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'
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 1959 although the initial ones
were one-off custom 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.
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 site comments on the XL kits sold by Panavision: "A triple blade shutter was included in the conversion kit to reduce screen flicker." The lens in the photo is a Panavision Ultra Panatar anamorphic. Also see the site's Camera 65 page.
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 | Other Simplex 35/70 installations in the area include the Steven Ross Theatre on the Warner Bros. lot and machines put in the Fox Wilshire/Saban in 2014. 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.
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