the Paradise in Westchester.

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page for lots of discussion. The Cinema Tour page has additional exterior views of the theatre.

 

See "Masque," an 11 minute video made in 2012 by Mike Plante about the famous punk club in the basement. It's on Vimeo. Esotouric had located it for a Facebook post that was spotted by Terrence Butcher. The Masque was open from August 18, 1977 until January 17, 1978 when it was closed by the Fire Marshal. The proprietor was Brendan Mullen, who died in 2009. He takes on a basement tour in the 1986 film "X: The Unheard Music."

The other Ritz: The perhaps more famous one was the Fox Ritz on Wilshire Blvd. It was gone by the time this one started using the Ritz name.

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