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Silent Movie Theatre / Cinefamily / Fairfax Cinema / Brain Dead Studios

611 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036 | map |

Opened: February 1942 by John Hampton and his wife Dorothy as the Silent Movie Theatre.
This pre-opening view appears on the Water and Power Associates Museum page Early L.A. City Views (1925+) page 3. It's also on their Early L.A. Buildings (1925+) page 4. It's from Marc Wanamaker's Bison Archives.

Since late 2020 the venue has been called Brain Dead Studios. The back patio is now a restaurant called Slammers Cafe.

Website: https://studios.wearebraindead.com | on Facebook    Phone: 323-917-5053

Seating: 224 originally. The capacity is now about 150. 

History: John Hampton had been collecting silents since he was a boy in Oklahoma. In 1940 he and his wife moved to L.A. and bought the lot on which to build their theatre. Dorothy sold the tickets and the candy bars, John ran the booth. They lived in an apartment above the theatre. 
 

 A 1964 ad in the L.A. Times. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it. 

With gradually dwindling audiences over the years, they closed the theatre in 1980. John Hampton died in 1990. Film buff (and friend of the Hamptons) Laurence Austin reopened the venue in 1991. Among his improvements was bringing in a live organist for the films. Austin was shot and killed at the theatre in 1997. The crime involved Mr. Austin's partner (and projectionist) James Van Sickle and several accomplices.

The theatre was put on the market in 1998 and purchased by film enthusiast Charlie Lustman, who reopened it in 1999 with Chaplin's "Modern Times." His improvements included a new marquee, new screen and a cafe as well as a general redecorating. The film end of the business was break-even at best and Lustman supplemented by building a clientele for private parties and other events. In 2006 he sold the business due to declining health.

In 2006 the theatre was purchased by Dan and Sammy Harkham. The Harkams, along with Hadrian Belove, were involved in the founding of the Cinefamily organization and active in its operations. They reopened the venue in 2007 as a home for revivals and independent films. The theatre closed in August 2017 in the wake of allegations of harassment and mistreatment of staff. See links to many stories about that period down at the bottom of the page.

Dan and Sammy Harkam renovated the building and reopened Christmas Day 2019 as the Fairfax Cinema. Their initial film was to be an exclusive 35mm run of "Uncut Gems" with Adam Sandler. The distributor, A24, pulled that booking after lots of online backlash. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting "'Uncut Gems' pulled as Fairfax Cinema's opening movie...," the December 18 L.A. Times story by Mark Olsen. The opening films were "Variety" (Bette Gordon, 1983) and "The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino, 1953). The theatre closed in March 2020 fue to Covid-19 restrictions.

Status: In October 2020 the venue was renamed Brain Dead Studios. They're running an eclectic mix of revivals and cult favorites.

The Silent Movie Theatre in the Movies:


Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney walk by the theatre in Carl Reiner's "The Comic" (Columbia, 1969). They're old silent film performers and the theatre is running some of their films.



Rooney inquiring at the boxoffice about start times. Not until next week, he's told. A Chaplin festival has been held over. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for shots of the Carthay Circle and Montalban Theatre from the film.


Lobby areas:  


The renovated lobby. Photo: Fairfax Cinema - 2020



A look out from the ladies room. The 2020 photo by Sandi Hemmerlein is part of a set of 11 she posted on the LAHTF Facebook page. Thanks, Sandi!



The corridor heading out to the back patio. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - LAHTF Facebook page - 2020



The upstairs bookstore. Photo: Fairfax Cinema - 2020



Let's visit the booth! Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - LAHTF Facebook page - 2020


Lobby renovation views: 


A look in toward the house right side of the lobby as the renovation begins. It's a photo from "Exclusive: Peek Inside Silent Movie Theater Renovations," a July 2018 post on the Cinefamily Accountability blog.



A deeper look toward house right. Photo: Cinefamily Accountability blog - July 2018 



The center of the lobby. Photo: Cinefamily Accountability blog - July 2018



Looking toward house left. Photo: Cinefamily Accountability blog - July 2018 



All cleaned up and ready for a new snack bar. We're looking in from the front door toward house right. The auditorium is off to the left. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2019


Auditorium views:


A 2017 look back at the rear of the house on the Time Out page about the Silent Movie Theatre. It's a Jakob Layman photo.



The screen end of the Silent Movie Theatre's auditorium. It's a 2017 Jakob Layman photo on the site Time Out.



 The auditorium during renovations. New seats had been installed. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2019



A photo of the renovated auditorium taken by Sam Frost for the Fairfax Cinema. It appeared with "Former Cinefamily Theater to Open as Fairfax Cinema (First Look)," a December 2019 Hollywood Reporter article by Degen Pener.


More exterior views:


Looking south on Fairfax from Melrose before the theatre's 1942 opening. The photo appears on the Water and Power Associates Museum page Early L.A. City Views (1925+) page 3. It's also on their Early L.A. Buildings (1925+) page 4. The photo is from Marc Wanamaker's Bison Archives.



The theatre in 1942. The photo was once a post on Vintage Los Angeles by Philip Mershon but it has now vanished from that Facebook page.



A 1980 look at the Silent Movie Theatre. It's a Herald Examiner photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.



Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this September 1984 view. 



A 1997 photo from the page about the Silent Movie Theatre on the website Seeing Stars.



The theatre's reopening in 1999 with "Modern Times." It's a photo that appeared on the now dead website Dead History project.



The theatre in 2000. It's a photo from the site Seeing Stars. See their Silent Movie Theatre page for some history of the venue.



The theatre in 2010. It had been operated by Cinefamily since 2007. Thanks to Don Solosan of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation for his photo.

The LAHTF is actively involved in the study and preservation of the vintage theatres in the L.A. area. The group frequently supports events and offers tours of the buildings. www.lahtf.org | group Facebook page | official FB page



A 2010 marquee detail by Don Solosan from the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation. Thanks, Don!



The Silent Movie Theatre was one of a number of revival venues discussed in Mark Olsen's 2017 L.A. Times article "A film festival every night: The new ecology of the old-movie scene in L.A." It's a photo by Lawrence K. Ho for the Times.



Construction fence up for the renovations. It's a photo from "Exclusive: Peek Inside Silent Movie Theater Renovations," a July 2018 post on the Cinefamily Accountability blog.



A peek in the front doors.  Photo: Cinefamily Accountability blog - July 2018



Looking south along the entrance area. Photo: Cinefamily Accountability blog - July 2018



The north end of the entrance. Photo: Cinefamily Accountability blog - July 2018



The facade cleaned up and painted. The signage had been removed. Photo: Bill Counter - July 2019



Getting ready to open as the Fairfax Cinema with new doors, display cases and readerboard. Photo: Bill Counter - September 4, 2019



A look north along the renovated facade. Photo: Bill Counter - September 4, 2019



More signage going up. Tako Tyko was the contractor. Photo: Bill Counter - September 10, 2019



A closer look at the new neon. Photo: Bill Counter - September 10, 2019



A facade view taken by Sam Frost for the theatre that appeared with "Former Cinefamily Theater to Open as Fairfax Cinema (First Look)," a December 2019 Hollywood Reporter article by Degen Pener.



A signage detail. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - LAHTF Facebook page - 2020 



New neon on the north end of the facade. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - LAHTF Facebook page - 2020



An entrance detail. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - LAHTF Facebook page - 2020. Thanks, Sandi! Keep up with her latest explorations on the site Avoiding Regret. You can also find her on the Avoiding Regret Facebook page.



Shut down due to the virus. It's a Kate Warren photo appearing with "Hollywood Beacons in the Night," an April 23, 2020 New York Times story by Brooks Barnes featuring a dozen shots of closed historic theatres in L.A. Barnes offers a nice capsule summary of what the decades have wrought for each of the theatres he surveyed. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for spotting the story.  
 
 

The revamped neon as Brain Dead Studios. The 2021 photo is one they used on an email blast. 
 
 

A photo appearing on the Brain Dead Facebook page in December 2021.  

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Silent Movie Theatre. Living in Cinema had a 2007 story about the theatre's Cinefamily reopening. Cinema Tour has a page with a 2002 night view.

LAist has many stories about Cinefamily to browse. The L.A. Times had a story about the 2007 takeover of the theatre by Cinefamily. Seeing Stars has a page about the theatre's history.

LAist had an August 22 story by Julia Wick about the problems and about Hadrian Belove leaving the Cinefamily organization that he had founded in 2007. Board member Shadie Elnashai also resigned. "Cinefamily suspends all activities..." was the August 27 story from Variety's Seth Kelley. There were also followup stories in the L.A. Times by Sonaiya Kelley and in the Hollywood Reporter by Arlene Washington. Jennifer Swann had a September 18, 2017 story for L.A. weekly: "A Sexual Harassment Scandal Imploded Cinefamily: Can it be Saved?"

In the November 14, 2017 L.A. Times article "Following scandal and investigation, Cinefamily to shut down permanently," Mark Olson discussed the conclusion of the sexual abuse saga. The Harkams said at the time they would renovate the space and keep it an exhibition venue. Cinefamily, although not operating a venue, still exists as an organization and is involved in litigation. It's unknown how it will all unwind. It has not been determined how the assets of Cinefamily will be distributed. One report notes that Dan and Sammy Harkham, the owners of the building, may assume the debts, which may be less than the value of the assets.

See "Exclusive: Peek Inside Silent Movie Theater Renovations," a July 22, 2018 post on the Cinefamily Accountability blog for a discussion of the remodel and many photos. A bar, restaurant, and garden space behind the theatre were part of the new operation. "Fairfax Theater Floorplans," a July 29 post, showed the layout for the new venture. Thanks to Jonathan Raines for spotting the articles. Head to the blog's home page for links to additional articles.

Nearby is the Fairfax Theatre, a deco house at Fairfax and Beverly that opened in 1930 and has been sitting vacant waiting to be condo-ized since 2010. 

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3 comments:

  1. I hope that it will open again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a shame the Silent Movie Theater has closed. A microcosm of quirky culture and great art in LA, this place served a unique purpose to millions of people here. I had gone for years... I'm not sure what exactly happened between people that produced the allegations, but now this space and cultural access point has been taken away from everyone. How is that worth whatever personal problems a handful of people have? Someone else within the organization should have taken over and everyone involved should have put their issues aside to ensure that happening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, Julia, the guys who own the building were also involved with the organization. And it is scheduled for a much-delayed reopening. And I'm told that the programming will be much like what Cinefamily was doing.

      Delete