18632 Ventura Blvd. Tarzana (Los Angeles), CA 91356 | map |
Opening: Theeee Movies at Tarzana opened as a 6 plex on November 29, 1972. It was a remodel of a building that had been a Fox supermarket and later a Food Fair. The location was on the south side of the street two blocks west of Reseda Blvd.
The Lefton family were the operators. The word is that they also had an interest in the
Pan Pacific Theatre on Beverly as well as a theatre in Northridge.
A November 30 ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site: Movie-Theatre.org
Mann Theatres took over the complex on December 18, 1982 and, after a renovation, renamed it the Mann Valley West Tarzana 6 Theatres. This ad appeared on reopening day in the L.A. Times.
Mann equipped one of the original auditoria for 70mm as part of their 1982 remodel. The site From Script to DVD notes that they ran "Brainstorm" in 70 in October 1983 and "The Right Stuff" in January 1984.
In the 1990s three additional screens were added to make it into the Valley West 9.
Seating: Mike Juarez commented on Cinema Treasures about a visit in 2005 just before the closing:
"Theatres 1-6 had signs showing their seating capacity: Aud #1 261, #2 254, #3 306, #4 256, #5 306, #6 183, and #7-8-9 were very small auditoriums. This theatre was old and dated but fit the area well. No stadium seating due to its age and the auditoriums were wide but lacked length."
Closing: August 18, 2005.
Status: The building was demolished shortly after the closing. The new construction on the site houses an LA Fitness and other tenants.
1962 - Looking west on Ventura Blvd. at Christmas time. The building that would be remodeled into the theatres is on the left, still the Fox market at the time of this shot. The photo, now in the
Los Angeles Public Library collection, appeared in the Valley Times. It got many comments when Alison Martino shared it, uncredited, on her
Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page.
1982 - Opening night for Mann. Thanks to Dennis Mahaney for sharing the photo on
Cinema Treasures. At the time he was C.O.O. for Mann.
1985
- Looking east. It's a photo by Robert Juzefski. Thanks to David Zornig
for sharing this shot as well as the one below on
Cinema Treasures.
1985 - An entrance shot by Robert Juzefski.
2003 - The redone facade. Thanks to Scott Neff for sharing this photo he took on the
Cinema Tour page about the theatre. It elicited over a hundred comments when it appeared, uncredited, on the
Valley Relics Museum Facebook page.
2003 - Another view from Scott Neff showing the Mann vertical. Thanks, Scott!
2005 - "Thank You For Your Patronage." A post-closing view by William Kallay, one of eleven appearing on the theatre's From Script to DVD page.
More information: See the Cinema Treasures and Cinema Tour pages about the theatre. Michael Coate and William Kallay have a page about the Movies at Tarzana as being 70mm equipped on their From Script to DVD site.
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