UA Movies 6 / UA Valley Plaza / Regency Valley Plaza

6355 Bellingham Ave. North Hollywood (Los Angeles) CA  91606  | map |

Opened: December 17, 1976 as the UA Movies 6 in the Valley Plaza Shopping Center, at Bellingham and Victory. It's between Laurel Canyon Blvd. and the 170. The theatre was later advertised as the UA Valley Plaza. Photo: Google Maps - July 2024

Architects: The building that was remodeled into the theatres began as a grocery store called Alexander's that was designed by Stiles O. Clements, formerly of the firm Morgan, Walls and Clements. It opened April 3, 1952. In 1973 the building became a Pic 'N' Save store. It's not known who designed the 1976 conversion into theatres for the United Artists Theatre Circuit. 

Seating capacity: Unknown. Make a guess. 1,800? No one had bothered to note it.  

We do get a shot in the 2013 film "Don Jon" when Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson come out of a movie and we can see the capacity signs posted over the doors of three of the auditoria: #2 was 192, #3 was 194, #4 was 229. 

At one point the large house in the complex was equipped for 70mm.   

  

A c.1951 look at the territory from the Santa Monica History Museum. Valley Plaza is in the lower left. 

Jared Cowan talks about the shopping center in "This Dilapidated Valley Shopping Center Is the Backdrop for Decades of Huge Movies and TV Shows," his fine 2020 article for Los Angeles Magazine:

"Opened in 1951 at Laurel Canyon and Victory Boulevard, Valley Plaza quickly grew into one of the largest open-air retail shopping centers in the country. The average suburban American family could find almost anything they needed at Valley Plaza. Banks, drugstores, a shoe store, and a supermarket were built around the center’s anchor store, Sears. Expansion of the Hollywood Freeway around this time also meant greater access to the shopping center. It's most iconic feature, the Valley Plaza Tower, opened in 1960 and the 165-foot-tall building became the tallest structure in the San Fernando Valley."

 

A December 17, 1976 grand opening ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org 

The theatre closed for repairs following the January 1994 Northridge earthquake.  

A July 1, 1994 reopening ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it.

United Artists Theatre Circuit closed the complex in September 2004. In December 2004 it was reopened by Regency Theatres as the Regency Valley Plaza and run until November 2006. In 2010 they reopened it as a bargain house.

Closed: It was closed in March 2020 for the Covid shutdown and never reopened. 

Rale Sidebottom mourned the death of the theatre in "The Theatre at the End of the Universe: The Death of North Hollywood;s Valley Plaza 6," a 2023 Film Threat article:

"'Peter Rabbit' and 'Hotel Artemis.' 'Paris Can Wait.' 'Baywatch.' 'Rough Night' and 'Transformers: The Last Knight.' 'Jeepers Creepers 3' was (incredibly) a double bill with 'BOO 2'! 'A Madea Halloween.' Under normal circumstances, I never would have thought about catching any of these films, least of all in a cinema. And yet? I watched them all. One theater brought me back, again and again, regardless of content. For over fifty years, only one theater in the greater Los Angeles area stood against the onslaught of art and 'taste.' That was the Valley Plaza 6.

"I was leveled to discover the Plaza Theater in North Hollywood dead, the victim of that most vulgar of curtain calls, time (also the pandemic). Another Southern California movie house gone. In poor shape, she fought the advance of the clock for decades. The Northridge quake in ’94 had shaken dozens of ceiling tiles loose, never to be replaced, so the place always looked to be falling apart, and it was. Not a thing of beauty, inside or out. A grotesque decaying beast, a holdover from a forgotten era, another time. If one were to randomly arrive at the Plaza 6 in the past decade, the reaction would be ‘ugh.’ 

"A visual inspection, something I was keen on and journal entries were noted for future pieces just such as this one, because where else would anyone care to hear about it, would indeed reveal much to desire. The abysmal bathroom maintenance, the sticky carpets, the air of abandonment that ran through the walls and hallways like a fading ghost, the smell of cigarettes, all the broken shoot 'em up video games, the drug dealers and homeless people in the parking lot; all would give one pause before entering. 

"It was fantastic for one thing, and that was not the movies. I paid my two dollars like the rest, two dollars we can all agree is a minuscule amount, and while that kept most criticism in check, no one cared when I said 'it’s two bucks, man,' they still refused passage to the greatest of outposts, the movie theater at the end of the universe where the only films screened were second run, a final hurrah before streaming and Red Box. 

"No matter how low the price, no matter how exciting the prospect of tearing through the punishing heat of August in the valley on a forty-year-old motorcycle cutting in and out of traffic with a writer holding not one but two warrants, the idea of going to see 'Tomb Raider,' 'Slender Man' or 'Sherlock Gnomes' was just too much. Life may imitate art, but most Angelenos conflate the two and leave little to chance. A trifling two dollars or not, the appeal was lost on most.

"The Valley Plaza 6 was great for one thing: the audience. I loved nothing more than sitting in that main theater on a Friday night full of strangers, often a hundred or more, because as you must admit and attest as well, we leave a movie as strangers no more. We have shared something, whether beautiful or banal, stupid or clever, as a society. I have always loved the magic of required darkness for the art. To enjoy its spell, you must kill the lights.

"Giant immigrant families, groups of nuns, a broke uncle tasked with watching his nephews for the afternoon, stoned teenagers from Reseda, not Woodland Hills, scavengers searching through tubs of rolled-up movie posters in the corner of the lobby. Tourists on the cheap, former gang members with their born-again church group, the hardest thing they now ingest is a last run of the great Michael Fassbender in the very not great 'Assassin’s Creed.' We came alone or in small clutches of humans, in crowds or on buses, looking for something to do on a Thursday afternoon, and we found it at the Plaza.

"In 1951, the year of its birth, the Valley Plaza was hailed as the largest mall on the west coast. While Wilshire had its miracle mile, the valley had its own brand of America. When I arrived in 2011, the area had become progressively lower income as working-class replaced middle- and upper-class and the suburbs expanded ever westward and northward. Sadly, this allowed lower-end retail, such as the 99 Cent Only store and Smart & Final to thrive in places like North Hollywood. The only saving grace was the retention of the Plaza 6.

"Weekends were always packed, because where else in LA can you take your family or your girlfriend for a night out without spending hundreds of dollars? The concessions were as bland and tasteless as anything offered at AMC’s City Walk, but at a quarter of the price. Hot dogs were only fifty cents more than Costco, and while half of the ten trailers promoted the Armed forces, it didn’t matter. We went there together.

"I usually went to matinees. Get up early, write all morning, then knock off around one or two and catch a movie. One afternoon, I lingered too long over a pitch proposal and ended up going to an evening show. Totally different audience. These are mostly people like me: cheapskate, out-of-work writers and low paid gamers and their girlfriends whose stars will never rise...

"Ive cried at comedies, and I’ve laughed my way through 'Reservoir Dogs.' In the dark, we are free to let go and let the magic take hold of us and carry us away, to a place where no one sees us for who we are. No one can see us at all. I know it may seem like no historic loss, but I was truly devastated when I discovered our plaza was gone forever. It’s been almost a year now. There are moments that hang on us, and in us, and remind us to never let go of what we longed for as children, sometimes we just need to be told a story, any old story. The cinema is still a place where the ancient arms of the storytellers are placed over our shoulders, where we are alone and together, in a place where we can laugh, and point, and weep, and best of all: to be in a place where rabbits speak."

 Lobby views:

 

Action at the bar in 2011. It's a shot by Yravis D. that appeared on Yelp.

 

A 2014 view by Robert Shank appearing on a Four Square page about the theatre. He commented at the time: "This is like the only cheap theater in all of Los Angeles! If you go on Sundays or Tuesdays, the admission price is only $1.50 per person ($2 up charge on 3D movies). Hot dogs on Tuesdays are only $1."

 

 

 

Another look at the bar. Photo: Michael Anthony - Four Square - 2015

 

Looking in the front doors in 2023. Thanks to Donavan S. Moye for sharing his photo.  

 

 

 

Another 2023 lobby view from Donavan S. Moye. 

 

Auditorium views:

The Regency snipe on the screen in 2018. Photo: Kurt H. - Yelp

 

Back in the same house in 2019. Photo: Kurt H. - Yelp

 

Another of the auditoria in 2020. Photo: Kurt H. - Yelp

 

In the big house in 2020. Photo: Kurt H. - Yelp

 

More exterior views:

 

1960s - A postcard view of the center. The Sears store opened in 1951 at the northwest corner of Victory Blvd. and Laurel Canyon Blvd. 

 

1960s - Alexander's Market on Bellingham is the building that was remodeled into the theatres. Thanks to the Valley Relics Facebook page for sharing the photo.  

 

 

1980 - The signage as the UA Movies 6. Thanks to John Tarantino for sharing this one on Cinema Tour along with eleven other views.  

 

 

1994 - A photo taken by K.P. Dennis that he shared on Flickr with these comments: "The January 1994 Northridge earthquake registered 6.7 on the Richter scale, killed over 50 people, injured over 8000, and caused an estimated $20 billion in damages. The UA Valley Plaza 6 took some major hits, but was deemed repairable. The theatre reopened on July 1; these shots were taken a few days later as the signage was being re-hung."

 

 

1994 - The new signage going up. It's another photo by K.P. Dennis appearing on Flickr.

2004 - Thanks to Scott Neff for sharing this photo on Cinema Tour along with ten other views from 2002 to 2012.  

 

 

2011 - A shot by Renee B. appearing on the Four Square page about the theatre.  

 

2012 - A neon view by Nathalie that appeared on Four Square.   

 

 

2012 - A shot shared by Shok on Four Square.  

 

 

2012 - A view shared by Jason K. on Yelp.  

 

2015 - A rainy evening captured by Tim O. and shared on Yelp. 

2017 - A view on Yelp from Cedric K.

 

2020 - Signage at Bellingham and Victory. It's a photo included by Jared Cowan with his L.A. Magazine article "This Dilapidated Valley Shopping Center Is the Backdrop for Decades of Huge Movies and TV Shows,"

 

 

 

2020 - Looking toward the theatre and the Valley Plaza Tower. Thanks to Jared Cowan for the photo taken for Los Angeles Magazine.  

 

 

2022 - Looking north toward Victory Blvd. Photo: Google Maps 

 

2024 -The view south on Bellingham from Victory. Photo: Google Maps

The Valley Plaza in the Movies: 

While we don't see the theatres, we do get some of the Valley Plaza in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" (New Line Cinema, 1999). It's one of thirteen appearances of various parts of the shopping center in music videos, TV shows and movies that Jared Cowan covers in "This Dilapidated Valley Shopping Center Is the Backdrop for Decades of Huge Movies and TV Shows," his 2020 article for Los Angeles Magazine. He notes: 

"Though bittersweet, Valley Plaza has found a renewed use over the last 20 years as a makeshift studio backlot. Its triangular parking lot is sandwiched between Laurel Canyon and the Hollywood Freeway, providing a certain amount of privacy while creating the illusion of a shopping center that faces a main thoroughfare. Empty storefronts offer filmmakers a vast amount of creative possibilities. Mid-century stone siding can take the property back in time when the area is populated with period wardrobe and vintage cars."

 

In "Don Jon" (Relativity Media, 2013) we get a look around the lobby and head into auditorium #3 when new couple Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson go to the movies. The film is set in New Jersey. After looking at several posters she thinks they should see a romcom called "Special Someone" with actors played by Anne Hathaway and Channing Tatum. The film, directed by Gordon-Levitt, also features Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Brie Larson and Glenne Headly. The cinematography was by Thomas Kloss. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for seven more shots from the Valley Plaza scene.

 

 

The Valley Plaza stands in for a San Jose area theatre in Aneesh Chaganty's film "Searching" (Sony Pictures, 2018). John Cho is looking for his missing daughter and he tracks down and violently accosts a teenager played by Buck Reed. The kid had made an obnoxious remark online indicating that the daughter was with him and he was her pimp. The film also features Debra Messing, Michelle La and Sara Sohn. The cinematography was by Juan Sebastian Baron, Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for three more shots from the scene.

 

After an interplanetary mishap, Starforce agent Brie Larson falls through space and lands in the shopping center's Blockbuster video store in "Captain Marvel" (Walt Disney Studios, 2019). Out the window it's the neon of the theatres. The film, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, also features Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch and Clark Gregg. The cinematography was by Ben Davis. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for four additional shots that include the theatres.

More information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the theatre. The page on the Cinema Tour site has 23 photos of the complex. Yelp still has a page up with over a hundred photos. 

Check out the page about the theatre in the From Script To DVD site's section devoted to 70mm equipped theatres in Los Angeles. Wikipedia has a page about the Valley Plaza Shopping Center.

| back to top | San Fernando Valley theatres | San Fernando Valley: theatres 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 |