Opened: February 1, 1963 as the Sands Theatre with Elvis in "Girls! Girls! Girls!" along with "Marco Polo" starring Rory Calhoun. The building is on the east side of the street between Harvard St. and Colorado St. It's three blocks south of the Alex Theatre. Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this 1981 photo from their collection.
It's unknown what the deal was with the signage saying Sand's as the theatre never seems to have been advertised that way. By 1983 the vertical would be removed and the new signage would be without the apostrophe.
Architect: Unknown. The building was new construction, not a remodel.
Seating: It was around 840 according to Ron Strong's Bijou Memories page about the theatre.
The big opening day ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. The theatre was an independent operation run by Bob Meyers, who also had the Montrose and earlier ran the Burbank Theatre in Burbank. In 1980 Meyers took over the Temple Theatre in the Masonic Temple Building farther south in the same block, renaming it the U.S. Cinema.
Pacific closed the Regency One on November 23, 1992 according to Ron Strong. In February 1994 it was rented from Pacific by Rim Films of San Francisco for their Festival Hong Kong. Following that, they continued with other Asian bookings through April. Ron reports that Tripod Captioned Films rented the house in August 1994 for a few bookings of second run films with open captioning.
Closing: 1994 was the end of it.
Status: It's now the Royal Palace Banquet Hall. Their website has a photo gallery.
The interior of the former theatre. It's a view from the Royal Palace website.
More exterior views:
1982 - This "Parasite" was a March release in 3-D starring Demi Moore and Robert Glaudini. It's a photo from the American Classic Images collection.
1983 - The theatre with revamped signage. The film was a November release. It's another shot from the now-vanished American Classic Images website. Thanks!
1991 - A shot of the Theatre as the Regency One by Gary Graver. Graver was a noted filmmaker and cinematographer who took many photos of dying single-screen theatres in Los Angeles. A compilation can be seen on YouTube: "Second Run - part 1" and "Second Run - part 2." Thanks to Sean Graver for use of the photo.
c.2000 - The building as a banquet hall but before major facade alterations. Thanks to Scott Neff for sharing his photo on the Cinema Tour page about the theatre.
2011 - A view of the remodeled facade as we look north on Brand Blvd. Photo: Google Maps
2011 - Looking south with the former Regency One on the left. The large building at the end of the block is the Masonic Temple. The first floor theatre in the building was known as the Temple Theatre, later called the US Cinema. While operated by Pacific Theatres it was called the Regency Two. Photo: Google Maps
2019 - Another look at the former theatre. Down the block, the Masonic Temple has been refurbished as office space. Photo: Google Maps
More information: The Cinema Treasures page on theatre, which they list as the Regency 1, has some fine stories.
And don't miss Ron Strong's Bijou Memories page about the theatre. Also see his Sands Theatre album on Google Photos.
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