famous theatres – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 8, 2020May 21, 2020

The Theatre at Ace Hotel from “Bosch”

The latest season of Bosch, which kept me thoroughly entertained during this quarantine, featured countless new-to-me restaurants that I am itching to stalk! I can only hope they are still in business when this craziness ends. Fortunately, I did spot one locale that I previously stalked but have yet to blog about – The Theatre at Ace Hotel, a gorgeous and historic venue that began life as the famed United Artists Theatre. I visited the auditorium via the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Broadway Historic Theatre and Commercial District Walking Tour (another enterprise I hope is still in operation when businesses are allowed to reopen) back on June 20th, 2015 and was thoroughly awed! I am thrilled to finally be able to dedicate a post to the place.

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The venue was initially built in 1927 as the flagship theatre for United Artists, the independent film studio established by Hollywood legends Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith.

The Spanish Gothic-style auditorium is situated on the bottom 3 levels of a 14-story building designed by Walker & Eisen.

Inspired by a recent vacation, Pickford and Fairbanks sought to include European elements in the design of the theatre itself and enlisted C. Howard Crane to realize their vision.

The finished product is nothing short of stunning, with gilded mirrors, elaborately carved plasterwork, and murals galore!

They truly just don’t build ’em like this anymore!

The detailing is absolutely remarkable!

I mean!

The auditorium itself is the real showpiece, though!

Its focal point is a circular mirrored and crystal dome that reflects light and color in an absolutely dazzling way.

Green lighting gels were in use when I visited, which cast the entire space in an emerald glow to magnificent effect.

It felt like I had wandered into the Land of Oz!

The Great Depression hit the venue hard. In the years following, it closed several times and went through several ownership changes before ceasing theatre operations entirely in 1989.

The following year, the site was leased to the Los Angeles University Cathedral church. The group occupied the theatre for the following two decades and even wound up purchasing the building that housed it at some point.

University Cathedral put the building on the market in 2010 and it sold to hotel developer Greenfield Partners the next year. The Ace Hotel was quickly tapped to manage the site and a restoration soon got underway.

The 189-room Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles opened to the public on January 6th, 2014. The former United Artists space became a special events/live performance venue known as The Theatre at Ace Hotel.

It’s also, of course, a filming location.

In the Season 6 episode of Bosch aptly titled “The Ace Hotel,” Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) tracks FBI Agent Maxwell (Carter MacIntyre), a murder suspect, to the Ace Hotel . . .

. . . and winds up chasing him through the theatre.

Bosch is hardly the first production to feature the space, though it hasn’t wound up onscreen nearly as much as I would have thought.

The United Artist’s lit and unlit marquee is visible a couple of times in the 1950 noir classic The Asphalt Jungle.

Benny Goodman (Steve Allen) plays there in the 1956 biopic The Benny Goodman Story.

The venue portrays a New York theatre in 1957’s Sweet Smell of Success.

Mr. T (Robert Hooks) breaks into the venue and then into one of the offices upstairs in the 1972 crime flick Trouble Man.

Ashe Corven (Vincent Perez) scales the building in 1996’s The Crow: City of Angels, though most of what we see is a model, per the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies blog.

Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) also auditions for a performing arts school spot at the theatre in the 2015 horror film Insidious: Chapter 3.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Theatre at Ace Hotel, from “The Ace Hotel” episode of Bosch, is located at 929 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the venue’s official website here and the hotel’s here.

January 8, 2020December 31, 2019

Alex Theatre from “You”

The Grim Cheaper and I spent the days after Christmas in full vacation mode – sleeping in late, staying in our pajamas until all hours, and binging countless movies and TV shows, including the second season of Netflix’s You, which, I have to say, I enjoyed even more than the first. Well, up until the abysmal finale that is. The episode seemed to drag on forever and WTH was that ending, amirite? The rest of the episodes, though, were nothing if not engrossing! I especially loved that the production was relocated from New York to L.A. for Season 2. I was thrilled to recognize several spots that I’ve already blogged about including Home restaurant, where Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) spied on Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) lunching with her friends in “Just the Tip,” and the now-defunct Daily Dose Café, where Joe escaped from Candace Stone (Ambyr Childers) in “A Fresh Start.” Another familiar spot featured was Alex Theatre, a historic Glendale venue that I stalked back in 2010 after it made an appearance on Glee, but somehow never blogged about. So here goes!

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Originally known as “Alexander Theatre,” the imposing arena was commissioned by West Coast Theatres chain owner C. L. Langley and named in honor of his son.

The Classic Revival-style property, which boasts Greek and Egyptian influences (and, in fact, with its large forecourt and columns reminds me quite a bit of Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre), was designed by Arthur G. Lindley and Charles R. Selkirk. Opened in 1925, the site initially served as a vaudeville venue and movie house, but it wasn’t long before the nearby studios took notice and began utilizing the space for premieres and screenings.

The Alexander underwent an interesting facelift of sorts in 1940 thanks to architect S. Charles Lee, who was also responsible for the Los Angeles Theatre, Temple Israel of Hollywood, and the Max Factor Building. Though the structure’s original façade and forecourt were left intact during the reno . . .

. . . a 100-foot tower, large marquee and ticket booth, all Moderne in style, were installed in front of them, essentially blocking the initial architecture from view. The space was also redubbed the “Alex Theatre” at that time. Thankfully, the venue’s grand interior was largely untouched and looks just as beautiful today as it did when the site originally opened. Of its unique aesthetic, the Alex’s website states, “The auditorium was designed as an ‘atmospherium’ with an open-air illusion enhanced by the stage-set wall encircling the room, creating the feeling of being enclosed in an ancient garden. The Alex is one of the few atmospheric theatres constructed in Southern California and one of only a handful that still remain.” You can check out some photos of the interior here.

Unfortunately, the Alex suffered from a lack of patronage in the ‘80s and shut its doors. It was finally rescued in 1992 by the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, who poured $6.2 million into a massive revitalization project. It then re-opened to much fanfare on December 31st, 1993. Today, the 1,413-seat venue serves as a live performance space and is one of the area’s most popular spots for comedy shows, theatre events, and, of course, filming.

In the Season 2 episode of You titled “Have a Good Wellkend, Joe!”, Delilah Alves (Carmela Zumbado) confronts her younger sister, Ellie (Jenna Ortega), over some stolen photographs outside of the Alex.

You is hardly the only production to make use of the venue. Back in 1999, Mandy Moore shot her “Walk Me Home” music video at the site.

The pop star even sang a few vocals propped atop the Alex’s marquee, though I think those segments may have been lensed on a studio-built set replica.

Aaron Carter’s 2002 “Do You Remember” music video also took place at the venue.

In the Season 3 episode of Criminal Minds titled “3rd Life,” which aired in 2008, the Behavioral Analysis Unit investigated the case of two teens who went missing from the Alex.

The theatre popped up as the Buckeye Civic Auditorium, where the McKinley High glee club competed in the Western Ohio High School’s Show Choir Sectionals, in the Season 1 episode of Glee titled “Sectionals,” which aired in 2009.

Hugh Hefner (James Franco) hosted a screening of Deep Throat at the Alex in the 2013 biopic Lovelace.

Larry David (Larry David) and Jeff Greene’s (Jeff Garlin) Fatwa! musical is performed at the venue in the Season 9 finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm titled “Fatwa!”, which aired in 2017.

And Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) attended Dick Casablancas’ (Ryan Hansen) movie premiere at the Alex in the Season 4 episode of Veronica Mars titled “Chino and the Man,” which aired in 2019.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Alex Theatre, from the “Have a Good Wellkend, Joe!” episode of You, is located at 216 North Brand Boulevard in Glendale. You can visit the venue’s official website here.

October 21, 2019October 22, 2019

Nuart Theatre from “Foul Play”

I was hesitant to include today’s locale in with my Haunted Hollywood postings being that the Nuart Theatre is neither haunted nor a horror movie location, per se. But the small arthouse venue did cameo in one of my favorite thrillers/comedies – 1978’s Foul Play – as the site of a murder, no less, so I figured it was fair game. Especially considering I had stalked the place years ago while writing a 2015 article for Discover L.A. about the city’s best places to beat the rain but had somehow never dedicated a post to it. So here goes!

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Commissioned by Forrest W. McManus and boasting terrazzo flooring, 660 seats and a single screen, the Nuart Theatre opened on August 21st, 1930 with a star-studded gala.

Nine years later, the site was remodeled and the neon Art Deco marquee that now stands above the entrance installed.

The Nuart went through several ownership changes over the ensuing decades, first falling under the Fox West Coast Theatres umbrella from 1941 to 1954, then running independently for several years before finally getting snapped up by Landmark Theatres in 1974.

The space underwent a major renovation in 2006 during which the seating was downsized to 303 chaises to allow for roomier accommodations. With beer and wine also served on the premises, today the Nuart easily holds up against L.A.’s many luxury theatres.

Such an arthouse fave amongst Angelinos, in fact, the Nuart consistently ranks as one of the area’s best theatres and has been lauded by such entities as LAist, the Los Angeles Times and Curbed LA. Los Angeles magazine even recognized the place for its “Top-Rated Popcorn” in 2009. The Nuart is also famous for its regular showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which have been taking place since the ‘80s), as well as its many celebrity Q&As with the likes of such luminaries as Harry Dean Stanton, Halle Berry, Burt Lancaster, Ridley Scott, Mel Blanc, John Waters and Mark Hamill. And, of course, it’s also a filming location!

In Foul Play, Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) heads to the Nuart, said to be on San Francisco’s Union Street, one dark and stormy night (because, of course) to meet Bob ‘Scotty’ Scott (Bruce Solomon) for a film noir double feature. During the retrospective, Gloria discovers that Scott has been stabbed to death in his seat. By the time she reports the killing to the theatre manager, though, his body has gone missing (dun dun dun!), setting her off on a path to find the guilty party. Quite a lot of the venue is shown in the movie, including the exterior;

the ticket booth area and front entrance;

and the lobby.

From the way the segment was shot and because various message boards I’ve come across concerning the Nuart mention that its interior was decidedly red in color before the 2006 remodel, I am fairly certain that the inside of the theatre itself also appeared in Foul Play.

Oddly though, in 1976, two years prior to Foul Play, the Nuart was featured in the Season 1 episode of Starsky & Hutch titled “Silence” . . .

. . . but the theatre interior shown did not match what was seen in Foul Play in the slightest, which has me thoroughly confused. I am guessing that Starsky & Hutch must have only utilized the exterior of the Nuart and then shot interiors in a screening room located back at 20th Century Fox Studios where the series was lensed, but that is just a hunch.

The Nuart has appeared in a couple of other productions, as well. Thanks to fellow stalker MM, I was reminded that the theatre popped up briefly each week in the opening credits of the television series Moonlighting, which aired from 1985 through 1989.

Guy Franklin (Alexander Tovar) runs into Heather (Megan Rosati) at the Nuart at the end of the 2016 film Show Business.

And Maddie Kendall (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Howie “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi) head to the Nuart for a date in the Season 2 episode of 9-1-1 titled “Buck, Actually,” which aired in 2018.

Though the Nuart is said to be the spot where Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) attend a Planet of the Apes marathon in the Season 1 episode of The Big Bang Theory titled “The Pancake Batter Anomaly,” no filming actually took place there. The episode was instead shot in front of a live audience on a soundstage-built set at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, where the show was lensed.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Landmark’s Nuart Theatre, from Foul Play, is located at 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard in Sawtelle. You can visit the venue’s official website here.

April 2, 2018November 21, 2018

The Los Angeles Theatre Alley from “Coyote Ugly”

You won’t typically find me frequenting back alleys in downtown Los Angeles. But there is one that I just can’t get enough of. My good friend Mike, from MovieShotsLA, pointed it out to me many years ago during a daylong DTLA stalking venture. While driving through the Theatre District, he pulled over near what looked to be a nondescript alcove off West 6th Street and pointed upwards. I literally gasped as my eyes locked upon the towering red marquee reading “Los Angeles Theatre” situated on the back wall of the small urban enclave. It was easily one of the most cinematic vistas I had ever seen! So I was not surprised when Mike informed me that the passageway had been featured onscreen in 2000’s Coyote Ugly, which up until that point I assumed had been shot solely in New York. Mike, of course, knew better. I snapped a ton of photos of the alley that day and have been back several times since, always stopping for a peek when I find myself nearby. Somehow though, I failed to ever blog about it. Cut to last month when I received an email from fellow stalker/Emergency! expert Richard Yokley (you may remember him from this post and this post) asking if I had ever stalked the Los Angeles Theatre alley and informing me of several of its other onscreen cameos. I decided right then and there that I had to dedicate a post to the site pronto!

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Modeled after San Francisco’s now defunct Fox Theater, the Los Angeles Theatre was originally built in 1931 for film exhibitor H.L. Gumbiner. The grand venue was designed in the French Baroque style by S. Charles Lee (who also gave us Temple Israel of Hollywood) and cost over $1 million to complete. And we’re talking 1930’s dollars! To say the site is opulent would be a gross understatement. I had the privilege of seeing it up close and personal a few years back thanks to the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Broadway Historic Theatre and Commercial District Tour. And, let me tell you, it is sensational! From the 80-foot-tall façade . . .

. . . to the gilded two-story lobby . . .

. . . to the elaborate 2,000-seat auditorium . . .

. . . to the oval ballroom – the locale is one of the most captivating in all of L.A.!

I mean, even the bathrooms are dazzling!

It is the theatre’s side alley that sets my heart aflutter, though.

The juxtaposition of the grit of the alley with the glamour of the marquee is just so strikingly cinematic!

Not to mention picturesque!

I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

The space almost looks like a manufactured set piece created on a backlot street at a Hollywood studio. But I assure you it is real.

Situated along the Los Angeles Theatre’s north side, around the corner from its main entrance, the alley is largely tucked away from view. One can easily drive right past without realizing it is there.

So why, you ask, was a large marquee installed in a relatively hidden alcove that would not seen by most patrons venturing through the venue’s front doors on Broadway? I could not even fathom a guess, but, thankfully, found an explanation on the Historic Los Angeles Theatres website.

As I learned, another movie palace, the Paramount Theatre, formerly stood directly across the street from the alley at 323 West 6th Street. (It was torn down in 1960 and the International Jewelry Center was eventually erected in its place.) The Paramount’s main entrance provided a great view of the enclave, so Gumbiner, ever the businessman, decided to install a marquee there in the hopes that it would draw the attention – and patronage – of his competitor’s clientele. Original plans for the space called for a much more elaborate façade with a porticoed doorway and columns flanking the marquee, as you can see on the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation’s Facebook page and the Historic Los Angeles Theatres website.

For whatever reason, though, only the marquee portion of it was completed – which I think makes the site even more dramatic and eye-catching.

Considering its compelling ambience, it is not surprising that the alley has popped up onscreen.

In Coyote Ugly, the locale masks as the entrance to New York’s Fiji Mermaid club.

It is there that Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) introduces herself to Kevin O’Donnell (Adam Garcia), who she thinks is the club’s manager, at the beginning of the film. As you can see in the screen captures above and below, the marquee was changed to read “East Broadway Theatre” for the scene.

As Richard informed me in his email, Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) and Gay Perry (Val Kilmer) retrieve a body from the Los Angeles Theatre alley – and share a rather passionate embrace there while trying to evade the police – in 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Richard also clued me into the alley’s appearance in the original Life on Mars pilot, which never aired, but can be viewed on YouTube here. Written by David E. Kelley, the unaired episode takes place in Los Angeles and centers on LAPD detective Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara) who, after getting hit by a car in 2007, wakes up to discover he is stuck in the year 1972. Apparently ABC requested a complete re-do of the show after viewing it. Not only were several roles recast, but the setting was moved from SoCal to New York. The series was then picked up and went on to air 17 episodes before being given the ax – prematurely I might add. My mom and I watched Life on Mars religiously and were heartbroken over its cancellation. As much of a fan as I was, though, I was completely unaware that the pilot had been reshot until Richard’s email. In the episode, Sam witnesses an arrest taking place in the Los Angeles Theater alley shortly after waking up in 1972.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for originally telling me about this location and to Richard Yokley for reminding me of it and informing me of its other onscreen appearances.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Los Angeles Theatre alley, from Coyote Ugly, is located in between 314 and 318 West 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles.

February 9, 2018February 12, 2018

Bookstar from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

I have certainly been revisiting the past lately, as evidenced here, here, and here. Maybe it has something to do with nostalgia hitting me after our recent move. Whatever the reason, here I am yet again with yet another redux. Today’s locale is a favorite, one that I originally covered in May 2008 – Bookstar, a former-theatre-turned-Barnes-&-Noble in Studio City. Back in 1991, when the venue was operating as Mann’s Studio Theatre, Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) took Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) there for their first date in the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Isn’t It Romantic?” While I have visited the unique book shop countless times over the years, it was not until last December when I came across this post on Scouting Los Angeles (if you are not familiar with Scouting Los Angeles or its sister blog Scouting New York, be sure to check them out – they are hands-down two of the very best location sites out there!) that I realized how much of the property’s original theatrical detailing remains intact. So I decided I just had to re-stalk the place and do another, more extensive write-up on it.

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Originally established as the Studio City Theatre by the Laurel Theatres company, the understated Streamline Moderne-style structure was designed by architect Clifford A. Balch of Magnolia Theatre fame. The 65-foot wide, 881-seat, single-screen venue celebrated its grand opening on June 11th, 1938 with a showing of MGM’s Test Pilot. You can check out a photograph of the movie house shortly before it opened its doors here and another photo here taken in 1946 by which point its ticket booth had been overhauled and made more ornate.

The arena hit a hiccup almost immediately. Per the Los Angeles Movie Palaces website, Laurel Theatres sued Fox West Coast for excluding them from various distributions just a few weeks after the opening. The lawsuit turned out to be rather ironic considering the fact that Fox (a division of the National General Pictures conglomerate) wound up managing the venue for many years after the Laurel Theatres group bowed out. During Fox’s tenure, the site was known as Fox Studio City Theatre. In 1973, when Mann Theatre Corporation took over the cinema portion of National General Pictures, which included the Studio City movie house, it was renamed Mann’s Studio Theatre.

Sadly, by 1990 the ever-growing popularity of multiplexes had caused patronage of Mann’s Studio Theatre to wane. The company chose not to renew their lease and the venue was shuttered in February 1991. Instead of selling to developers as many locals feared, the site’s longtime owners, the Rothman family, decided to bring in a tenant that would not only take advantage of the place’s history, but also preserve its aesthetic. The Rothmans’ real estate broker Bruce Bailey told the Los Angeles Times that despite generous offers from several builders, “they won’t change the property unless it is falling down. They are against mini-malls. They like the look of Studio City. They’ve had tenants ask if they could clear a portion and they won’t do it.” Those words are absolute music to my ears! I wish more Los Angeles building owners shared that sentiment. The Rothmans wound up finding exactly what they were looking for in Bookstar, a division of Barnes & Noble that had refurbished San Diego’s Loma Theatre into a book shop the year prior. The result of the company’s efforts is a fabulous amalgamation of cinema and print. Though the theatre’s lobby appointments and auditorium seating are now gone, pretty much every other original detail remains intact.

That detailing includes the colorful exterior terrazzo flooring;

the gilded ticket booth;

the marquee and “Studio City” signage;

the ceiling lip above the former concessions stand, as well as the columns that flanked it (which you’ll see some screen captures of in a bit);

the movie screen;

the ceiling art;

and the projection booth, which, per Scouting Los Angeles, now houses the store’s offices.

Paying homage to its original incarnation, all of Bookstar’s signage boasts cinematic and Art Deco styling.

It is easily one of the most unique spots to shop in L.A.

Movie magic between the stacks!

Mann’s Studio Theatre pops up three times in “Isn’t It Romantic?” At the beginning of the episode, Brenda tags along with her twin brother, Brandon (Jason Priestley), and his BFF Dylan for a showing of Animal Crackers at the venue. Watching the show, you can really get a feel for how little the space has changed since Bookstar took over. As I mentioned above, though the concession stand has been removed, the pillars that once flanked it as well as the curved ceiling lip above it remain in place.

Even the decorative outline carvings on the ceiling are still intact!

The staircase visible to the right of the concession stand in the scene also remains, but is now largely obscured by displays.

A better view of it is pictured below.

Later in “Isn’t It Romantic?”, Dylan, Brenda, and Brandon make plans to catch another Marx Brothers movie at Mann’s Studio Theatre, but Brandon gets sick, leaving Brenda to go out with Dylan alone, much to her father, Jim Walsh’s (James Eckhouse), chagrin.

While waiting in line for tickets, the two decide to, as Dylan says, “shine on the movie” and instead go back to his suite at the L’Ermitage, where they kiss for the first time.

Something I’ve always found amusing about the scene is that the establishing footage of the theatre shown in it is actually re-used from the third segment of the episode that takes place at Mann’s. Though you don’t see her from the front, Brenda is visible pacing away from the camera in the fabulous navy and pink outfit she wears for her date with Dylan in the later scene.

In the theatre’s third “Isn’t It Romantic?” appearance, Dylan and Brenda make another date to see another Marx Brothers flick at the cinema, but, devastatingly, he stands her up, leaving her to pace in front of the venue for hours until the movie lets out. Brenda is so upset over the experience that she stays home from school the following Monday. Have no fear, though – it all works out in the end. Well, until that little home-wrecker Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) steps in and ruins things in Season 3. But I digress.

It is so amazing that despite the changeover from theatre to bookstore and the passage of almost thirty years, the locale looks pretty much just as it did when the episode was filmed.

Bookstar has popped up in a couple of other productions, as well. It appears as the the theatre “near Olympic and Western” where Sergeant Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Officer Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) investigate a juvenile assault with a deadly weapon at the beginning of the Season 2 episode of Dragnet titled “The Grenade,” which aired in 1967. Only the exterior of the venue was utilized in the scene. Interiors were filmed on a set.

Thanks to fellow stalker Al, I learned that the site is featured in Wang Chung’s 1985 “Fire in the Twilight” music video, which you can watch here.

The theatre is also seen very briefly in the 1988 comedy Earth Girls Are Easy in the scene in which Wiploc (Jim Carrey) meets some “Finland babes” while cruising Ventura Boulevard.

Jerry Seinfeld and Miranda Sings (Colleen Ballinger) briefly park in front of Bookstar at the end of the Season 5 episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee titled “Happy Thanksgiving, Miranda,” which aired in 2014.

According to commenter YMike on the Cinema Treasures blog, Mann’s Studio Theatre also appears in an episode of the 1985 version of The Twilight Zone television series. I am unsure of which episode, though, and scanned through a copious amount of them in preparation for today’s post, but did not see it pop up anywhere. If anyone happens to know, please fill me in!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Bookstar, from the “Isn’t It Romantic?” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 12136 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. You can visit the shop’s official website here.

April 20, 2016April 19, 2016

New Discover Los Angeles Post – About Famous L.A. Theatres

Be sure to check out my latest post for Discover Los Angeles, about the city’s many lavish theatres and their roles onscreen.

October 29, 2014September 29, 2017

The Silent Movie Theatre

I am very excited to announce that I recently started writing for the L.A. Tourism & Convention Board website, Discover Los Angeles. I have done two posts for the site so far – one on iconic horror movie locations and another about area hotels that have been immortalized onscreen. Before I was given my first assignment, my editor emailed me a few articles to use as examples, one of which was written by my buddy Scott Michaels, of the Find a Death website. The 2013 column, titled The 13 Scariest Places in Los Angeles, had me practically foaming at the mouth. The vast majority of locations mentioned I had never even heard of before, let alone stalked, and one in particular had me especially intrigued – the Silent Movie Theatre in Beverly Grove, where owner Lawrence Austin was shot to death in 1997.

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The Silent Movie Theatre was originally constructed in 1942 for silent film buff John Hampton and his wife, Dorothy. John, an Oklahoma native, had collected silent movie reels and showcased them at his home from the time that he was a young boy. In 1940, the couple headed west and settled in Los Angeles. The following year, they purchased a vacant plot of land and commissioned a small, two-story silent movie theatre to be built on the premises. The upstairs floor served as their apartment.

The theatre opened for business in February 1942. By that time, silent movies were a thing of the past and John wanted to pay homage to the almost-forgotten genre. You can check out what the property looked like in its early days here. According to the Dead History Project website, a 1943 Los Angeles Times article described the 250-seat movie house as having “staggered seating,” a “bowl-shaped floor,” and “acoustical sound.” The theatre proved extremely popular and such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith were even known to stop by from time to time to catch viewings of their early films.

John had long been in the habit of restoring and redeveloping old films in his bathroom. The Dead History Project states, “Mr. Hampton transformed his bathtub into a film lab, dyeing and redeveloping old, nitrate film. His Phantom of the Opera, probably the best version of the original in existence, took acquiring eight separate prints over five years. Then, for over two months, he rebuilt the film – spliced the best parts of each print into a single version and meticulously dyed the frames to make sure they matched.” Sadly, in 1980, the harsh chemicals used in the process caught up with John and he developed cancer. He closed the theatre during his long battle with the disease and eventually passed away in 1990. A friend of John and Dorothy’s named Lawrence Austin purchased the theatre shortly thereafter and and renovated the space. He also changed the wording on the marquee from “Old Time Movies” to “Silent Movie.” The space re-opened for business on January 18th, 1991. You can check out a photo of what the property looked like after Austin took over here.

During the renovation process, Austin had hired a man named James Van Sickle to paint the Silent Movie Theatre. Despite a forty-year age difference (Austin was 67, Van Sickle was 27), the two hit it off romantically. Van Sickle eventually moved into the upstairs apartment with Lawrence and began working as the theatre’s projectionist.

On the evening of January 17th, 1997, the theatre was set to air a showing of Sunrise, proceeded by two short films. During one of the shorts, an audience member left the theatre and headed to the lobby, where Austin was standing behind the candy counter with Mary Giles, a concessions clerk. The man pulled out a .357 and first demanded that Lawrence hand over the money in the cash register. After he complied, the man shot him in the face. Lawrence died immediately. He was 74. The man then shot Mary twice in the chest, before turning back to Austin and shooting him two more times. Thankfully, Giles survived and was able to describe the shooter to the police, which eventually led them to a 19-year-old named Christian Rodriguez. It did not take long for Rodriguez to cave and inform detectives that he had been hired for $30,000 to kill both Austin and Giles and make the scenario look like a robbery. The person behind the scheme? None other than James Van Sickle, whom Austin had just recently named his beneficiary. Van Sickle was set to inherit the Silent Movie Theatre and over a million dollars in cash. Both James and Christian were eventually convicted of murder and are currently serving life sentences.

After the murder, the Silent Movie Theatre was put up for sale. A man named Charlie Lustman happened to pass by the property in 1999 and became intrigued. Though he knew nothing about silent films, he decided to purchase the theatre at a cost of $1.3 million. He remodeled the space and added a new marquee. The cinema re-opened its doors on November 5th, 1999. Besides showcasing films, Lustman also offered the theatre for special events. It proved to be a popular venue. In 2006, after falling ill, Charlie sold the property to Dan and Sammy Harkham. The brothers then formed Cinefamily, a “nonprofit organization of movie lovers devoted to finding and presenting interesting and unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films.” The group currently showcases about 14 films a week at the Silent Movie Theatre. Last year, over 50,000 people attended screenings on the premises, none of whom were scared off by the ghosts of John Hampton and Lawrence Austin, who have been known to regularly haunt the historic venue.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Silent Movie Theatre is located at 611 North Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles’ Beverly Grove neighborhood. You can visit the official Cinefamily website here.

February 25, 2011February 25, 2011

Burlesque Lounge from “Burlesque”

A couple of months ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see Burlesque and, because of all of the bad reviews the movie was generating, I did not have very high hopes that either of us would enjoy it much. As it turns out, though, I could NOT have been more wrong! It is a highly entertaining romp which boasts fabulous musical numbers, sparkling and intricately-designed costumes, and incredibly beautiful sets that made me want to hop right into the movie screen. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. And even though the movie is definitely a chick flick, the GC said he thoroughly enjoyed it as well. So when I saw that fellow stalker Gary, of the Seeing Stars website, had just published a page detailing various filming locations from the movie, I just about died. The were two locations that I was most interested in stalking, the first of which was the Mediterranean-style apartment complex where Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) and Jack (aka Cam Gigandet) lived, which come to find out does not, in fact, exist. Fellow stalker Chas, of the ItsFilmedThere website, contacted a few Burlesque crew members on my behalf to find out the location of the apartment building, but they all informed him that it was a set that had been built on the Sony Pictures Studio backlot, which was shocking to me as I had been convinced that the building was a real place. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the DVD of the movie, which is being released on March 1st, so that I can listen to the commentary to learn more about the construction of that set. Anyway, the other location that I was dying to stalk was the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge, which, thanks to Gary I now know, was in actuality the side entrance of the historic Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. So, I dragged the GC right on out there to stalk the place this past Monday afternoon.

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The Ricardo Montalban Theatre was first built in 1926 by Myron Hunt, the legendary Los Angeles architect who also designed the Rose Bowl, Occidental College, the California Institute of Technology, the Huntington Hotel (now the Langham), and the Huntington Library, among countless other area buildings. The Beaux Arts-style theatre was originally a live, or a “legitimate”, stage venue known as the Vine Street Theatre, but was transformed into a single-screen movie theatre during the Great Depression. A few years later it was purchased by CBS and became a radio broadcasting venue known as the CBS Playhouse Theatre. It was there that legendary Hollywood producer/director Cecil B. DeMille hosted his Lux Radio Theatre show in which movie stars of the day would act out radio versions of his many films. In 1954, the property once again became a live theatre venue and was renamed the Huntington Hartford. In 2000, the 1200-seat venue was purchased by Nosotros, a non-profit performing arts organization founded by Fantasy Island star Ricardo Montalban. The organization set about renovating the theatre and restoring the property to its former 1927 glory and in May of 2004 reopened the space as the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.

In Burlesque, the Ricardo Montalban Theatre’s side entrance, side exterior stairwell, and parking lot area were all used as the Burlesque Lounge’s main entrance. Amazingly enough, the wrought-iron gate which was featured so prominently in the movie is actually there in real life, which I was BEYOND excited to see! You can check out some pictures of the gate dressed for the filming here. (The theatre was having some sort of a movie screening when we showed up to stalk it, which is why there are people camped out on the sidewalk in all of my photographs).

Sadly, the parking lot area, which was featured in the scene in which Tess (aka Cher) and Nikki (aka Kristen Bell) get into a fight, has been ripped up and is currently under construction. According to the signs posted on the fence which now surrounds the former lot, a parking garage is set to be built in that area.

You can see what the parking lot area used to look like thanks to Bing Streetside in the pictures above and by clicking here.

I literally just about fell over when, while stalking the theatre, I recognized the burger stand located next door as the spot where Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Ben (aka Anson Mount), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), and Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) signed up for the Slide Records singing audition in the movie Crossroads! I had actually been on the hunt for that location for quite some time and was absolutely FLOORED to have stumbled upon it in such a way. For whatever reason, I always seem to have that sort of luck when it comes to Crossroads locales as I also stumbled upon the gas station which appeared in the movie in a very similar manner.

If you would like to stalk the stand, which is named Molly’s Charbroiler in real life, you should do so soon as, according to fave website CurbedLA, the tiny restaurant may be torn down in the coming months in order to make way for a new office building. Sad smile Have I mentioned how much I love change?

Burlesque Trailer

You can watch the trailer for Burlesque, in which the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge is briefly shown, by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from Seeing Stars, for finding this location and to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for contacting Burlesque crew members to find out where Ali and Jack’s apartment building was located! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Ricardo Montalban Theatre, aka Burlesque Lounge from Burlesque, is located at 1615 North Vine Street in Hollywood. The Burlesque Lounge entrance is located on the north side of the property. You can visit the theatre’s official website here. Molly’s Charbroiler, from Crossroads, is located at 1601 North Vine Street. You can visit the burger stand’s official website here.

November 24, 2010November 23, 2010

Macha Theatre from “The Office”

A few weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, sent me a link to this article from local website Franklin Avenue which stated that in the Season 7 episode of The Office titled “Andy’s Play”, the Macha Theatre in West Hollywood stood in for the Scranton, Pennsylvania “Loose Screw Playhouse” where Andy Bernard (aka Ed Helms) performed in a local production of the Tony award-winning musical Sweeney Todd. As it turns out, the author of the Franklin Avenue website, whose name is also coincidentally Mike, had actually lived across the street from the Macha Theatre for six years, so he recognized the place immediately when it popped up onscreen. And I have to say here that the “Andy’s Play” episode of The Office was easily one of my very favorite episodes of the entire series. I’m sure me liking it so much had to do with the fact that I have acted in quite a few plays over the course of my acting career and can definitely relate to the subject matter. Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) acting out an entire episode of Law & Order as his audition piece for the play and Andy’s phone ringing in the middle of the show while he was onstage were both such absolutely SPOT ON representations of the idiocracy that can, and does often, ensue during the course of a production, I cannot even tell you! And I literally just about died laughing when, during a quiet moment in the performance, Michael knocked over a bottle of wine and sent it rolling down the sloped theatre floor all the way to the front of the stage. Absolutely love it! So, once I read the Franklin Avenue article, I immediately added the Macha Theatre to my “To Stalk” list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right out to West Hollywood the very next weekend.

Before stalking the theater, I had mistakenly assumed that both the interior and the exterior of the property had been used in the “Andy’s Play” episode, but when we arrived there we discovered that that was not actually the case. Odalys Nanin, the theatre’s super nice owner, happened to be on-site while we were stalking the place and she was kind enough to chat with us and give us a tour of the premises. Amazingly enough, though, up until just a few days prior to our visit, she had absolutely NO idea whatsoever that the exterior of her theatre had been used on The Office. Apparently, another stalker had come by to take pictures of the place and when Odalys inquired as to why, he told her – much to her surprise – that it had been featured on the hit show. As it turns out, no actual filming had been done on the premises, but producers had in fact used an old stock photo of the theatre, one that had actually been taken back when the place was known as the Globe Playhouse, in the episode. As you can see in the above picture and screen capture, the theatre looks much different today than it did when the stock photo was taken. The exterior wood beams have since been removed from the property’s façade, as have the windows, and a large marquee has also since been added to the premises.

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Thankfully though, as you can see in the above photograph which I got off of the Macha Theatre website, the barn-style front doors, the “1107” address number, and the comedy and tragedy masks that appeared in the “Andy’s Play” episode of The Office have all been left intact.

After I got home, I did some digging and discovered that the interior theatre scenes of the “Andy’s Play” episode had been filmed at the Assistance League Playhouse in Hollywood, just a few blocks east of Helen Bernstein High School, where Glee is filmed! So, you know what that means – in the very near future I will be making a stalking pilgrimage out to Hollywood to stalk the place!

Michael Scott’s “Law & Order” Audition Piece

You can watch Michael’s absolutely HILAROUS Law & Order audition piece by clicking above. For those who have not yet seen the “Andy’s Play” episode, Michael was using the piece to audition for a role in the musical Sweeney Todd, not for a role on Law & Order.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from Franklin Avenue, for finding this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Macha Theatre from the “Andy’s Play” episode of The Office is located at 1107 North Kings Road in West Hollywood. You can visit the theatre’s official website here. The interior theatre scenes from the episode were filmed at the Assistance League Playhouse, which is located at 1367 North St. Andrews Place in Hollywood. You can visit that theatre’s website here.

September 3, 2009September 3, 2009

The Warner Grand Theatre

This past Saturday, my family and I returned from Catalina Island via the Catalina Express high speed catamaran that docks in San Pedro Harbor. When the captain announced that we had finally reached our destination, I suddenly realized that a filming location I have LONG been dying to stalk was actually located in the very city where we now found ourselves! The Warner Grand Theatre, where Rosalee Futch took Tad Hamilton on a date in fave movie Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, was in fact located just a few miles away from where our boat had just docked. 🙂 I have absolutely no idea why I hadn’t realized it sooner. So, I begged my dad to drive me over to the theatre as soon as we gathered our luggage and, amazingly enough, he obliged. Thank you, dad!

Warner Brothers first opened the Warner Grand Theatre on January 20, 1931. It was co-designed in an Art Deco style by architect B. Marcus Priteca, who also constructed the Pantages Theatre, and interior designer Anthony Heinsbergen. Priteca and Heinsbergen had also created two other theatres for the Warner Brothers Company – one in Beverly Hills and one in Huntington Park. Unfortunately, though, the Warner Grand is the only one of the three that is still intact. In 1982, the City of Los Angeles declared the 1,400 seat theatre a Cultural and Historic Monument. Sadly, though, in the 1990’s it fell into a serious state of disarray and was almost demolished. The theatre was saved in January of 1996 when the City of Los Angeles stepped in and purchased it for $1.2 million and began a slow, painstaking restoration process. It has since been named a National Historic Place. The Grand is currently open for business, showing foreign and independent films on its fifty foot screen almost every weekend and showcasing various events including concerts, plays, and even graduations. And it is also a frequent filming location! 🙂

The Warner Grand actually shows up three times in Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, where it stands in for the local Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia movie theatre. The movie’s very first scene takes place at the theatre, in which Rosalee, Pete, and Cathy watch Tad’s latest film entitled A Man Called Jackson.

Later on in the movie, Rosalee takes Tad to the Warner Grand for their second date.

It is at the theatre that one of my favorite lines from the movie is spoken. In the scene, while walking by a poster for one of Tad’s movies, Rosalee says “You look so sad there”, to which Tad replies “Give me a break. I just lost my wife . . . and my goat.” LOL LOL LOL

The theatre last shows up in what was to be the movie’s original ending, which is shown in the DVD’s Special Features section. In the scene, Pete, Cathy, Rosalee, and Rosalee’s father are at the Warner watching A Good Man is Hard to Find, Tad’s latest movie which tells the story of his relationship with Rosalee.

The Warner has also been featured in countless other productions. In the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor, the Warner Grand was the Oahu theatre where Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett watched the MovieTone News clip about the war.

Later on in the scene, they grab a bite to eat at the “Black Cat Diner”, which is located directly next door to the theatre and which, in reality, is an art gallery named the Findings Art Center. Unfortunately, I didn’t snap any photos of the Black Cat location as I didn’t learn about its use in Pearl Harbor until after I got home and started researching the theatre. 🙁

In the same scene, while Kate and Josh are eating inside the Black Cat Diner, their friend Ray proposes to his girlfriend Betty on the street outside the Warner Grand.

In the Season One episode of The O.C. entitled “The Proposal”, the Warner stood in for the Newport Beach theatre where Ryan, Seth, and Summer took Marisa to cheer her up after she had discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Luke, was sleeping with her mother. Nice mom, huh?

After seeing the movie, the gang heads over to a Jamba Juice located in the Arcade Building on Sixth Street directly across the street from the theatre, where they run into – you guessed it – Marisa’s mother and ex-boyfriend, Luke.

Because my parents were not too keen on waiting around while I stalked all of West 6th Street, I didn’t get to venture inside the Arcade Building. But I did manage to snap the above pic from across the street.

The Warner has also been featured in the television series Cousin Skeeter, 7th Heaven, Melrose Place, Party of Five, and ESPN’s Reel Classics, and the movies Wharf Rats to Lords of the Dock, Worth Winning, Seabiscuit, Ghosts of Mississippi, Invasion Earth: The Aliens are Here, and What’s Love Got To Do With It (where it stood in for Harlem’s Apollo Theatre).

The Warner is an absolutely beautiful place and I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally be stalking it! Sadly, though, the lobby area wasn’t open while we were there, so I didn’t get to venture inside. But you know what that means! I’ll just have to go back to stalk the place again! 🙂 According to the Warner’s website, though, the theatre’s original seats were just recently restored, so the interior looks quite different now than how it appeared in the many movies pictured above. 🙁

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Warner Grand Theatre is located at 478 West 6th Street in San Pedro. You can visit their website here. The Black Cat Diner from Pearl Harbor, aka the Findings Art Center, is located at 470 West Sixth Street, next door to the Warner. The Arcade Building on Sixth Street, which was featured in The O.C., is located at 479 West Sixth Street, directly across the street from the theatre.