Rivoli / Capri Theatre

6258 Van Nuys Blvd. Van Nuys (Los Angeles), CA 91401 | map |

Opening: It opened August 18, 1921 as the Rivoli Theatre. According to Bill Gabel's research the initial film was "Crazy to Marry" with Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle. It was on the east side of the street a bit north of Erwin St., originally called E. The theatre's initial address was 260 Sherman Way. In 1926 the street was renamed Van Nuys Blvd. and it got a 6260 address.

Earlier in Van Nuys: In 1912 and 1913 the Empire Theatre was running at a location on the west side of the street that later became 6315 Van Nuys Blvd. In 1917 a theatre called the Van Nuys opened, also on the west side of the street, in a building that would later have a 6255 address.

Later: A theatre called the Van Nuys, unrelated to the 1917 house using the name, opened in 1924 at what is now 6417 Van Nuys Blvd. It later became the Fox Van Nuys. 

Architect: Architectural & Engineering Co. was the designer. Joe Vogel notes that the firm had its offices in the Story Building in downtown Los Angeles. Greenberg & Siebert were the developers. Joe found an announcement about the project in the March 18, 1921, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor. The assumption is that this theatre was a larger replacement for the 1917 Van Nuys Theatre across the street.   

Seating: The original capacity is unknown. 700 is a later number from a Film Daily Yearbook. 

In the 1921 San Fernando Valley city directory there's a listing calling it the Van Nuys Theatre at Sherman Way near Erwin. M.E. Fulton and A.E. Driskell were listed as the operators. The assumption is that at the time the directory was compiled they hadn't yet settled on a name. In an item located by Joe Vogel from the June 23, 1921 issue of the Van Nuys News it was announced that Bessie Harrison Prothero had won a contest to determine the new name for the Van Nuys Theatre. And thus it was the Rivoli when it opened. 

In the 1922, 1923 and 1924 city directories it's listed as the Rivoli Theatre at 260 Sherman Way, Van Nuys.

 

The theatre is identified as "Moving Pictures" at 260 Sherman Way. There was a millinery shop at 258 and a rental office space at 262. It's a detail from image 9 of the 1923 Sanborn Nan Nuys Map in the Library of Congress collection. It had 20 sheets that year. Page one gave the Van Nuys population as 4,000. That's Sylvan St. across the top. The horizontal street near the bottom of the image is Erwin. Also see the 1913 Sanborn Map and 1918 Sanborn Map on the LOC website.   

 

George Mann of the dance team of Barto and Mann took this 1926 photo. His son Brad Smith has it on Flickr as part of a terrific "Theatre Marquees" album. For many more wonderfully evocative views of a vanished theatrical culture, see the George Mann Archive. Thanks, Brad!

This listing appears in the 1928 Los Angeles city directory: 

 

"Van Nuys Theatre Co (Rivoli and Van Nuys Theatres) Nathan Scheinberg genl mgr 6419 Van Nuys Blvd" 

 

Mr. Sheinberg's partners were Louis Greenberg and M.E. Horwitz. They also had the Madrid Theatre (later later called the Canoga and the Park) and announced several other projects for Van Nuys and Reseda that weren't built.  

The address is listed as 6262 Van Nuys Blvd. in the 1926 city directory, 6260 in 1928, 6258 in the 1939/40 directory with it being called the Fox Rivoli. Fox West Coast Theatres operated the house for much of its life.

Clifford Balch did a remodel in 1941 that included facade and restroom work. 

A name change: In 1960 the building got another remodel and emerged as the Capri Theatre with a reopening on June 29.

In December 1969 the Capri was running "I Am Curious (Yellow)." Ken McIntyre found this item in an issue of  the Valley News: 

"Law enforcement officers began confiscating the Swedish sex film 'I Am Curious (Yellow)' from Southland theaters yesterday on the authority of warrants alleging the movie is obscene. Lt. L.M. Dwyer of the Police Dept.’s administrative vice squad said the film had been seized from at least one Valley theater, the Fox West Coast Capri, 6258 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys, yesterday. Another Valley theater, the Guild, 5161 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, was also showing the picture and was expected to be affected..."

Closing: The Capri closed in 1974. Chris Nichols notes that the last L.A. Times ad was June 23 for a double bill of "Captain Kronos" and "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell."

Status: It was demolished in 1975 for a Federal Building parking lot. Research by Chris Nichols reveals that the demolition permit was issued January 31. 

The theatre's former location is now part of the site of the Van Nuys / City of L.A. Braude "Constituent Service Center." What had been Erwin St. east of Van Nuys Blvd. is now a pedestrian walkway between the City of L.A. building and the Federal Building to the south.

 

Snackbar views: 

Thanks to Christopher McPherson for locating this 1948 trade magazine ad.  

The Fox Rivoli snackbar dressed up in the 1950s to promote a western. The photo by Nate Singer / Western Photo is in the Tom B'hend and Preston Kaufmann Collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library.


More exterior views:

1926 -  Looking north on Van Nuys Blvd. toward Delano St. in a 1926 Dick Whittington Studio photo from the USC Digital Library collection. It's one of a series of eight Van Nuys photos Whittington took at the time. One of the shots is of the Robert Morton Organ Co. factory. The Rivoli is down there on the right. The only surviving building in the photo is the Van Nuys Hotel, seen on the left at 6211 Van Nuys Blvd. Thanks to Jack Feldman for locating the photo for a post on the Images and Memories of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

 

 

1926 - A detail from the Dick Whittington photo revealing the Rivoli's vertical. Several photos from this set also make an appearance on page 5 of the "Early Views of San Fernando Valley" section of the Water & Power Associates Museum Pages.

1945 - Thanks to Marc Wanamaker's Bison Archives for this view. It appears on page 104 of the terrific 2008 Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres in Los Angeles" by Suzanne Tarbell Cooper, Amy Ronnebeck Hall and Mr. Wanamaker. There's a preview of the book on Google Books.

 

c.1946 - Looking north on Van Nuys Blvd. The photo is in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

 

c.1950 - A view south with the Rivoli's marquee appearing between the two Red Cars. Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection. 

 

c.1950 - A detail from Sean's photo.

c.1951 - Thanks to Bill Gabel for spotting this shot looking south on Van Nuys Blvd. toward the Rivoli. He posted it on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles. David Zornig, posting it on Cinema Treasures, notes that it appears somewhere on one of the many Water and Power Associates Museum pages.

1952 - A look north on Van Nuys Blvd. from Sean Ault's wonderful collection. The Rivoli is on the right.

1952 - Not a good day to go to the movies. It's one of 22 storm photos taken in November by the Los Angeles Examiner that appear on the USC Digital Library website. Thanks to Barney Desimone for finding the photo for a post on the private Facebook group Photos of Los Angeles. Check out the big new sign for Pep Boys. Scott Collette notes that the Riv was running "Let's Go Navy!" and "African Treasure."

1950s - The Rivoli is over on the right in this Christmas view. Thanks to Amy Cortland for including it in a Bethlehem Star Parade album on Facebook. She credits it to the Van Nuys High School Alumni from the 60s Facebook page. Senorsock also has posted this one on Cinema Treasures.

1960 - The theatre, renamed the Capri, was running "Black Orpheus," a December 1959 release. Thanks to Phil De Pauk for posting the image on the Valley Relics Museum Facebook page where it got many comments. Deanna Bayless notes that one can still see "Rivoli Theatre" painted on the side of the building. Douglas Rudd also shared a version of the photo on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group where he credited it to the Kids of the San Fernando Valley page. 

1963 - A Christmas season view in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It's a Valley Times photo by Bob Martin.

1972 - Cruise night at the the Capri. It's a photo by Richard 'Rick Mack' McCloskey that appears in his 1972 book "Van Nuys Boulevard 1972." The photo can also be seen on the Van Nuys Boulevard 1972 page of his Rick Mack Photography website. Thanks to Chris Nichols for researching the source. 

The photo has appeared, uncredited, in posts by Jon Haimowitz on the Mid Century Modern Facebook page as well as from Bill Gabel on Photos of Los Angeles. 

 

1972 - A view of kids in front taken by Richard McCloskey during the engagement of "The Godfather." Thanks to Chris Nichols for locating it. It appears on a page of the Rick Mack website titled "The Cast" with the photo titled "Godfather Review."

 
c.1976 - A view of the closed theatre taken by Gary Maker, a contributor to Cinema Treasures under the name Gary Rabbit.

 

c.1976 - Another shot by Gary Maker appearing on Cinema Treasures. Thanks, Gary! 

 

2024 - Looking north at Erwin St. toward the site of the Rivoli/Capri. Erwin no longer goes through east of Van Nuys Blvd. Image: Google Maps  

 

The Rivoli in the Movies:

 

The Rivoli is seen in the background during a car chase about 15 minutes into "Nancy Drew... Detective" (Warner Bros., 1938) starring Bonita Granville and John Litel. The theatre is running "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" with Shirley Temple and Randolph Scott. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for another shot moments later.  

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on this one. Joe Vogel has, as usual, contributed some fine research. 

Nearby: See the page about the first theatre in town, called the Empire Theatre, running in 1912 and 1913 at the location that later became 6315 Van Nuys Blvd. In 1917 a theatre called the Van Nuys opened on the west side of the street in a building that would later have a 6255 address. A theatre called the Van Nuys, unrelated to the first one using that name, opened in 1924 at what is now 6417 Van Nuys Blvd. It later became the Fox Van Nuys.  

| back to top | San Fernando Valley theatres | San Fernando Valley: list by address | Downtown | Westside | Hollywood | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | [more] Los Angeles movie palaces | the main alphabetical list | theatre history resources | film and theatre tech resources | theatres in movies | LA Theatres on facebook | contact info | welcome and site navigation guide |