Los Angeles Theatres: Doheny Plaza / Writers Guild Theatre

135 S. Doheny Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 90048 | map |

Opened: July 9, 1970 as the Doheny Plaza Theatre, a single screen venue initially operated by Cinema West Theatres. The first film was Claude Lelouch's "Love is a Funny Thing." Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

It's on the ground floor of a parking garage for the Doheny Plaza office complex, now called 9100 Wilshire. The theatre entrance is just a half block south of Wilshire. The Music Hall and the AMPAS Goldwyn Theatre are nearby.

Website: www.wga.org | film events - members only | www.writersguildtheater.com - theatre tour

Architect: George T. Nowak designed the theatre. The building was designed by Maxwell Starkman and Associates. Thanks to Joe Vogel for the research. He notes that the project was discussed in the February 23, 1970 issue of Boxoffice. Joe reports that Nowak also designed the Lakewood Center Theatre, a 1968 project for Pacific Theatres.

A rendering that was located by Moviejs1944 for a post on Cinema Treasures.

Seating: 575 initially, now down to 473.

Screen: 15' x 35'

Throw: 86'

Projection: 2 Simplex XL 35/70s with Simplex 5 Star soundheads plus Dolby Digital and DTS on top. The lamps are Strong Super 80s. The digital projector is a Barco DP2K-32B 2K with a Doremi server. They use the Dolby process for 3-D. Sound processing is a Dolby 650 unit and a DMA8 Plus digital adapter. Amps are by QSC, speakers by JBL. Initially the house also had 16mm capability.

An item in the March 20, 1970 issue of the L.A. Times that was located by Ken McIntyre:

"'Funny Thing' Will Open Plaza Theater -- 'Love Is a Funny Thing,' the new Claude LeLouch motion picture, has been selected to be the premier attraction at the newly constructed Doheny Plaza Theater when it opens in June. The United Artists release stars Jean Paul Belmondo and Annie Girardot. The Doheny Plaza, a 575 seat house, is on Doheny Drive south of Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills."

A July 9, 1970 opening day ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org

Metropolitan Theatres took over the house in 1973. This item appeared in the June 11 issue of Boxoffice.

In June 1975 Metropolitan started running the Doheny as a $1 bargain venue. Thanks to Brade48 for locating the ad for a post on Cinema Treasures.

Closing by Metropolitan: It was running into 1976. The closing date is unknown.

Status: Operated by the Writers Guild of America, West as a members-only venue with lots of film screenings. There are occasional rental events open to the public.

The theatre is to be the home of Cinecon 60, held over Labor Day weekend in 2024.

Lobby views:

Inside the entrance doors on the north end of the lobby. The auditorium is off to the right with the booth door on the edge of the image. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The south end of the lobby. The lobby areas were expanded from the original layout by taking over what had been an adjoining retail space. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

Looking toward the street in the south end of the lobby. There's a catering kitchen behind those easels on the left, office space behind the ones on the right. It's a shot by William MacCollum appearing on the photo page of the Writers Guild Theater website.

The crowd starting to gather for the first day of Cinecon 60, held August 29 through September 2, 2024. That's registration coordinator Rachel Parham at the desk. Photo: Bill Counter

The snackbar in action for Cinecon 60. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The auditorium:

A look toward the front. Photo: Writers Guild / William MacCollum

A view toward the screen in 1.37 format. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

Along the stage. Photo: Writers Guild / William MacCollum

A screen view. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The rear of the auditorium. Photo: Writers Guild / William MacCollum. Their website has thirty five additional photos.

Another look to the rear. Photo: Stan Taffel / Cinecon - 2024

Festival head Stan Taffel in his turquoise Cinecon 60 shirt bringing the projection team onstage for a bow at the end of the 2024 festival. From the left it's Taylor Umphenour, Scott Duvall and Zeynep Bilik. Photo: Bill Counter - September 2

The earlier look of the auditorium. It's a shot appearing on a Theatre in LA page.

A 2013 view from Sarah D.L. appearing on Yelp.

Recent booth views:

Three of the Local 33 operators for Cinecon 60. In the center it's Taylor Umphenour, technical director for the festival, with Scott Duvall on the left and Zeynep Bilik on the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The sound mix at the right side of the booth. The rack holds Shure receivers for the wireless mics as well as an EQ. There's also a mix position in the house for events that need it. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

A look across with the Barco projector in place for a digital show. Registration pins drop into the floor for alignment. The unit can roll to the back wall when film is on the program. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

Looking in toward the machine #2 before a film program. These are Simplex 35/70s from the original 1970 installation. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The mag head, although the house no longer has the preamps hooked up. On top it's a Dolby Digital head, bypassed for this screening, and a 70mm DTS reader. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The 35/70 head. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

Simplex 35/70s were available as early as 1957 although the initial ones were conversions of regular XLs that were done by Howard Straight. He had done a 65mm XL conversion in 1956 for Panavision to run dailies for "Raintree County," filmed in Camera 65, the process later rebranded as Ultra Panavision. The prototype machines that went to theatres had mag penthouses by Magnasync. Later the 35/70s became a production item for Simplex. See a 1960s brochure for a production model of the Simplex 35/70 down at the bottom of the page.

A photo showing a Magnasync head on an XL 35/70 conversion done by Howard Straight. Thanks to Gordon McLeod for spotting this on page three in the Ultra Panavision Wing of Martin Hart's Widescreen Museum site. The lens in the photo is a Panavision Ultra Panatar anamorphic. Also see the site's Camera 65 page. This photo had appeared in the November 1957 issue of International projectionist.

A November 1, 1957 Film Daily story detailing the XL conversion process:

"The New Panavision-Simplex 35 and 70 Conversion - PANAVISION INC. has successfully converted the Simplex XL projector to a 35-65-70 mm machine. Originally engineered by the Projection Department of the M-G-M Studios, the XL conversions have been put on a production line basis by Panavision, according to George S. Case, projection supervisor for Panavision. Stock Simplex XL projectors are put into the Panavision precision machine shop where they undergo over 75 machining operations and have nearly 200 specially designed parts put into them. Items such as an enlarged three-wing shutter, double duty drive and intermittent sprockets, and 65mm or 70mm film gates are included in the conversions.

"Case stressed the fact that changing the projector from 35mm to 65 or 70mm takes only 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the dexterity of the projectionist. The operation consists of exchanging the film gate, shifting the position of the film idlers and, of course, replacing the lens. The projector is threaded and operated in the conventional manner, whether it is set up for 35mm or 70mm. The film gate is reported to incorporate several unique features to insure absolute steadiness of the projected image. The film trap is water cooled to minimize focus drift; a curved shoe is included to prevent film buckling; tension on the film while passing through the gate is adjustable in order to eliminate vertical jiggle; and two sets of guide rollers are provided to stop side weave.

"The Panavision XL conversion is equipped with an entirely new 'penthouse' magnetic sound reproducer which was designed by Magnasync of Burbank, California. The penthouse will reproduce 6 channel magnetic sound on 70mm prints and four-channel or single-channel magnetic sound on 35mm. Magnasync engineers worked closely with Panavision in the development of this first combination penthouse ever manufactured.

"The unit bolts onto the XL conversion between the upper magazine and projector head. 'Thousands of hours of both 35mm and 70mm projection have been logged on the XL conversions at both M-G-M Studios and Panavision and the performance of the machines has been outstanding,' according to Case. It is understood that the total cost of new XLs plus the conversion will be within the reach of most exhibitors interested in roadshow operations. Conversion cost is approximately $6,000."

Longtime theatre equipment dealer and service tech John Eickhof discusses the Simplex 35/70s and Howard Straight:

"I knew him, from early 1980s until his death. He was well known in the industry and had Straight Industries from the late 1940 into the 70s. He made custom studio projection and process projectors, etc. He was close to people at Simplex and General Precision Laboratories. When 70mm hit the scene Howard had experience in the initial design of the XL 35mm and naturally took grasp of making a 65mm studio machine. What I was told by him was that he made approximately two dozen hand-made 35/70s to test with in the mid-to-late 1950s. After a year or two of field testing in theatres, the finished models went into production at GPL (by that time General Precision Laboratories had bought out International Projector Corporation from National Theatre Supply and Singer).

"Anyway, after his prototypes were put through their paces, he went to New York and supervised production for a few months. Then the GPL people went on from there. I believe the prototypes were made in 1957-58 but can't pinpoint that. I have had two in my possession through the years and the last one I worked on and installed was at the Wilma Theatre in Missoula, MT. It has been, since digital, removed and unfortunately destroyed. Only a handful survived, mostly back east and a couple in LA area. I was lucky to be given Howard's personal machine shop tools when he passed. I still have his personal lathe, mill and the tools plus a lot of rough castings of parts for the XL."

See several discussions about the machines in the forum pages on the site Film-Tech: thread 1 - Simplex vs. other 35/70s | thread 2 - more discussion | thread 3 - trap rollers | thread 4 - loop sizes, etc. | 1985 35/70 instruction manual pdf | 1960s Simplex 35/70 brochure pdf |

The Vogue in Hollywood got a set of the conversions in 1959 as did the Fox Wilshire. Those at the Fox (now called the Saban) were later removed and replaced with Norelcos. Another (newer) set of Simplexes was installed there in 2014. The Chinese got Simplex 35/70s in 1961, later replaced with Norelcos. Other Simplex 35/70 installations in the area include the Steven Ross Theatre on the Warner Bros. lot. For several years there was also a set used at the drive-in behind the Hollywood Legion Theatre. Those two are now in storage. The AMC Universal had 6 of them in its four 70mm equipped houses when it opened in 1987. The one remaining 5-perf 70 house there now has a Century.

The reverse scan Simplex 5 Star soundhead with red LED. This model, of course, includes bypass rollers so 70mm can be routed to the right, around the optical sound components. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The control panel beside machine #2. Motor start/stop controls are toward the left. House light presets are on the black panel. Sound is via the Dolby remote at the top of the image. The lit button on the far right indicates that non-sync was selected. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The gear side of machine #2. The blue and orange cabling is part of the umbilical cord for the Barco. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

An obstructed view toward machine #1. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

A look across prior to a film screening. That's Scott over at the rewind bench. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The vista along the front wall from behind #2. That's the mag head in the upper right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The Barco, here parked in its rear nook to make room for a screening on film. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

A side view of the beast. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

A closer look. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

Another view of the amp rack. There used to be another rack to the right with mag preamps, etc. and also 35mm dubbers. But the Barco took that parking spot. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The booth in 2008:

A look at the two Simplex 35/70s. Thanks to Bob Meza for sharing this 2008 photo as well as the two below. They appear on Cinema Tour.

A closer look at machine #1. Photo: Bob Meza - Cinema Tour - 2008

The amp racks and dual dubber in 2008. Photo: Bob Meza - Cinema Tour - 2008. Thanks!

More exterior views:

A photo that appeared in the October 20, 1975 issue of Boxoffice. Thanks to Moviejs1944 for locating it for a post on Cinema Treasures. It appeared with this caption: "Using individual black modules, Visual Components' new Brite-Glo lettering system renders a vivid, distinctive impact upon the eye, as shown by the marquee of Metropolitan Theatres' Doheny Plaza in Beverly Hills."

The exterior prior to renovation. Photo: Bill Counter - 2010

The entrance to the WGA Theater in 2010. Photo: Bill Counter

A c.2014 view of the theatre from Martin that appeared on the now-vanished site You-Are-Here.com.

Martin's shot on You-Are-Here looking north toward Wilshire Blvd.

A 2015 view from Doreen M. appearing on Yelp.

Looking south toward Charleville Blvd. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

The entrance with its no-longer-illuminated marquee. Photo: Bill Counter - 2024

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the WGA Theater for a history. The Cinema Tour page on the theater has some nice 2008 photos by Bob Meza, including views of the booth.

A 1960s brochure for Simplex 35/70 projectors, a model after it had become a production item for Simplex/General Precision: