Cinema Theatre

1122 N. Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029 | map |

Opened: May 10, 1939 with the 1937 French film "Ballerina" ("La mort du cygne") with Yvette Chauviré, Mia Slavenska and Janine Charrat. This 1939 photo is on Calisphere from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection. "Ecstasy" was a 1933 release, "Gypsy Melody" was out in 1936.

Architect: S. Charles Lee did a conversion from what had been retail space. The location is on the east side of the street just north of Santa Monica Blvd. The building evidently dates from 1937. Boxoffice reported the remodel cost as $22,000.

Seating: 800 was the number in a 1940 Boxoffice article, perhaps 700 later.

The building as it looked before S. Charles Lee went to work. The photo is on Calisphere from the UCLA S. Charles Lee Papers Collection. This photo and the one of the finished theatre at the top of the page appeared in the March 2, 1940 issue of Boxoffice with the headline "Old Store Building Becomes Modern Movie." Thanks to Tinseltoes on Cinema Treasures for finding the article. The caption read:

"The Cinema Theatre in Los Angeles was recently created from an old store building. Before and after views show how much can be done with a moderate expenditure of money. Note the marquee in which changeable posters are used; sometimes enlarged photographs and at other times price signs are used in this panel. The Cinema, seating 800, cost approximately $22,000 to remodel. It was designed by Architect S. Charles Lee of Los Angeles."

 

The initial operator of the Cinema was Louis Berkoff, a member of a family of Russian dancers. The Berkoff family was also involved in the Coronet Theatre and the Esquire.

 

The May 10, 1939 opening day ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org

An article located by Cinema Treasures researcher Joe Vogel that appeared in the June 3, 1939 issue of Boxoffice magazine noted: 

"Lou Berkoff opened his new Cinema Arts Theatre in Hollywood with ‘Ballerina,’ a French production, as his first attraction. The de luxe theatre will play foreign 'art' films."

 

 

The Cinema had a short fling running silent films in 1945. Thanks to Ranjit Sandhu for locating this February 19 Citizen-News ad for the gigantic Revival Cinemas page on his site about Buster Keaton's "The General". He notes that titles exhibited during the short experiment included "The Lonedale Operator" with Blanche Sweet, "Leading Lizzie Astray" with Fatty Arbuckle and "Police" with Charlie Chaplin.

A 1947 Times ad for the Cinema as one of the four "Academies of Proven Hits," under the same management as the "Encore Theatres." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding the ad.  

A Boxoffice item in March 1949 (located by Ken McIntyre) noted that the theatre had been taken over by Joe Moritz, who was doing an extensive remodel. From the early 50s onward it ran as an art house owned and operated by Louis Federici.

 

 

A nice July 1958 ad located by Ken McIntyre. 

 

Joe Vogel comments:

 

"The Cinema was indeed an art house in the 1950s-1960s. From 1963-1965 I was a frequent patron. The theater was unique among L.A.'s art houses at the time for not having the usual snack bar. Instead, there was a small self-service rack filled with imported candy and cigarettes, and a coffee urn. The theater had been recently remodeled, and the lobby had a very stylish, sophisticated look. I think the management was trying to create the atmosphere of a European theater. Almost all the movies shown in that period were European. 

 

"The Cinema was in every way the equal of the Los Feliz or the Nuart at that time. The last time I went to the Cinema was in the late 1960s, to see 'Don’t Look Back.' I got the feeling that the people running the place had dropped acid. The tidy, European atmosphere was gone, and the subdued colors of lobby and ticket area had been replaced with a sloppy coat of lurid, day-glo orange paint. The place went rapidly downhill after that, and was showing x-rated movies within a couple of years."

 

Care for a smoke while you were at "L.A.'s Most Exciting Theatre"? They had their own matches. Thanks to Sean Ault for locating this image.

Joe Vogel found a Boxoffice item from May 28, 1962: 

"Approximately $75,000 was expended to give the Cinema Theatre a complete facelift in time for the Pacific Coast premier of ‘Through a Glass Darkly.’ Remodeling included a new lobby, marquee, carpets, drapes, and an elaborate mezzanine art gallery."

In the early 60s Louis K. Sher's Art Theatre Guild was running the Cinema with his 23 year old nephew Mike Getz as an increasingly adventurous manager. Beginning in 1963 the theatre became a hotbed of independent film action with Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol and others represented on its screen in popular midnight shows under the moniker "New American Cinema." Local poet and critic John Fles was doing the programming. 

On March 7, 1964 the LAPD raided the theatre, arrested Getz, and seized the print of Anger's "Scorpio Rising" which had been running before the theatre's regular feature. A few months later the Cinema was the venue of the west coast premiere engagement of Warhol's "Sleep."

See the 2012 Getty Iris blog post by Jessica Portner "L.A.'s Cinematic Experiment, Then and Now" for a fine history of the era. The Cinema is also discussed as a home for experimental film beginning on page 221 in David James' 2005 book "Most Typical Avant Garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles." The author is a professor in the school of Cinema-Television at USC. The book is available from the University of California Press or Amazon. A preview is available on Google Books.

 A help wanted ad for the Cinema. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding it.  

 

 

 

A 1965 ad. Thanks to Scott Pitzer for locating it. 

 

 

An ad for a February 25, 1966 midnight show featuring the Grateful Dead, Merry Pranksters and the Stroboscopic Ballet Machine. Thanks to James JG for sharing this on Cinema Treasures. Several websites have listed this show as being at the Ivar Theatre. See an image of the cover of a CD from that night with the venue listed as the Ivar. Not true, however.

By 1969 the theatre had gone to porno. In the 1975 phone book it's listed as being operated by Topar Theatres.

Closing: The closing date as a theatre is not known but it was running into the mid-1980s.

Status: Now a church. The current church group bought the building in the 80s.

More exterior views:

1939 - A trade magazine shot with the theatre's opening attraction on the marquee. That was Mia on the Life cover. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for locating the image for a post on Cinema Treasures. 

1940s - A look north on Western from just south of Santa Monica Blvd. from the Sean Ault collection. The Cinema is up the street on the far left edge of the photo. And, no, that's not a Pacific Electric car. It's a Yellow Car from the Los Angeles Railway. Thanks, Sean! 

 

 

1940s - Another view north on Western with the Cinema in the distance. Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection. He notes that around the corner to the right it's the Hotel Palomar at 5473 Santa Monica Blvd.

1940s - A detail from the photo above.

 

 

1947 - A detail from another streetcar shot that was located by Sean Ault. They were playing a reissue bill of "North West Mounted Police," an October 1940 release with Gary Cooper, Madeline Carroll and Paulette Goddard. The other half of the bill was the April 1942 release "This Gun For Hire" starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. Also see the full image this detail is from. 

 

Bruce Kimmel comments: "This double bill began on July 30 at the Cinema and played for a week. I went there quite often in the mid-1960s when I went to LACC. Saw several great Russ Meyer films there, like 'Mudhoney' and 'Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill' with the amazing Tura Satana. They also had an all-nighter screening of the 'Batman' serial that I remember fondly. I saw 'The Balcony' there, too, and others."

 

1964 - Filmmaker Kenneth Anger, along with Raymond Rohauer, picketing the theatre over grievances. Anger alleged the projectionist stole one of his prints. The photo, from the Getty Institute collection, is by Charles Britten. It appears with "L.A.'s Cinematic Experiment, Then and Now," a 2012 Getty Iris blog post by Jessica Portner.

 

 

1967 - The Cinema running "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out!" with Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Rosemary Woodruff Leary. It's an image shared on Instagram by Matchbooks_of_la. Many thanks to Chris Nichols for spotting the post.

 

c.1968 - A shot with the theatre running "Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back." Thanks to Sean Ault for spotting this when it was for sale online. 

 

1971 - Steely Dan's Donald Fagen visiting Western Ave. as the X-rated film "School Girl" goes up on the marquee. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for locating this photo by an unknown photographer.

1983 - The Cinema with a new look for the marquee. It's a photo from the now-vanished American Classic Images website. In the 70s that business on the right had been the Agency of Love. See a photo from the Historic Hollywood Photographs collection.

late 1980s - The Cinema after closing as a theatre. It's the exciting Grand Opening of the Hollywood Swapmeet Mall. The photo is by filmmaker and cinematographer Gary Graver (1938 - 2006). He took many shots of theatres in Los Angeles and Portland. More can be seen in his compilations on You Tube: "Second Run - part 1" and "Second Run - part 2." Thanks to Sean Graver for use of the photo.

c.2005 - A look at the Cinema from Doug Boethin on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. Thanks, Doug!

c.2009 - Thanks to Don Solosan for this photo, taken as part of a L.A. Conservancy survey of the status of former theatre buildings. And thanks also to Hillsman Wright of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation for making it available. 

2014 - A look north on Western Ave. with the former Cinema Theatre on the right. Photo: Google Maps

2018 - Another church view. Photo: Bill Counter 

 

 

2022 - A view of the building from across the street. Photo: Bill Counter   

 

 

2022 - Looking south in the alley. Photo: Bill Counter

 

 

The Cinema Theatre in the Movies:

The Cinema is one of many Los Angeles area theatres (including the Monica and the Esquire Theatre) that we get a quick look at in the nine minute short, available on the Internet Archive, "Let's Go To The Movies." It was produced by RKO in 1948 for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the other theatres featured.

 

 

A view north toward the Cinema from "The Choirboys" (Universal, 1977), Robert Aldrich's drama about after-hours police debauchery. The film is based on the novel by Joseph Wambaugh and stars Charles Durning, Lou Gossett Jr., Perry King, Clyde Kusatsu, Tim McIntire, Randy Quaid and James Woods. The cinematography was by Joseph Biroc. Thanks to Tommy Bernard for spotting all the theatres in the film and getting screenshots. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for six Broadway shots with views of the Rialto, Tower, State and Los Angeles theaters.

We get a look at the Cinema in John Frankenheimer's "52 Pick-Up" (Cannon/Golan-Globus, 1986). Thanks to Yuri G. for spotting the shot and including it on his Movie Tourist page about the film where he also has many more photos of other locations that were used.

Up in the booth in "52 Pickup." See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for another booth view and several lobby shots.

More Information: Other theatres running experimental films included the Coronet Theatre and the Cinematheque 16. For a survey of various venues in the 40s and 50s that exhibited silent films in 16mm see our 16mm Revival Houses page. 

See the Cinema Treasures page on the Cinema. The Cinema Tour page has exterior photos from 2002 and 2003. The Cinema is also featured by Chuckaluck on his Noirish Los Angeles post #13543.

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