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Cinema Chatsworth

10124 Mason Ave. Chatsworth (Los Angeles), CA 91311 | map |

Opened: June 29, 1966 as the Cinema Chatsworth with Gregory Peck in "Arabesque." Bill Bixby, Lee Meriweather and Jon Provost attended the opening. The theatre was in a shopping center on the southeast corner of Mason and Devonshire. The photo of the opening festivities from the Hollywood Historic Photos collection features the Chatsworth High School majorettes and marching band.

Architect: George T. Kirkpatrick
 

A pre-opening ad located by Bruce Kimmel that appeared on June 26 in the Van Nuys News.



An opening day ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org
 
The theatre was later operated by Century Theatres. When Loew's had it they called it the Loew's Cinema Theatre. After General Cinema took over the Loew's sites in 1972 it was the GCC Chatsworth Cinema. General Cinema ran it until mid-1975.
 

In 1980 they started running Spanish language product as the Cinema 76. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating this April 5 opening day ad. At this time the theatre was operated by John and Margaret Macias.

Closed: June 1988. Thanks to Bruce Kimmel for the research.
 

"Cinema 76 - Peliculas en Espanol." This photo of the closed theatre by Toru Kawana appeared with "A Cinematic Decline," an article in the August 28, 1988 issue of the L.A. Times. Thanks to Bruce Kimmel for locating it. Note the General Cinema font used in the "Chatsworth" lettering. 


 
Thanks, Bruce! 

Status: The building was converted to retail use. Reid Stolz notes that the theatre sat vacant until after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. After that event they gutted it and were giving away the seats. The roof sign was repurposed to say "Tuesday Morning." The center later got a Spanish-style cosmetic upgrade and the sign was removed.
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