2040 Avenue of the Stars Century City (Los Angeles), CA 90067 |
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Opened:
April 5, 1972 as the ABC City Theatres. It was initially a twin cinema
with the two being advertised as ABC City Theatre One and ABC City
Theatre Two. "Cabaret" was the initial attraction in the big house. The 1978 photo of the theatres running "House Calls" and "Star Wars" appeared as a post by Alison Martino on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. It later popped up on Cinema Treasures.
Architect: Henry George Greene. He also did the Northpoint Theatre in San Francisco.
Seating: Initially as a twin it had 1,424 in the big house and 800 in the little one.
A story about the new theatres appearing in the November 13, 1972 issue of Boxoffice. Thanks to Moviejs1944 for locating it for a post on
Cinema Treasures.
Later it was being advertised as the
Century City 1 & 2.Thanks to Ken McIntyre for this 1973 ad. The theatres, also known as the
Century Plaza Twin and the
ABC Century
Plaza, were part of the ABC Entertainment Center with the film theatres
on the south side of a central plaza and the
Shubert Theatre on the
north.
When ABC sold their theatre circuit (what was left of
Paramount Publix) to Henry Plitt the twin became known as the Plitt
Century Plaza Theatres. The theatres were a favorite for trade
screenings. Filmex used the theatres for their festivals in the late 70s
and early 80s. Both houses were equipped for 70mm.
A poster for the 1976 edition of Filmex. Thanks to Trent Reeve for sharing this as a post on the
Lost Angeles Facebook page.
An audio upgrade in 1978 was covered in this August 7 story in Boxoffice. Thanks to Moviejs1944 for sharing it on Cinema Treasures.
The big house got an
installation of the HPS-4000 sound system in 1984, when the theatre was still run by Plitt.
In 1987 Cineplex Odeon took over and triplexed the big house. The
larger of the three chunks kept 70mm capability and the HPS-4000 sound
system. The two smaller portions ended up with 35mm HPS-4000 systems. The
800 seater (that had been the little house in the twin days) was
refitted for THX. The complex finished its days with a total of 2,000
seats and was advertised as the Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza 4.
An August 21, 1987 ad for the reopening as a 4-plex. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org.
Status:
Closed in 2003 and demolished in 2004. The Shubert Theatre on the other side of the plaza was also demolished. There's a new twin tower complex on the site.
Interior views:
A look to the rear of the big house -- when it was still big. Thanks to Bill Gabel for the photo, a contribution of his on
Cinema Treasures.
A
2003 Cineplex-Odeon era snackbar view. Thanks to Richard DuVal for
sharing this and five other views in a post on the private Facebook
group
Photos of Los Angeles.
A 2003 look at one of the auditoria. Thanks to Richard DuVal for sharing his photo.
One of the auditoria in what had been half of the upper section of the big house. Thanks to Mark Campbell for this 2003 photo, one of many appearing on the
Cinema Tour page about the theatre.
More exterior views:
1978 - Thanks to Richard Lenoir for sharing this photo he took in July as a post for the private Facebook group
Friends of 70mm. Michael Coate comments: "Century Plaza was one of a handful of venues that played 'Star Wars' during first run and continued playing it to and through the summer ‘78 re-release period. The Century Plaza's run of 'Star Wars' was 61 weeks although it included a temporary interruption during the spring of ‘78 for FILMEX."
1980 - A shot with "Gilda Live" and "The Black Stallion" at the Century Plaza. Thanks to Bill Gabel for locating the photo.
1982
- A look west toward the Intercontinental with the Century Plaza
Theatres on the left and the Shubert on the right. It's a Roy Hankey
photo in the
Los Angeles Public Library collection.
1986 - The twin running "The Color Purple" and The Mission." Thanks to Phillip Cutler for locating the shot for a post on his
Classic Hollywood/Los Angeles/SFV Facebook page.
1988 - Picketing "The Last Temptation of Christ." It's a photo by Michael Haering in the Herald Examiner collection at the
Los Angeles Public Library. The film opened August 12. Thanks to Michael Coate for sharing the image in a post about the film for the private Facebook group
Friends of 70mm. He comments:
"Note
this actually opened in 35mm; three weeks into release, 70mm
replacement prints were sent to the key bookings in Los Angeles, New
York and Toronto." See his 70mm playdates list for the film on the site In70mm.com.
2003 - A photo by Richard DuVal. It's one of six views in his post on the private Facebook
group
Photos of Los Angeles.
2003 - Another shot by Richard DuVal. Thanks, Richard!
2003 - A
look at the just-closed theatre's entrance taken by Mark Campbell.
That's part of a dead mall area underneath. The photo appears on the
Cinema Tour page about the theatres. The page has twelve more 2003 photos (including some interior views) by Mark Campbell and Scott Neff.
The Century Plaza Theatres in the Movies:
We see the theatres in the Gilbert Cates film "Oh, God! Book II" (Warner Bros., 1980). See the
Historic L.A. Theatres In Movies
post for two more shots from the film. Thanks to Jonathan Raines for
the screenshot. The film stars George Burns, Suzanne Pleshette and David
Birney.
We get this look across the entrance in Ken Russell's "Whore" (Trimark,
1991). The film stars Teresa Russell, Benjamin Mouton, Antonio
Fargas and Elizabeth Morehead. Amir Mokri was the cinematographer. This
was supposedly his answer to the glamorous life portrayed in
"Pretty Woman." Thanks to Eric Schaefer for the screenshot. See the
Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the Million Dollar, Cameo and Arcade theatres from the film.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures page for lots of discussion and a few more photos.
The website From Script To DVD has a page on the Century Plaza as part of their section on 70mm equipped theatres in Los Angeles.
See Alison Martino's 2009 Vintage Los Angeles blog post "ABC Entertainment Center."
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