Los Angeles Theatres: Granada Theatre

9000 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069 | map |

Opened: August 15, 1967 with "The King of Hearts." The Granada was a little art house operated by the Walter Reade circuit, who also had the Music Hall and Beverly Canon in Beverly Hills.

It was located two blocks west of San Vicente Blvd. in an office building across the street from the Roxy nightclub. Thanks to John Ptak, the first manager of the theatre, for locating this Ed Ruscha photo for a post on Cinema Treasures. It's from the Getty Research Institute collection.

Architect: John Weidman Design did the interior. John Ptak notes that it featured some Spanish architectural details purchased from the Hearst Estate at San Simeon.

Seating: 379

An opening day ad for "Los Angeles' Newest, Most Intimate Theatre." Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org

"Privilege" was a July 1967 release. Thanks to the Adsausage Archives for sharing this L.A. Free Press ad from their collection.

"The Producers" at the Granada. It's an L.A. Times ad from June 1968.

A 1968 ad that had appeared in the L.A. Free Press. "Negatives" was an October release. Source: Adsausage Archives.

A 1970 ad for the Walter Reade circuit located by Ken McIntyre for a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles.

Walter Reade was out by 1973.

After sitting dark for a period the Granada was taken over by Century Cinema Circuit and operated as a revival house. Century was a company headed by Malcolm Hardy that also had the Cameo in El Sereno, the Rivoli in Long Beach and the Whitwood, Wardman and Whittier theatres in Whittier. Charlie Barrett was a partner in the operation. He comments:

"We had 7 houses in all. All LA area. There were several investors. There was a concession stand company involved, too. My dad and uncle much earlier (1920s-1948) were theatre operators for Warner Bros. Theaters on east coast (Boston) when studios were allowed to both produce films and show them in their movie houses. Anti-trust laws in 1948 put an end to that.

"I booked the Granada when we ran it. I recall booking the Marx Bros films [on the marquee in a 1974 Ed Ruscha shot]. That program did well. Earlier we opened with the Oscar winning doc by Marcel Ophuls - 'The Sorrow and the Pity' - that had a 3 week run.

"Actor John Marley ('The Godfather') wanted to rent the theater for a stage run of a play he wrote. But, alas, we had no proper dressing rooms, etc. and he had to pass. Warner Bros rented the G for a preview of 'Shampoo.' I loved the Granada. Saw so many great films there when I came to LA from NYC in 1969. We leased the Granada after Reade, from the management company of the 9000 Sunset Building, not very nice people and who knew nothing about film and theatres."

The final closing date isn't known but Century was gone by 1975.

The Walter Reade circuit ran into troubles and ended up in bankruptcy in 1978.

Status: The building is still there but the space has been used by other tenants.

An interior view shared by John Ptak on Cinema Treasures.

More exterior views:

1972 - Looking toward Doheny Dr.. Note the Granada signage on the 9000 Sunset Building. Thanks to Richard Wojcik for sharing this photo from his collection as a post for the private Facebook group Mid Century Modern.

1973 - The marquee was empty but it still said "A Walter Reade Theatre" in this Ed Ruscha photo. It appears on the the Getty Research Institute's "12 Sunsets" site where you can select a year and go wandering up and down the street. Their October 2020 Press Release discusses the project.

There over 70,000 Ruscha items now available for browsing. A few other places to investigate: Sunset Boulevard, 1965-2010, undated (58,167 digitized items) | Hollywood Boulevard, 1973-2005, undated (4,292 digitized items) | Sant

1974 - Lots of Marx Brothers in this 1974 shot. Note "A Century Theatre" on the marquee. It's an Ed Ruscha shot from the Getty Research Institute.